Skellig’s Intangible Heritage

Skellig Michael’s heritage narrative has focused to date on primarily archaeological, architectural and restoration issues and these clearly point to built heritage as a particular sub-section of the heritage regime. As previously noted, this reflects the timing of the application almost two decades ago, and conflict between state repre-sentatives and the boatmen may in part reflect tensions between tangible and in-tangible heritage, between the built environment and the human factor.

Since the initial application was made, there has been a gradual shift in empha-sis in international legislation towards an appreciation of the wealth of intangible heritage associated with Skellig Michael. The 2008 management plan, for example, highlighted the significance of the island as a place of pilgrimage. “The presence of the monks on the island for such a long period of time has bequeathed us with more than just physical remains. They have imbued the place with a strong sense of spirituality, which is palpable to anyone who has had the opportunity and privi-lege of spending time there” (DoEHLG and OPW 2008: 20). However, there is much more to the island’s intangible heritage which remains a vastly under-researched resource. For the purposes of this essay, I would like to draw attention to the Skellig Lists, which represent a unique aspect of this island’s intangible herit-age and can be accessed at the National Folklore Collection at University College, Dublin.

The Skellig Lists refer to matchmaking customs during the season of Lent on Skellig Michael and should be set in the context of tensions between the Roman and the Celtic Church concerning the timing of Easter. A conference took place at St Hilda’s monastery in Whitby in 664 which decided that the Celtic church should adopt the Roman timing. Apparently the monks at Skellig Michael continued with the Celtic calendar. In consequence, Lent began later on the little island than it did on the mainland of Kerry. As Lenten weddings were not permitted, folk memory suggests that single men and women traveled to the island during its pre-Lenten period to pray for good partners, repent of their sins and/or get married. “When the monks were in Skellig long ago they used to marry people later than their own priests. I think they could be married there the first week of Lent. It was said, any-way, and I don’t know was it true” (National Folklore Collection (NFC) 1592:

208). This folk memory is confirmed in manuscripts in the National Folklore Col-lection in University College, Dublin:

When the Church Laws concerning Easter and Lent were first adopted in Ireland, they did not extend to the monastery in the rocky island of Sgeilg, west of Kerry for some time. Marriages could take place there on Ash Wednesday. There was an extra day in Shrove. So people who made up their mind to get married and hadn’t managed to do so by Shrove Tuesday need not wait till Easter. (NFCS 282: 40)

However, folk memory also suggests that these proceedings were often more fun than prayer, and the “pilgrimages” were gradually curtailed.

Verses were composed in parishes of Cork and Kerry to celebrate this Lenten anomaly and the opportunity it represented for un-married men and women.

These rhymes were written in English and the poets usually remained anonymous.

The verses were designed to scorn bachelors and single women who had not

“found” a spouse before the season of Lent began and frequently ridiculed their unmarried status. “People didn’t like to be mentioned in these things at all. You may be sure tisn’t praised they’d be in it atall” (NFC 1592: 209).

Examples of these rhymes abound in the National Folklore Collection in Uni-versity College, Dublin. The first extract is from Schools Manuscript Collection (NFCS 413: 103) and is the one of several verses written by Eilís Ní Aodhagáin, who heard them from her father:

First came Eillen Buckley, That small and red-faced girl.

She is courting Eddie Glavin Who’s [sic.] face is like a squirrel.

Next comes Danny Slattery That tall and saintly boy,

He’s all in love with Nora Callaghan, He says for her he’ll die.

Most of the rhymes were distinctly unkind and although the names were often changed, people could easily identify to whom they referred. The following is an example from the schools manuscript collection (NFCS 435: 232):

Pat Lyons I fear another year, Is left to grind the bit,

Since Ganndal’s daughter from Clahan, Cares not for him a bit,

He dresses in his toffee style, And makes a gallant show He is only a ladys’ gent, me, boy, No matter where he go [sic].

The rhymes often referred to the “pilgrimages” to Skellig Michael and the purpose of these journeys. The following account is related in NFCS 282 (p. 40) in the schools manuscript collection:

It is still a joke in this parish to send the unmarried people “to the Sgeilgs”

on Shrove Tuesday night.

