Peig - Irish legend or scary aul wan?

whisky_galore · 25-02-2014 09:36PM

Couldn't we have had an Irish language curriculum with Cuchulainn or one of them lads chopping heads off and slashing through foes?
That'd be the job, instead of a dirge about an oul wan stuck out in the ar*e end of nowhere.

Gran Hermano · 25-02-2014 09:40PM

whisky_galore wrote: »

Couldn't we have had an Irish language curriculum with Cuchulainn or one of them lads chopping heads off and slashing through foes?
That'd be the job, instead of a dirge about an oul wan stuck out in the ar*e end of nowhere.

You means something like Tóraíocht Dhiarmada agus Gráinne which was also an option when I was studying Irish for the LC.

whisky_galore · 25-02-2014 09:43PM

Gran Hermano wrote: »

You means something like Tóraíocht Dhiarmada agus Gráinne which was also an option when I was studying Irish for the LC.

Never had that option, only spent what seemed like an eternity learning off the Thistle Guinea-Duck...whatever that was.

TheDriver · 25-02-2014 09:45PM

Anyone remember the peig cartoon on Sean moncrief the end 1995/1996, was very funny and pure pi#s take

WilyCoyote · 25-02-2014 10:06PM

TheDriver wrote: »

Anyone remember the peig cartoon on Sean moncrief the end 1995/1996, was very funny and pure pi#s take

The one where she was using a dildo made from bogdeal?

TheDriver · 25-02-2014 10:08PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrk8y8HSjRk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrBTWFBUeKE

Humongus the pig and her friend Cait Jim....

sopretty · 25-02-2014 10:11PM

I found her to be very outspoken for her age. She had to live with the mother-in-law and made no bones about making her view on that particular situation very clear. She appears to have been full of divilment in her youth. Her life was filled with tragedy after tragedy. She seems to be able to objectively comment on the social customs of the times though such as the 'caoinains' (spelling probably incorrect), but they were almost 'mourners for hire'. Her biography is a historical documentation of life on the islands and the culture at the time. There was bouldness in her for sure!

Galwayguy35 · 26-02-2014 02:33AM

I have the same view on her and her book that I had at 16 when I first heard of her.

A miserable long dead ould biddy who had a depressing life (many people had it tough, lifes a bitch sometimes) and decided to write a book about it, it should have been left at that but some fool decided to inflict this torture on generations of young people doing the Leaving Cert.

Between that and having to learn a rake of boring poems put me off Irish for life.

Wibbs · 26-02-2014 11:58AM

sopretty wrote: »

I found her to be very outspoken for her age. She had to live with the mother-in-law and made no bones about making her view on that particular situation very clear. She appears to have been full of divilment in her youth. Her life was filled with tragedy after tragedy. She seems to be able to objectively comment on the social customs of the times though such as the 'caoinains' (spelling probably incorrect), but they were almost 'mourners for hire'. Her biography is a historical documentation of life on the islands and the culture at the time. There was bouldness in her for sure!

And all about as relevant to modern Ireland as a flint handaxe. Given I was first exposed to this back in the dark ages with no interweb, one TV channel(unless you had "the piped TV" in a city), it shows how alien for the vast majority of Irish people it had become. Sadly it brought the language itself into that feeling of alien and irrelevant for too many.

Add in little in the way of deeper musings on the human condition and you've got a painful dirge to be suffered. Plus she wasn't outspoken. The idea that women of her time couldn't speak up, or were excused of divilment is a cliche and an inaccurate one. If anything such societies were matriarchal in many ways.

super_furry · 26-02-2014 11:59AM

Peig is personally responsible for much of the hatred of the Irish language.

gimli2112 · 26-02-2014 12:02PM

Monkeybonkers wrote: »

My favourite part was when
one of her husbands/brother was pulling heather right at the very edge of the
cliff. Instead of turning his back towards the land he pulled away with his back
facing the cliff edge. Naturally, he fell to his death when a clump of the
heather came up a bit easier than he expected.
There's something Simpsonesque about the whole scene.

The bit I remember (and it's a long time ago since I read it) was

her son out playing and he fell off a cliff, to his death

It was dealt with very quickly and she never mentioned him again.
Must have been considered a normal enough occurence on the islands?

whisky_galore · 26-02-2014 12:06PM

gimli2112 wrote: »

The bit I remember (and it's a long time ago since I read it) was
her son out playing and he fell off a cliff, to his death
It was dealt with very quickly and she never mentioned him again.
Must have been considered a normal enough occurence on the islands?

Small offshore islands with a high occurrance of inbreeding, quite likely.

Pumpkinseeds · 26-02-2014 02:57PM

Oh, how I hated that woman when I was doing my Leaving Cert in 91. Dreary days in a class room with a dreary teacher who'd taught it a million times over and had no love of it herself.

jimgoose · 26-02-2014 03:26PM

Peig Sayers: Born in the arsehole of Kerry, married a fisherman and went to the Great Blasket instead of America, had eleven children, lived a very Irish Catholic life filled with drudgery, tragedy and grinding poverty, eventually went back to the arsehole of Kerry and died.

