Echtrae Standish, or the Story of Merrymount“Why do they call this part of Quincy ‘Merrymount’? Why not just call it Wollaston after the Tstop?”“Oh, that one’s not hard to tell, my Ansa. Merrymount meant exactly what it said. The firstEnglish colonists had such a good time here that they named this seaside hill the Merry…
Tag: storytelling
A Conversation with Jamie Madden
The Irish Dindshenchas The Lore of Prominent Places are a collection of origin stories which celebrate stories in the landscape. Yet, could they also inspire creative approaches to town planning? Join Chris and Jamie, a storyteller, genealogist and town planner, originally from Boston and now living in Seattle, as, together, they explore the broad and…
Sharing Landcape Memories
During my conversation with Clare Millege, we both referred to some of our landscape memory moments. Clare grew up close to Wollumbin, in Northern New South Wales. (still sometimes known by the name given to it in 1770 by James Cook, Mount Warning). I refered to one of my all time, favourite places on the…
A Conversation with Professor Ralph Kenna
The second of a new Series of Story Archaeology podcast conversations on mythology and its ‘Stories in the Landscape’. Join Chris and Ralph, professor of Statistical Physics and enthusiastic comaparative mythologist, as they discuss the remakable possibilities of applying socio-physics to epic myth cycles;take an appreciative retrospective look at the International ‘Arts for Sinann’ competition…
An Unexpected Journey
On the second morning of May, 2020 I awoke before dawn. It was four forty a.m. A glorious cacophony of birds was already celebrating a luminous sky-glow, heralding a clear morning. Suddenly, I was no longer sleepy. I grabbed my dressing gown, put my phone into my pocket, and stepped outside. Standing in the orchard,…
Walking with the Táin ~ Stories in The Landscape
The text of the Táin Bó Cúailnge is one of Irish story’s greatest treasures. The central tale of the two great bulls may be familiar but the wealth of wider stories that circle the Táin, involve some of the most colourful of Irish characters and encompasses almost the whole of the country. Since 2011, a…
The Son of the King of Erin and the Queen of the Moving Wheel
This is the second of two supplemental episodes supporting our recent podcast, Tales of Ethliu (revisited). “The Son of the King of Erin and the Queen of the Moving Wheel” is a folktale collected in the west of Ireland by Jeremiah Curtin in the late 19th century. The tale first appeared in “Irish Folktales”. This tale has a cast of…
Jeremiah Curtin and the Oral Tradition
In our update on Ethliu, Mythical Women revisited: Series 5.3, we discussed the story of the birth of Lugh. The only available version of this story, Balor on Tory Island is to be found in “Hero Tales of Ireland” a book of orally narrated stories collected by folklorist and ethnologist Jeremiah Curtin and published in 1894. Jeremiah…
Revisiting Mythical Women 3 – Revisiting Eithliu
Eithliu is a figure who seems to pop in and out of stories, taking no notice of traditional story cycles, or even how her name is spelt. Yet she rarely takes a leading role. In this “revisit”, we return to this enigmatic and sometimes troubling character from Irish mythology and folklore. With the benefit of…
Rowing Around Immráma 14: The Pursuit of the Gilla Decair – An Unofficial Fenian Immrám
In the last stop of our very circuitous Immrám of Immráma, we have a canter through a Fenian tale of surly servants, marine equines, hairy horrors and a battle with the High-King of the World. All in a day’s work for Finn and the Fianna… But is it an Immrám? Is it a recognisably…