Shelfmarks: St Brigid's Day Special

The Royal Irish Academy

In this special episode of Shelfmarks for St Brigid’s Day, in association with the Department of Foreign Affairs, podcaster-in Residence Zoë Comyns explores the figure of Brigid. She imagines her origins in Irish folktale and story and delves into the Royal Irish Academy collection for traces of Brigid in the recordings of the Doegen archive. In 1926 the Irish government asked Dr Wilheim Doegen (Director of the Sound Department at the Prussian State Library in Berlin) to make recordings of Irish speech in the Gaeltacht. The Department of Education asked the RIA to organise the project. Dr Doegen came to Ireland with his assistant, Karl Tempel in 1928. Speakers were asked to sing a song, tell a story, recite a version of the Parable of the Prodigal Son (based on a copy supplied to them in advance), count numbers or recite a prayer. The recordings were made on wax matrices which were then transported to Berlin where they were converted to shellac. In this piece Zoë has interweaved recordings from: Máire McDaid: Máire counts in Irish. Anna Feely: this doesn’t directly mention Brigid but instead refers to a girl gathering rushes, often associated with Brigid and her distinctive cross. A chailín deas na luachra ‘A young man meets a beautiful young woman gathering rushes, which were traditionally used for making bedding. He tries to seduce her with various promises, and in the final verses the young woman reproaches him for the trouble he has caused her.’ Mícheál Mac Gearailt from Co. Kerry who recites a prayer to Brigid for her protection: Coigilt na tine 'The practice of banking the fire for the night was one of daily necessity in former times, whereby glowing coals would be smothered with ash to keep them smouldering until the next day, when they could be rekindled. It was usually one of the last things to be done at night, and was often accompanied by protective prayers.' Also included is: Brat agus teagasc Bhríde - by Seán Ó Colláin ‘This account of St Brigid appears to combine legends from a number of sources. The motif of Brigid's cloak is found in early hagiographies concerning the saint.’ This recording points to Brigid’s charity and her magical cloak that spread out over the lands of Kildare. Elaine Feeney joins Zoë for a walk in Renville Park in Galway to chat about Elaine’s early life on a farm, superstition, women’s safety in nature and what Brigid means to her. Elaine has written two specially commissioned pieces for the episode of Shelfmarks. Elaine is a poet and writer whose most recent book is As You Were. In the past year she has won the Kate O’Brien and the Dalkey 'emerging writer' awards. Elaine’s writing examines how history and national identity structure the everyday lives of Irish women. For this episode of Shelfmarks Elaine has written an essay and a short story prompted by the figure of Brigit, the coming of Spring and the lives of women. She also takes inspiration from the Tom Murphy Mommo trilogy - the plays, Bailegangaire and A Thief of a Christmas and of course Brigit. Her essay A Fine Roll of Cloud from the west brings us back to her early years growing up on a farm in Athenry. She describes the work she and her siblings did to keep the farm going and the brutality of working with animals. In spite of this, Elaine founds moments of beauty and escape that lay the foundations for her writing life. In The Stranger, Elaine writes an origin story for the inspiration for Seamus’ statue of Brigit in Tom Murphy’s play Brigit. Seamus carves a statue of Brigit from bog oak and in Elaine’s account, he takes inspiration from a woman in a cafe. Elaine Feeney’s book As You Were is published by Harvill Secker. Thanks to the Department of Foreign Affairs for their support of this specially commissioned episode.