Peig sayers grandchildren free#
And don't forget that this globalised environment started to emerge at the same time as the Irish Free State. Keeping certain aspects of indigenous culture alive in the current globalised environment is always going to be a losing battle. have spread globally replacing much of the traditional music in popular culture around the globe. As for culture this has as much to do with the modern era as anything else, on language even France is fighting a losing battle against the infiltration of English, and in Music, rock, pop, metal etc. The major political split was a religious one, for example as someone rightly pointed out earlier Gerry Adams has a surname that is certainly English in origin. I do not believe that the Old English can be held to account on the policy of the state from 1922 onwards towards the Irish Language or Culture. For the record by surname of my acestors as far back as it goes, I am: I don't believe there is any true racial distinctions between anybody settled here. Religion is the cultural aspect that tends to be preserved ahead of other notions, much to our general vexation. It can switch in a single generation or just by moving house. Of course cultural identity is a very soft concept anyway, and in the absense of clear cultural distinctions is wide open to rumour, myth and just plain making stuff up. If the Free State had introduced a 100% Gaelic policy during at it's inception, would the "Old English" be much more visible today, or they simply genuinely don't exist anymore? While some would have rejected such a policy for "progressive" and utilitarian reasons, would anyone, other than the ones we can easily predict, have rejected it for identity reasons? For centuries many would have. Of course I am deliberately leaving out some Gaelic things but any Old English if they exist would have nothing much to complain about in modern Ireland (other than mandatory Irish maybe). Is that because they see being Gaelic as part of their identity, or is it just because it no longer means anything to people in general? After all, we live in an English society that speaks the English language, has an English literary and cultural heritage, English system of laws, English system of governance, English music, English TV, even the President is just a Queen replacement. And today most Irish are happy today with a soft focus Gaelic label being applied to them and largely don't question it.
Did they really become Gaels? The state has been quite successful at creating an Irish identity for it's inhabitants that includes most people. Probably very true, however "Irish" is different from "Gael".
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