There. Now you don't have to be bored quite rigid reading the wretched thing.

sopretty · 26-02-2014 03:41PM

Y'all must have had very unenthusiastic Irish teachers! Did all of you just struggle through the Irish text or did you read the English translation?

sopretty · 26-02-2014 03:46PM

I actually really loved the book. I think that Peig had an acceptance of life's tragedies. Perhaps that was their way of coping with death. There was no such thing as bereavement counselling etc. There was a particular culture surrounding death though. More of an acceptance of it than we have now. If I recall correctly, she does display anger at the sea for taking so many people from her life. I suspect such feelings were not encouraged at the time. They had a different support structure around bereavement at that time.
I feel like such a nerd to be the lone voice in the wilderness who actually enjoyed the book.
Then again, I also enjoyed Hard Times by Dickens haha, so perhaps my taste in literature is questionable!

Flaker · 26-02-2014 03:57PM

Didn't her cow get stung by a wasp or something and fall in the ditch and die?

That's all remember from the book cos I've blocked the rest out.

That and "I've one foot in the grave and the other one the edge..."

super_furry · 26-02-2014 05:20PM

sopretty wrote: »

Y'all must have had very unenthusiastic Irish teachers!

Didn't everyone?

DyldeBrill · 26-02-2014 05:24PM

I'd say most of the abuse came from past students who were made read through it until it was bet into their heads. How can someone take enjoyment from anything if they are force fed it without being introduced to the story itself in a proper manner.

Same goes for Irish stories such as An Triail, and Dúnmharú ar an Dart(absolute classic). Some of these are actually quite interesting, only thing is they were ruined by teachers who showed little enthusiasm about them in the first place.

sopretty · 26-02-2014 05:35PM

I'm suddenly starting to feel I had a gem of an Irish teacher!

sopretty · 26-02-2014 05:36PM

Perhaps Peig would be more suited to an Irish History curriculum rather than an Irish language curriculum.

Galwayguy35 · 26-02-2014 05:45PM

When you're 16 you are not interested in learning the story of some long dead aul wan, it was a silly move to include it as part of LC Irish.

sopretty · 26-02-2014 05:46PM

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

When you're 16 you are not interested in learning the story of some long dead aul wan, it was a silly move to include it as part of LC Irish.

That is true. It is a bit 'irrelevant' these days.

LorMal · 26-02-2014 05:55PM

sopretty wrote: »

That is true. It is a bit 'irrelevant' these days.

Yes but also it really is the most awful dirge. Badly written, self indulgent, moaning, repetitive, semi literate tripe.
Beaten into us us by the culchie teachers.
Hated every single word.
But I'm not bitter....

ClovenHoof · 26-02-2014 06:35PM

I reckon some FF family owns the copyright to book and keep it going to cream off the royalties.

RahenyD5 · 26-02-2014 08:54PM

I laughed out loud at the comment about a cow being stung by a wasp, tactless I know...

After growing up hearing the moaning and bad comments about Peig, I built up images of her from my imagination as the Irish "Baba Yaga", so I am disappointed to learn she wasn't at all witchlike like handing out poisoned apples to pretty girls or cooking kids alive after luring them in her gingerbread house, how cool that would have been!

I wouldn't be surprised if Peig was turned into a myth, the opposite of her real self, as the "monster under the bed" for Peig weary parents to scare their kids into behaving themselves.

Have started reading her story for the curiosity and the craic. Reading Peig in Irish may be regarded as pretty awful then the English translation can't be any worse. Saw the famously immortal words "I am an old woman now, with one foot in the grave and the other on its edge." Wish me luck!

sopretty · 26-02-2014 08:56PM

RahenyD5 wrote: »

I laughed out loud at the comment about a cow being stung by a wasp, tactless I know...

After growing up hearing the moaning and bad comments about Peig, I built up images of her from my imagination as the Irish "Baba Yaga", so I am disappointed to learn she wasn't at all witchlike like handing out poisoned apples to pretty girls or cooking kids alive after luring them in her gingerbread house, how cool that would have been!

I wouldn't be surprised if Peig was turned into a myth, the opposite of her real self, as the "monster under the bed" for Peig weary parents to scare their kids into behaving themselves.

Have started reading her story for the curiosity and the craic. Reading Peig in Irish may be regarded as pretty awful then the English translation can't be any worse. Saw the famously immortal words "I am an old woman now, with one foot in the grave and the other on its edge." Wish me luck!

You might actually enjoy it! Please do report back with your opinion, good or bad!

fr336 · 26-02-2014 09:05PM

That would be an ecumenical matter.

Sir Arthur Daley · 27-02-2014 02:01AM

Peig sayers was a legend, a talented seanachai and a great story teller, she grew up in tough times, no Facebook or selfies in those days.

foggy_lad · 27-02-2014 02:11AM

Irish legend or scary auld wan? Is there a Banshee bride of Satan option?

She went through more husbands than most, you would think they would learn to stay away from the cliffs! and from the book there was more love in a pig so she wasn't any different to most women and people living in remote areas at the time. Just look and read about the real hillbilly's in america who lived in the most inaccessible mountain areas of states like kentucky and were prone to losing husbands just like peig.

Peig - Irish legend or scary aul wan?

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