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"Caoineadh os Cionn Coirp": The Lament for the Dead in Ireland

Author(s): Patricia Lysaght


Source: Folklore, Vol. 108 (1997), pp. 65-82
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.
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Folklore108 (1997):65-82

RESEARCH PAPER

Caoineadh os Cionn Coirp:The Lament for the Dead in


Ireland
PatriciaLysaght

Abstract
As poetry performedat crucialturning points in life, lamentationhas been a centralelement
of the culture of women in most societies. In Irelandthe custom of public improvised poetic
lamentationover deceased persons by women is attested from ancient times and persisted
into the twentieth centuryin some parts. This paper gives a brief survey of the lament
traditionin Ireland,taking into account evidence from diverse periods and sources,both
literaryand oral, as well as lament "texts"collected in the nineteenthand twentieth centuries.
A backdropto attitudes to the lament in differentsections of society expressed in the sources
is provided by considerationof the linguistic, political and, especially,the socio-religious
history of Irelandin late-medievaland modern times. In attemptingto understandthe
significanceof lamentationto the bereaved individual and community,the structureand
content of the traditionallament over the dead, its situation in the scheme of the funeral
ritual, its performance,and its effect on the audience are all considered.The pivotal role of the
keening woman in this context is also taken into account.

Introduction 2:327-40). Wake scenes including lamentation by keen-


"Laments are poetry of final parting" (Honko 1974, 9). ing women were also described. In the twentieth cen-
In different parts of the world they have been included tury attention has been paid to various aspects of the
in the rites of departure surrounding crucial turning lament for the dead in Ireland by a variety of scholars,
points in life, such as marriage, death, setting off to especially in recent decades (Bromwich 1947-8; 1948;
war and so on. In most societies ritual lamentation has 6 Tuama1961, 7-31; 6 hAilin 1971a&b;6
1978; 1981; Bourke 1988a&b; 1993; 6 CoileajinMadagaiin
been part of the r1le performance of women and a cen- 1988;
tral element of their culture. In Ireland the art of im- Lysaght 1995a&b).
To introduce this complex subject I have chosen an
provised poetic lamentation by women was highly
account by the Irish playwright John Millington Synge
developed and persisted well into the twentieth cen-
of the funeral of an old woman of eighty on the island
tury. As a poetic and song genre, it is part of the Irish
of Inishmaan in the Aran Islands about the turn of the
language tradition and is termed caoineadh,the origin
of the English word keen. Both terms-"lament" and century. This is noteworthy because it was performed
"keen"-are used interchangeably in this article. by an isolated Gaelic community in which lamenta-
The lament for the dead has been the subject of com- tion for the dead was obviously part of the fabric of
ment by visitors to Ireland since the twelfth century life, and in the absence of the priest which may have
enabled what is probably one of the most dramatic
(6 Muirithe 1978, 20-9). In the nineteenth century la-
ments collected from oral tradition began to be pub- performances of the lament on record for the nineteenth
lished. These were mainly in English translation (see, century.
for example, Croker 1824, 174-81; 1844), but a frag- After Mass this morning an old woman was buried.
ment of a lament in Irish is given in semi-phonetic script She lived in the cottagenext mine, and morethan once
in volume I of Mr and Mrs S.C. Hall's Ireland:Its Scen- before noon I heard a faint echo of the keen. I did not
ery, Character&c. Further lines of a lament in Irish were go to the wake for fear my presence might jar upon
the mourners, but all last evening I could hear the
published by John O'Donovan in TheJournalof the Kil-
strokesof a hammerin the yard, where, in the middle
kennyand South-Eastof IrelandArchaeologicalSociety,and
in 1892 a version in Irish of CaoineadhAirt Uf Laoghaire of a little crowd of idlers, the next of kin laboured
slowly at the coffin. To-day,before the hour for the
("The Lament for Art O'Leary"), the most famous sur- funeral, poteen was served to a number of men who
viving lament, was published together with an Eng- stood aboutupon the road,and a portionwas brought
lish translation in Mrs Morgan John O'Connell's The to me in my room. Then the coffin was carried out
Last Colonelof the Irish Brigade(Hall 1841-3, 1:228 note sewn loosely in sailcloth,and held near the ground by
5; O'Donovan 1858-9, 27 note 10; O'Connell 1892, three cross-poleslashed upon the top. As we moved

