Folktales and Independence in Ireland: Founding a Nation on Oral Traditions

Abstract

The historical and cultural events of the Gaelic Revival and Irish War of Independence, from the 1880’s to the late 1920’s, led to a resurgence of Irish folktales and established them as a dominant presence in Irish culture. Irish folktales have been a central aspect of the island’s culture and were suppressed by British laws. Despite a series of unsuccessful rebellions, Irish folktales were slowly being forgotten amid English educational and cultural movements, a trend which was rapidly accelerated during the Great Famine years of the 1840’s. Irish nationalism, which culminated in the Irish Independence War, was advanced through increasing public engagement with Irish folklore during the Gaelic Revival. These efforts were spearheaded by writers and folklorists, such as W.B. Yeats and Douglas Hyde, and by organizations like the Gaelic League. The cultural movement was gradually radicalized by the influence of Irish republicans, notably Patrick Pearse and the other signatories of the 1916 Proclamation, and led to a widely accepted nationalistic culture in Ireland. This culture was the foundation of the revolutionary movement in the 1920’s and was leveraged by the Dáil Eireann, the Irish republican government, to recruit for the Irish Republican Army and propagandize their political positions. The link between folktales and Irish Independence is clear and supported by multiple specific folk tales that underwent a parallel rise to prominence and rapid changes in their themes and motifs during the revolutionary period. Tales such as the púca, Aes Sidhe, and banshee can be traced from their earliest, pre-Christian forms to versions collected during the Irish Free State to reveal how the political and cultural changes of the Gaelic Revival and Irish Independence War impacted oral traditions. Similarly, the writings of Revivalist authors and folklorists, republican leaders, and memoirs from Irish Republican Army fighters demonstrate the importance of folktales to the revolutionary movement on both an individual and systemic scale.