GAA - Gaelic Athletic Association

Gaelic Football:

Gaelic football is a fast-paced and dynamic sport that combines elements of soccer, rugby, and basketball. Played on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end, the objective is to score points by kicking or punching the ball over the crossbar (worth one point) or into the goal (worth three points). Players can carry, bounce, or kick the ball, but cannot use their hands to throw it.

In Gaelic football, teams consist of 15 players each, with positions including forwards, midfielders, defenders, and a goalkeeper. Matches are divided into two halves, typically lasting 30-35 minutes each. The sport is known for its physicality, skill, and strategic gameplay, making it a thrilling spectacle for both players and spectators alike.

Hurling:

Hurling is one of the oldest and fastest field sports in the world, dating back over 3,000 years to ancient Celtic times. Played with a small ball called a sliotar and a curved wooden stick called a hurley, the objective is to score points by hitting the sliotar over the crossbar or into the goal. Hurling combines elements of hockey, lacrosse, and baseball, with players using their hurleys to strike, catch, and block the ball.

Similar to Gaelic football, hurling matches feature two teams of 15 players each, divided into positions such as forwards, midfielders, defenders, and a goalkeeper. The game is known for its speed, skill, and physicality, as well as its rich cultural heritage and tradition in Ireland.

Camogie:

Camogie is the female counterpart to hurling, with similar rules and gameplay but played exclusively by women. Like hurling, camogie involves striking a sliotar with a hurley to score points, with matches featuring two teams of 15 players each. Camogie has a long and storied history in Ireland, dating back to the early 20th century, and has grown in popularity both domestically and internationally.

https://www.gaa.ie

Irish is a Celtic language (as English is a Germanic language, French a Romance language, and so on). 

This means that it is a member of the Celtic family of languages. Its “sister” languages are Scottish Gaelic and Manx (Isle of Man); its more distant “cousins” are Welsh, Breton, and Cornish. 

The word “Gaelic” in English derives from Gaeilge which is the word in Irish for the language itself. However, when English is being used, the Irish language is conventionally referred to as “Irish,” not “Gaelic.”

Origins in 6th Century

Irish has the earliest attested vernacular European literature outside the classical world of Greece and Rome; there is evidence for a literary tradition in Irish as early as the sixth century A.D. and evidence for literacy predates that.

The medieval literary tradition has excited the imaginations of scholars all over the world, incorporating as it does some of the most extensive saga literature to be found anywhere.

These sagas offer not just the delights of dramatic storytelling, they also shed considerable light on the social, cultural and political configurations of Early Ireland, in particular the engagement of Christianity with the pre- Christian culture that preceded it, and of a literate culture with its older oral inheritance.

Our understanding of the cultural richness of medieval Ireland is also immeasurably enhanced by an abundance of law texts, wisdom texts, annals, genealogies, poetry, saints’ lives and various other devotional texts.

Credit - University of Notre Dame

Irish language

We know that once a tin whistle is pulled out of the handbag, it’s going to end with a good night, but where did it all start?

Irish traditional music began as an oral tradition, passed on from generation to generation by listening, learning by ear, and without formally writing the tunes on paper. This is a practice that is still encouraged today and students of traditional music are encouraged to pick up tunes they hear from others or to learn as they listen. Many formal classes will provide music notes for students and books do print tunes on a traditional music stave, however.

The traditional music played by the Irish came to the country with the Celts 2,000 years ago. The Celts were influenced by the music of the East, and it’s believed that the traditional Irish harp may have originated in Egypt.

The harp was the most popular instrument in ancient times with harpists employed to play for chieftains and to create music for nobles. This was until the Flight of the Earls in 1607 when native Irish chieftains fled the land under threat from invaders. With the flight of their patrons to mainland Europe, the harpists were left to travel the country and play where they could.

It wasn’t until 1762 that tunes were officially written down for the first time and collectors began to travel the country compiling music that can still be viewed today. The tradition of collecting our music continues today in the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin, the largest collection of traditional and folk music in the world.

As can be seen at events at Fleadh Cheoil, traditional music has traveled much farther than the 32 counties of Ireland. Our music has traveled all of the world thanks to our long history of emigration. It was during the time of the famine that vast numbers of Irish moved to the States, bringing their music with them.

Traditional music saw a revival, especially in the States, in the 1920s when recordings of traditional music were taken for the first time and made available to the Irish living abroad. The fiddle player Michael Coleman was one such player whose recordings in New York were to influence fiddle players in the States and in Ireland for many years to come.

The style of music was thrown open to a wider audience still due to the influence of Sean Ó Riada. Ó Riada established the traditional music ensemble Ceoltóirí Chulainn who were heavily influenced by classical music forms. The group began musical arrangements of traditional music, something that had been previously unheard of. The influence of Ó Riada can still be seen in the creative grúpa ceoil (music group) competition at the Fleadh Cheoil.

In recent years, traditional music has been used in collaboration with European and American music in what was known as the Golden Age for traditional music. Groups such as Planxty and De Dannan led the way. There has also been a considerable amount of Celtic fusion with more popular music styles. Artists ranging from Sinéad O'Connor and Flook to Daithí and Dropkick Murphys use traditional elements throughout their music.

The main traditional instruments are the fiddle, Irish flute, tin whistle, Celtic harp, uilleann pipes, and bodhrán. The fiddle is the same instrument as the violin but it is through the style of playing that we differentiate between them. The fiddle player sees less conformity in the way in which the instrument is held and a traditional musician free to experiment with more musical ornamentation. This is true of each traditional player, whatever the instrument. Traditional Irish music is highly ornamented by the individual and it would be hard to meet two players who play the same tune the same way.

Credit: IrishCentral.com

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