I will warn you this will be a long post though I may try to make it shorter just to save myself from the internet kicking me off. No I didn't get any new internet it seems I need an Irish Bank account first so I need to take care of that and see if I can have one for only 3 months without crazy fees.
Where to begin well last time I left you to chew on the fact that the Arthurian tales you all know and have seen reenacted on numerous movies, television mini series and of course written in numerous books-are Welsh in origin not English. How is that? How have we been wrong for so long? No, no it's not that we've been wrong in the sense of not knowing that they're originally Welsh not English it's that no one bothered to fill us in of how the Arthur legend/story came to be.
You must also realize that there have been many versions of these tales/legend that appear in numerous countries. So each could in a sense lay a claim to the story as being the 'true' story because it is 'their' version not the 'original'. Do not feel horrible for not knowing this I myself was never told until I sat in class on Tuesday and was explained why I saw the Arthurian tales listed in the collection of tales I have to read for class. This collection of tales is a Medieval collection not one that came about any time recently for publishers to make money in other words. I need you all from this point on to think Medieval because in order to understand what I'm about to say you need to turn off your Modern age thinking and remember people then did not have video cameras or word processors or type writers to put down these stories. Oral tradition in the Medieval era was the way stories were told and kept. Someone had the profession in town of being the storyteller who was to learn over 100 tales and upon order retell these stories for entertainment. That is not all these storytellers could do in fact they were also the keepers of aristocratic genealogies as well as genealogies of almost everyone in town. They were also to know the entire lay of the land in town as well as how to get from one place to another. In a sense they were your GPS of the Medieval era though you didn't place them on the seat of the cart next to you as you went-they would tell you ahead of time where to go. I think if I lived at some point in time during the Medieval era in Ireland/Europe I would have been completely up for being a storyteller. However, I also have to remember that being a woman that would make it nearly impossible for me to be. Unless of course in some weird way I had a past life of being a male I could have been a storyteller. I have no idea. Lately when I go places or even read about them somehow I feel like I remember them from something. Though I've never been anywhere in Europe before. And I promise you I did not do THAT much research before I came here. Ok I did do a good deal of reading but honestly I did not have enough time to memorize everything about every inch of Europe. Or Ireland for that matter.
So what about Arthur you say? Since the primary form of keeping these stories was through oral tales it was not until at least around the 12th century anyone ever got the idea to write them down. Though the kicker here is that they were written down as Triads. Meaning the three main things apart of the story plot characters and setting. It was more or less a cheat sheet for the storytellers to recall from the depths of their memory so many stories. Well one day the Arthurian tale made it's way to England and Spain. They loved it so much they decided to write the WHOLE tale down for everyone else to read. As a result the written tale made it's way back to Wales and to their surprise it was composed as how England and Spain saw the story or at least in a way befitting to make Arthur their own hero. Wales was sort of upset by this and decided that they will write down the TRUE story because only Wales knew the original tale because they invented it. And to this day the tale is preserved in the Mabinogion a collection of 11 Medieval Welsh Tales. (By the way you can buy this book today for under 20 bucks)
The Juice. I would like to introduce you all to The Juice. (Just imagine me holding him in my hand right now it helps I promise). The Juice is a Nike Juice Plus Golfball (hence why I said my hand). Now I'm sure you're thinking what the bloody hell why do I need to be introduced to this golfball? My dears The Juice is no ordinary golfball. He has a face in fact and comes with me on all of my travels in Ireland and in Europe alike. I was introduced to The Juice this summer by a dear friend of mine Sir A. Granchalek Esq. I was told to bring Juice with me along around Ireland and then to place him into the Archives Clam box upon my return because then he will have been everywhere I had. We decided he would make a great addition to the Archives Clam when I return. For those of you wonder what an Archives Clam is it is a clam box that holds relics of past archives students who have traveled abroad. The Juice has been an interesting little conversation starter when I go places especially because wherever I go I take his photo. Or I at least try to so long as it's legal or not against his safety. (For instance the Cliffs of Moher on a blustery day would have resulted in him going over the Cliffs never to finish the journey). Yes The Juice is this little inanimate object but to me he's sort of a piece of home. At this point though I'm a bit leaning towards not putting him in the box unless he has his own little story of his adventures to go with it. So over christmas break I will be composing that up along with his photo album. So if you ever look at some of my photos you may find ones with him in it.