“Are you going to the Sgeilgs?” is a common question asked on the evening of Shrove Tuesday. And on Ash Wednesday morning, “You look worn out.

Had you a good crossing to Sgeilgs?”

In some areas, there was a custom of “sending people to the Skelligs” which was accompanied by a lot of noise and buffoonery:

On “the night of the Sgeilgs” the children of Bantry town get a long rope and tie on all the tin cans they can find. Two are “harnessed” at one end.

They run making an awful noise – the following tin cans. The crowd runs after them. The noise represents the noise of cars – full going to Sgeilgs.

The youngsters shout “Come on to Sgeilgs.” (NFCS 282: 40)

Crofton Croker also notes the level of noise that accompanied such rituals. In 1832, he received a Skellig List from a friend in Cork, telling him that “the tumult in the streets, last Tuesday night, was extreme. Bodies of five hundred men and boys paraded the town, blowing horns, firing, breaking lamps et cetera; and all on the occasion of the Skellig Lists” (Crofton Croker 1839: 127).

There is no doubt that these rhymes were extremely popular at one stage in southwest Ireland. Thomas Crofton Croker writes that a ballad publisher in Cork printed 13 different Skellig Lists in 1836. As his average presswork amounted to 300 impressions a day and his press was fully occupied for 12 days, he produced 3,600 impressions, which ultimately generated 15,000 Skellig Lists (Crofton Croker 1839: 126).

8 Conclusion

With hindsight, it is amazing that greater prominence is not given to these unique sets of rhymes in relation to Skellig Michael as a World Heritage Site. However, these rhymes represent a fraction of the wealth of intangible heritage relating to the site which is yet to be researched and fully documented. There is much about Skellig Michael that remains to be told. The lack of interest in the Skellig’s List is symptomatic of the general neglect of the intangible heritage related to this site.

This includes the neglect of the fishermen’s tradition or the narrative of the lighthouse tradition. One might ask why the monastery buildings attract such great attention whereas recent oral traditions, such as the Skellig Lists, or living traditions, such as the narratives of the boatmen, are neglected. However, the answer probably lies in the changing context of heritage. Interest in the intangible dimension of heritage is relatively recent and emerged subsequent to the award of World Heritage status to Skellig Michael.

Overall, the Irish Government appears to be adopting a more proactive approach in general to the issue of World Heritage. In 2009, the then Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, suggested that Ireland’s “World Heritage programme has been in abeyance for a number of years,” a situation he was now rectifying. Since the establishment of an Advisory Group in 2008, the Irish Government has published a list of tentative World Heritage Sites. This rather extensive list demonstrates an enthusiasm for the acquisition of World Heritage status which is not necessarily matched by action on the ground – all of which must be set in the context of extensive cuts to the budget of the Heritage Council of Ireland which were announced in November 2010. Moreover, the focus appears solidly on elements of material culture. In a country like Ireland where the collection of folklore and oral tradition has such a long “heritage” itself, it is surprising that the Irish Government has not yet approved or ratified UNESCO’s Charter for Intangible Heritage. The story of Skellig Michael is unfinished and must now be set in the context of a country that is struggling economically and a government that may have neither the inclination nor the resources to finally achieve the targets set out by the ICOMOS mission.

Acknowledgments. I am grateful to the National Folklore Collection at Uni-versity College, Dublin, for permission to research their archives in relation to the Skellig Lists. I would like to acknowledge permission to publish material from the following manuscripts in particular:

NFC 1592, 208-210. Jerry Buckley, 78, Labourer, Cluain Droichead, Collector Seán Ó Cróinín, February, March 1961.

NFCS 282, 39-42. Kathleen O’Sullivan, 1938.

NFCS 413, 103-105. Eilís Nic Aodhagáin, school pupil in Scoil Mainistir ó dTórna, County Kerry, heard from her father (aged 39), January 1938.

NFCS 435, 230-33. Áine Ní Chlubháin, Fearannteóirín, Kilorglin, 1938.

I also wish to acknowledge the help of Dr. Michael Gibbons who forwarded me a copy of his original submission to UNESCO along with other relevant material. I would like to thank Dr. Catherine Swift of Mary Immaculate University College, Limerick, who was most helpful with my initial inquiries on the subject. Finally I would like to thank the peer reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.

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