Did you know that Masai, Bedouins and Travellers are some of the world's nomadic people. Some nomads move around to find grazing land for their animals, like the Masai of Africa. They are called pastoral nomads. Others move around to buy and sell and go to markets and fairs. They are called commercial nomads. We are commercial nomads. The Gypsies in England and Europe are commercial nomads. Some nomads are on the move all the time. Others can stay in the one place for years.
Until not so long ago Irish Travellers were referred to as "Tinkers". This word referred to their occupation as tinsmiths and metal workers and came from the Irish word "ceard" (smith) or "tinceard" (tinsmith). This word is now generally used in an insulting sense. Most of our traditional crafts such as spoon-mending, tinsmithing and flower-making have gone by the way now as a result of living in towns and the introduction of plastic and industrial technology.
There are a number of theories as to the origin of the Irish Travellers. Our secret language, Gammon, and the evidence of various historical references to us would seem to indicate that we are the remnants of an ancient class of wandering poets, joined by those who were pushed off the land during different times of social and economic upheaval such as Cromwell's campaign, the Battle of the Boyne (1690) and the Battle of Aughrim (1691).
Many of us may also be the descendants of people who were left homeless as a result of the Irish potato famines of the nineteenth century. (Information courtesy of University of Liverpool and Paveee Point, Dublin)
We are called Travellers because they put that name on us years ago when Travellers were born and reared in wagons and tents. They went travelling around a lot of time. All they had to get them around was a horse and a cart. They slept on the straw that Jesus had been born on. They had nowhere else to sleep. We are proud of our names. They would not get married to settled people. They would only marry travelling people. They would not live with one another. They would get married in the State of Grace. (Michael Connors 4th Class and Kathleen Connors 6th Class)
Click here to see our group sing "The Travelling People"
If you don't have Windows Media Player (available free) click here to download it.
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"You have to be born a Traveller, you cannot become one".
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Historical evidence points to the existence of Travellers even in pre-Christian times. Some Cant/Gammon words used today have shown up in old documents used in pre-Christian Ireland. Landless people who were not accepted by either Queen Maeve’s army or Cú Chulainn are mentioned in the story of the Táin Bó Culainne In Traveller society the family group – immediate family plus uncles, aunts, grandparents, and up to second and third cousins – is very important. Traditionally marriages take place within that group as does entertainment, and most contacts. It provides the support structures needed. Working at family ties is key to Traveller identity and that is why Travellers turn up at meetings of the extended family for weddings, funerals and visiting the sick in hospitals. (Source: Do You Know Us At All?) |
