“When I go on about climate, people always say, ‘sure we’re Ireland, we’re tiny, we’ve a tiny carbon footprint, what’s the point if we do anything?’ and one thing I always like to remind people of is that our carbon footprint is tiny but our cultural footprint is massive. We were the first to do the smoking ban and that was copied all around the world, we were the first to have the plastic bag tax and that was copied, St. Patrick’s Day or Halloween, these are Irish holidays celebrated around the world – let’s make St. Patrick’s Day about the environment.”
– Blindboy Boatclub speaking on RTE’s The Late Late Show (November 2019)
Following this train of thought, I was initially drawn to the idea of adapting folkloric traditions to help meet the challenges of modern living. I experimented with the form of Wrenboy costumes (also know as Mummer’s across Britain). Traditionally made from straw, Wrenboys still wear these costumes in parts of West Cork and Kerry. Originally a part of hunting traditions and festivities surrounding rural weddings; I sought to remake these costumes from recycled materials. Unfortunately this proved more of a challenge than I was capable of, with my ideal material (cardboard) being less-than-suitable for weaving.
(Year Unknown) Strawboy’s Hat [Straw]. National Museum of Ireland. Available at: https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Folklife-Collections/Folklife-Collections-List-(1)/Religion-and-Calendar-Customs/Straw-costumes-and-objects (Accessed: 30 October 2022).
Quinlan, G. (2012) Aughakillymaude Mummers, Fermanagh. Available at: https://grainnequinlan.com/strawboys/aughakillymaude-mummers-fermanagh-2/ (Accessed: 30 October 2022).
RTE (2019) Blindly Boatclub on How Ireland Can Change the World. 02 November 2019 Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuK9_YzQS-Q&feature=emb_imp_woyt (Accessed: 30 October 2022).