Making and Shaping

“A people so gifted must bring in their turn a very precious gift to literature; for is it not the function of literature by making known the real and imagined experiences of gifted souls to reveal to common men all the hidden splendours of the world and to make vocal its silent music? ”
PH Pearse

We don’t blush to say that the creative talents of the Irish people are among the wonders of the world. Whether we’re talking about music, poetry, art, literature, dance, or any form of creative expression, when the Irish speak, the world listens.

And yet even this formidable latter-day reputation is but a wan reflection of past glories which still astound after centuries and millennia. Our illuminated manuscripts created to glorify God, the intricate knotwork—entirely a product of Irish culture—inviting contemplation of eternity, fine metalcraft and engraving, our language itself and so much more all stand as a shimmering testament to the generative energy of the Irish.

As we begin to redevelop our connection to our own traditions and culture, a necessary companion along the way must be adding to the treasury of our shared cultural heritage.

It need not be anything so ambitious as a novel or an illuminated manuscript—even by taking small steps, rediscovering the arts of our ancestors, and immersing ourselves in their lessons and lore, we can tease out the same inspirations and enrich our own lives and those of the people around us.

So here are a few suggestions and places to start! These are but a small sample of the many great tutorials which can be found online.

Gaelic Art

• Celtic Art - The Methods of Construction, by George Bain. This is the essential book for anyone wanting to design art based on manuscripts like The Book of Kells. It also forms a firm foundation for knotwork embellishments in any medium.
• The Celtic Design series by Aidan Meehan is similar, though sometimes uses different methods to Bain, this series of over a dozen books has the advantage of drawing on the pre Christian Neolithic/Hallstatt/La Tene art styles a well as early medieval knotwork. It offers a wealth of ideas and options for creativity for young and old alike.

Dance

Irish dancing is a formidably complex style of dance, but anyone can learn and share a basic jig and steps. Here is a video made by an Irish dancing world champion to help get you started:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N2RsCuzFPg

Music

• Learn to play the tin whistle, easily one of the most versatile and yet simplest of uniquely Irish musical instruments https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdUH1QZvEm8
• The bodhran echoes the ancient drums that once beat in the glens and halls of Ireland, and is beloved by Irish trad bands for a good reason—learn to play it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y540acW6NQM
• A little more challenging, but with greater effort comes greater reward, that most iconic of Irish musical instruments, the harp,  our own national symbol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzzn17w2ZRg
• The distinctive beauty of the Uileann pipes will be well known to any who hear it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okpqc9GqQ2Y
• Sean nós singing is an essential element of any traditional music ensemble  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0T5SyY1qt4

Crafting

There’s no end to the arts and crafts to which an Irish style could be applied—painting, sculpture, chainsaw carving, literature, poetry, song, topiary, any musical instrument, and so on. It’s not practical to try to list them all or even most of them here, so we have instead made a modest list of some unusual and traditional arts. There are many more.

• Bronze casting—some of the most remarkable artifacts from Irish history come to us from the Bronze Age. It’s not all that difficult to get into bronze casting, but please be careful! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spfX_SxoEpY
• Basket weaving—basketry has been a highly valued skill in Ireland since the Mesolithic, when reeds and willow sticks were used to shape fish traps, baskets, coracles, furniture, shields and armour, and a great many other things. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaPbg3C3lLE
• Stick making—the Irish blackthorn is the traditional Irish walking stick, also known as the shillelagh. The materials to make these remarkable sticks can be found by the roadside in many parts of Ireland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih_ffnisTTw
• Basic ancient crafts—even trying your hand at very simple ancient crafts like starting a fire with flint and steel, making a whistle out of a bone, finding local dyes as the ancient Irish used to do, or turning wool into cloth are all exhilarating  ways to get closer to the traditions and lives of those who came before us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kteSUFEplWk
• Coracle making—it might seem ambitious but with some simple materials, making your own small coracle or boat is relatively easy. Always be careful on open water! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU5pKNN82yA
• Súgán rope—a traditional rope made from straw, used for many purposes including woven chair seats, cradles and baskets. https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4678374/4673210/4678887

Chapter List (click to read):

1. Foreword
2 The Irish Language
3. Reading
4. Making and Shaping
5. The Physical Gael
6. The Warrior Gael
- The Crios Belt
- Open Hand Traditions
- Collar and Elbow Wrestling
- Gaelic Weapons
- Seanbhata
- Seanbhata Basics
- Seanbhata Guards
- Seanbhata Strikes and Blocks
- Seanbhata Close Fighting
- The Heroic Feats
7. Tradition and Culture
8. Organisation