Menlough Castle. Menlough Castle resides up the river about 10 minutes at least in line of sight from where I reside in Galway. In order to get to the castle it is an hour walk over a bridge, down a dirt path, along a road until you can't go anyfurther, left upon a small narrow road going up hill until you come to stone gatehouse (or what's left of it). From there you go underneath the stone gate house down a lane until you come to a fence. Now against popular belief that if there is a locked fence you don't belong beyond it is thrown out the window. After climbing over the fence you walk across an open field and if you're not careful you won't see the Castle. When I first arrived with Claire and The Juice (it was a very windy day so I couldn't get his photo) we walked down a path next to the gate thinking that's where the castle was. This castle isn't an opening running tourist attraction with guided tours it's just a castle keep ruin and if you're lucky enough to find it you can see it. The path didn't have the castle but instead had a beautiful walkway lined with trees, a stone wall, mossy undergrowth beneath the trees and a grove where more bushes/moss and rocks were. Most of the trees had winding spidery like branches resembling something out of a storybook. I almost felt like it was in a part of Lord of the Rings (to give you all some reference point). It was dead silent there other than the wind and creaking branches of the trees. It was beautiful and I thought even if we couldn't find the castle just walking to see this was amazing. We walked back and asked a man working outside where the castle was he laughed and said just hop the fence you'll find it. I hopped the fence and other people were there and we told them they should hop the fence too. A cocker spaniel showed up-it went through the fence bars and lead us straight to the castle. Beneath years of overgrowth from ivy and other plants was the lasting remenants of the castle keep. My roommate said it had to have been built around 1250 due to the shape of the windows. She had recently been studying such things in class. I began taking photos feeling almost transported back to a medieval time. I walked into the ruined doorway or what was left of it, and looked around me. The castle was huge even for just a keep which were generally small. I almost instantly was hit with an idea for a small story or at least make up one about Menlough Castle in it's prime. I really wanted to know if anyone held land rights to this place because I was willing to give up my saving to buy it and put it back to normal. It sat right next to the river and for most of the eye can see was just pure landscape. The interesting thing about Ireland is that old buildings like Menlough Castle don't get knocked down for a super mall. They stand as a reminder of it's history. It soon becomes a part of the landscape. I like that. Now perhaps I'm just one of those old-fashioned souls that appreciates that but I respect it. I watched the dog run around the castle noticing that a good number of teens came there as a hideout for smoking and drinking and possibly strip poker(I found a good number of random teenage articles of clothing). I also found an old whiskey bottle sitting on a ledge. I popped out on the side by the river and found a man fishing the dog running past over to them. The others that came with us were leaving while I stood there taking it all in. Apparently it was not as grand as they were hoping for. I quietly thanked the sheep for giving up their wool for my hat because it withstood the rain and wind while I was there. After we had our fill of photos and looking around we walked back. (We went to the Menlough Castle on a Sunday back on the 20th).
And the big finish-Arthur Guinness Day. For those of you who aren't obsessed with drinking Guinness beer and since you're not in Ireland it may not seem like something you'd be aware of so I'll fill you in. Arthur Guinness Day is on Sept 24th. It is a holiday (though no one gets off work) that is held in his honor for brewing the first Guinness back in 1759. Every year Dublin holds a parade and everyone gets to drink half price pints of Guinness. This year was the marking of 250 years of the event so it was a huge deal for Ireland since a majority of people consider Guinness the water of life or the beer to trump all beers. This year Guinness was hosting 5 or 6 venues of concerts down in Dublin. I originally planned to go see Tom Jones and Jamie Cullum in concert there. I was really excited and later found out that my class schedule wouldn't let me go since my tutorials which are mandatory were on that day leaving me not enough time to catch a bus there for the concert. I was bummed naturally. Though instead I bought a older Jamie Cullum CD that only came out here instead and listened to that along with Tom Jones. Some of you are probably thinking dang you listen to Tom Jones he's old or at least to your age group old. That may be but I like Tom Jones he has been a prominent figure in my music library since I was little. I found out after he was on the stage that most pubs were showing the gigs live on TV. The thing was I didn't want to be in the pub at 5pm when I had just gotten out of class and needed to eat first before going out. It was alright I planned to go out for a pint later that night. I probably should have gone at 5pm when everyone was only somewhat totally drunk because by 9pm I was lucky to get into any pub let alone find the door. The streets were packed with people yelling screaming singing breaking glass and plastic cups. Some musicians were out playing and the place was nuts. I hadn't really been out much past 9 before in Galway unless it was during the week. After getting into a pub my roommate and I bought a pint. While waiting to get one a man at the bar started talking to me. He was nice but difficult to understand at points because of how drunk he was. He kept asking me if I could compare New York to Las Vegas or Chicago to Las Vegas and I replied I haven't been to that realm of sin yet. I discovered you cannot be too witty in comments to a man who is drunk his brain just can't compute things. So I instead said can't say never been there. After talking to him for about 10 minutes I got my pint cheered him and went upstairs. I decided after he came to the conclusion I looked 14 for a college kid I should hit the road. He was very happy though that Obama kicked Bush out office but thought he was the world's biggest idiot for doing a universal healthcare plan when his Irish brothers were a prime example of it's failure. I merely shrugged and said well perhaps since the last plan failed you cannot say it doesn't work until you try it. Though I do have to admit I have my reservations on the whole healthcare for everyone thing....the gov't doesn't alway allot enough money for things....the clunker car plan was a recent example. We were upstairs after that drinking and trying to figure out why Guinness sent the pubs a guitar hero video game to be played. It was interesting to watch people play it-I don't know how some didn't get sick with the moving colors because you can easily get dizzy enough playing it sober. I have played guitar hero before but I have a life so I'm not very good at it. When we were almost done with our pints a student came up to the bar to order drinks for his friends after being at the Freshers ball and a debate for debate society. He started talking to me and of course like every other Irish person I meet is totally excited to meet a Yank. (every time I get called a Yank the Yankee Doodle song gets stuck in my head and even the ice cream truck that drives through here plays it now). After answering the usual questions of how I like Ireland and where in the States I'm from and if we party a lot in the States he went off with his drinks with his friends. I was instructed that I should drink every night that it would be a horrid crime not to. At 4 plus euro for a pint I don't think so....but whatever floats the guys boat. On the way back people were out in the street dancing and trying to break the plastic pint cups. I laughed because they couldn't tell that it was already busted.
Well my dears I finally have been able to finish/upload this post and until later-
No comments:
Post a Comment