Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
There were once many more Travellers, who lived in tents and used horse-drawn
carts as they wandered the countryside in search of work. Before the famine, when
Irish hospitality was a given, Travellers filled a niche in Irish society. They would
do odd jobs, such as repairing furniture, sweeping chimneys, and selling horses.
Skilled tinsmiths, they mended pots, pans, and stills for
poitín
—Irish moonshine.
(Travellers used to be called “tinkers,” but this label is now considered derogatory.)
Settled-down farm folk, who rarely ventured more than 20 miles from home their
entire lives, depended on the roaming Travellers for news and gossip from farther-
flung regions. But post-famine rural depopulation and the gradual urbanization of
the countryside forced this nomadic group to adapt to an almost sedentary existence
on the fringes of towns.
Today, the 30,000 remaining Travellers are outsiders, usually treated with suspi-
cion by other Irish. Locals often complain that petty thefts go up when Travellers
set up camp in a nearby “halting site,” and that they leave garbage behind when
they depart. Although most visible in rural encampments, Travellers still frequent
the outdoor horse market at Smithfield Village in Dublin on the first Sunday of each
month. They are very religious and often camp near the pilgrimage town of Knock.
Travellers tend to keep to themselves, marry young, have large families, and
speak their own Gaelic-based language (called Shelta, Gammon, or Cant). Attempts
to settle Travellers in government housing and integrate their children into schools
have met with mixed success, as portrayed poignantly in the 1992 movie
Into the
West
.
People have been cutting, drying, and burning peat as a fuel source for more than
a thousand years. The cutting usually begins in April or May, when drier weather ap-
proaches. You'll probably see stacks of “turf” piled up to dry along recent cuts. Pick up a
brick and fondle it. Dried peat is surprisingly light and stiff. In central Ireland, there are