Liz's Ireland Journal

My Biggest Irish Storytelling Tradition Class Ever!

“Storytelling is a thorny business.” (Saint Patrick, upon encountering the complexity of Irish stories.)

I have 28 students in my Irish Storytelling Tradition Class this summer.  That is my biggest class ever.  In fact, that’s the most people I’ve ever had in any college storytelling class. Previous summers I’ve had anywhere from nine to seventeen students.  With classes that size, each person tells three stories.  We are going to have to stay very focused to make sure that these 28 each get to tell twice.

But I’m not complaining.  This is a motivated and energetic group of people and they have dived right into the deep end of the Irish Storytelling Tradition.  

They will tell their first stories starting this Monday, June 8^th.  The pictures are from the first day when they were engaging in “Learn an Irish Story Fast.”

A Spirit Washed Clean

May the blessing of the rain be on you—
the soft sweet rain.
May it fall upon your spirit
so that all the little flowers may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.
May the blessing of the great rains be on you,
may they beat upon your spirit
and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there many a shining pool
where the blue of heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.

You’ll often hear people in Ireland say that if you don’t like the weather, wait 15 minutes.  But this year even the Irish are remarking on – and complaining about – the cold, blustery, rainy early June we are having.

Case in point.  We took our 34 Study Abroad Ireland participants to Emo Court and Dunamase this past Monday, June 1, which was a bank holiday here.  In all the years I’ve been coming to Ireland, the first Monday in June has always been sunny.  This bank holiday was, however, cold, rainy, and windy.

I figured it wouldn’t be too bad at Emo Court: we could have lunch in the tea room and then dash to the mansion for the tour and be indoors most of the time.  Dunamase would be another story.  It’s the ruins of Strongbow’s 13^th century castle and there isn’t a roof or shelter anywhere. 

When we arrived at Dunamase the wind through the trees sounded like the ocean and the rain was coming sideways.  I told them they didn’t have to go up if they didn’t want to, but that we would stay for about ½ an hour if anyone was game to climb up. Then the bus doors opened and almost all of them jumped up and ran off the bus and started up the hill.

I had intended to stay on the warm, dry bus, but I was inspired by their conviction to have the experience no matter what the weather might be.  I bundled up with multiple jackets, hoods, and scarves, all of which proved useless against the wind.  My hair was soaking in moments, but the view from the top was as fantastic as ever, and our participants happily climbed over the ruins and took photographs as they always do.

We stayed closer to an hour and watched the rain move across the landscape and wind make undulating waves in the barley.  It was cold, wet, and beautiful!

This great rain beat upon my spirit and it was exhilarating!

The blessing at the top of the post can be found here along with lots more.