I see things are a little slow around here, but I figured I'd just jot a quick note to say "Hello" and introduce myself.

I'm a Celtic reenactor from upstate NY (Albany area). Our group, Ancient Celtic Clans, portrays the lives of various Celtic tribes from 600BCE to 1200CE. The members of ACC enjoy actually living the history of the Celts and so while we were sitting around evening fire at the last summer solstice, we noticed something distinctly missing. Stories.

As it turns out, while we were busy making all the material items that the Celts used, we were forgetting an integral part of their lives. The ancient Celts relied heavily on stories, and oral history for their culture.

Now, while "Irish" or "Celtic" folktale books are common enough many of their stories are:

Too "late" period - leprechauns, fairies, and such don't come in to Irish stories until the 1500's

Were translated from gaelic or welsh transcriptions of the oral versions and have lost their effectiveness when spoken. In fact many of them are difficult to read because they are reprints of late 1800's British translations.

So, where to start? I can read out loud well but that's not exactly the same as telling a story. And I need early period stories designed to be spoken.

Help? Thoughts?

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Gobae - The Blacksmith
Historic Strides Blog
Ancient Celtic Clans

Hi Gobbae,
Given that a Celt was not to carry a sword in battle till he could recite 7 hours or more of remembered poetic story, I'm glad to hear that your group is adding stories to the re-enactments.

Fortunately, many of that era's stories are available. told in that era are still around. Unfortunately, many need a fair bit of adaptation for contemporary audiences.

The "Cattle Raid of Cooley" (Táin Bó Cúalnge) is the great story. It has many tellable episdoes within the frame story about sexy & powerful Queen Medb of Connacht, Cuchulain of Ulster, and the theft of a red bull. Check our http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/cool/index.htm or a readable new translation "The Tain" by Thomas Kinsella http://www.amazon.com/Tain-Irish-epic-Bo-Cuailnge/dp/0192810901

In light of your name, you might also like stories about Gubbaun Saor (a derivation of Gobniu, the mythic smith). My dad grew up on farm in Ireland in early-mid 20th century and heard many of the mythic tales of the Gubbaun Saor as if he still wandered through the county. One collection by Ella Young is the Wonder Smith and His Son by Ella Young http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0863155219/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt/103-9419126-2849412?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Enjoy!

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Yvonne Healy, storyteller
www.YHealy.com
810-225-2204

Awesome info! Yes, the first link is a perfect illustration of the issue I mentioned before. It's not really 'tellable' to a modern audience without some additional work.

I don't mind doing the work, but I figured the wise thing to do would be ask if it had already been done.

Thank you very much for the link about Gubbaun Saor. I will definitely have to find those. I noticed on the Wikipedia entry for Gubbaun, it quoted from the book "The Gubbaun Saor, whose other name was Mananaun, whose other name was Cullion the Smith..."

Cullion's dog was the one that Setanta killed and thereby got him the name Cuchullain. That could be an interesting and different entrance into a Tain tale.

BTW, how "open" do you find the Storytelling community? Do you find that most tellers will give advice and entertain questions by novices? Or are they concerned about educating potential competition?

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Gobae - The Blacksmith
Historic Strides Blog
Ancient Celtic Clans

Hi,
Here's another good one with easily told adaptations "101 Read-aloud Celtic Myths & Legends", by Vernieo & Fitzsimmons http://www.amazon.com/One-Hundred-Celtic-Read-Aloud-Myths-Legends/dp/1579120989/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195590087&sr=1-1

Storytelling has a range of personalities like any community; some people are more welcoming than others.

Good luck,
Yvonne Healy
www.YHealy.com

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Yvonne Healy, storyteller
www.YHealy.com
810-225-2204

I've no doubt there's a range of personalities, but some (like the jewelers'/silversmiths' community) is pretty "closed" to the point of being considered paranoid and xenophobic. OTOH, the blacksmithing community will gladly show all their "secrets" simply so they [the secrets] don't die. I take it that the storytelling community lies somewhere in the middle, despite the fact that it's not a common occupation.

I actually have the last book you mentioned in my library. LOL. I shall look at it again.

Many thanks for you help.

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Gobae - The Blacksmith
Historic Strides Blog
Ancient Celtic Clans

Storytelling communities are very regional. I've lived in Michigan, San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago and New Jersey and the tellers in all those communities are very different. There are also different interest teller communities. The healing tellers, the early ed teachers, the historical tellers and the fringe performance tellers are unique in and of themselves. Some tellers visit several communities, but each group has it's own flavor. Lumping tellers together is like lumping all craft artists or all writers together.

Sometimes we have to visit the different neighborhoods. Mentors can be helpful in connecting people. There is a mentors section on this forum, or start up a conversation (either on line or dare I say person to person

Time and effort makes a good story. It also makes a good teller.

Rivka
Simply Extraordinary Tales