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66 Patricia Lysaght

down to the low eastern portion of the island, nearly states that even the death of strangers in the commu-
all the men, and all the oldest women, wearing petti- nity was marked by lamentation (Hall 1841-3, 1:229).
coats' on their heads ... came out and joined in the The importance attached to the lament for the dead is
procession. also evident from the fact that people were prepared,
While the grave was being opened the women sat
if necessary, to send messengers relatively long dis-
among the flattombstones,borderedwith a pale fringe
of early brackenand all began the wild keen, or cry- tances for keening women and also to pay them for
ing for the dead. Each old woman, as she took her their services (6 hAilin 1971a). The lament was per-
turn in the leading recitative, seemed possessed for formed in the presence of the deceased and -it was a
the moment with a profound ecstasy of grief, sway- means of expressing a sense of personal (not just con-
ing to and fro, and bending her foreheadto the stone ventional) loss, grief, love, sorrow and bitterness.
beforeher,while she called out to the dead with a per- Another document belonging linguistically to the
petually recurringchant of sobs. Old Irish period-an Irish penitential of about the ninth
All round the graveyard other wrinkled women,
century-shows that keening women were active in
looking out from under the deep red petticoats that Ireland at that period too. It also indicates that the lam-
cloaked them, rocked themselves with the same
entation was performed for people across the social
rhythm,and intoned the inarticulatechantthat is sus-
tained by all as an accompaniment... spectrum-from lay people to bishops or kings (Gwynn
The morninghad been beautifullyfine, but as they 1914; Binchy 1963, 273). The penances prescribed for
lowered the coffininto the grave, thunderrolled over- lamentation in this penitential, ranging from fifty nights
head, and hailstones hissed among the bracken. In penance for lamenting a lay person to fifteen for la-
Inishmaanone is forced to believe in a sympathy be- menting "over a bishop or king or confessor or ruler
tween man and nature,and at this moment, when the of a chief town," have been taken to indicate church
thunder sounded a death-pealof extraordinarygran- opposition to the custom (Gwynn 1914, 190), but the
deur above the voices of the women, I could see the text is problematic and the matter needs further in-
faces near me stiff and drawn with emotion.
vestigation.
When the coffin was in the grave, and the thunder Secular literaturein the Irish language from the twelfth
had rolledaway acrossthe hills of Clare,the keenbroke
out again more passionatelythan before (Synge 1992, to the sixteenth centuries-saga texts, Fenian ballads,
versions of Deirdre's well-known Lamentfor the Sons of
30-3).
Uisneach and Emer's lament for Cii Chulainn, and so
on-also bears witness to the custom of ritual lamenta-
A Brief History of the Lament Tradition in Ireland tion for the dead in Irish tradition and links its perform-
ance primarily to women (Bromwich 1948, 248-51).
An ancient custom in many parts of the world The lament for the dead was widely noted by visi-
(Rajeczky 1957; Martino 1958; Kiss and Rajeczky 1966; tors to Ireland: Giraldus Cambrensis, for example,
Brakeley 1972; Alexiou 1974; Honko 1974; Badwe mentioned the custom in his TopographiaHibernica in
Ajuwon 1981; Danforth 1982; D6mit6r 1988; Kairoly the late-twelfth century (Dimock 1867, 157. Quoted in
1990; Holst-Warhaft 1992; Kriza 1994; Lysaght 1995b), 6 Muirithe 1978a, 28; Wright 1892, 129). From the time
the performance of public improvised poetic lamenta- of the Elizabethan conquest of Ireland in the early-six-
tions by women over deceased persons appears to have teenth century, until well into the nineteenth century,
been part of the fabric of Irish life a thousand years many visitors to Ireland--outsiders in cultural and lin-
ago. For example, the lament for the dead is the dra- guistic terms-described and commented on the prac-
matic device upon which a poem in Old Irish from the
tice-usually in censorious and hostile terms. In the
eighth century turns. The poem is addressed to the nineteenth century, some Irish writers working within
Virgin Mary by the monk Blathmac Son of Cu Brettan, the English-language tradition, among them William
and familiarity with the practice of lamenting the dead Carleton and John Millington Synge, showed more
is presumed (Carney 1964, 62-105; 1965, 45-57. See also understanding of the cultural context and psychologi-
Lambkin 1985-6). Furthermore, the attitudes to lam- cal role of the custom.
entation for the dead expressed in this early-Christian Church documentation from the seventeenth to the
poem, the manner of performance combining words twentieth centuries is a most important source of in-
(probably sung or chanted) and actions (including the formation about the extent and vigour of the practice.
clapping of hands2) and the conventional concepts In the post-Reformation period the Catholic Church
employed, are strikingly similiar to those which per- (though not the state) in Ireland remained consistently
tain to the improvised ritual lament over the dead in opposed to the custom, as well as to what it consid-
Ireland during the last two centuries (Carney 1964, 3, ered other "abuses" at wakes and funerals. Synodal
23, 43 and 51). In Blathmac's time (and also in later meetings of bishops from the seventeenth to the twen-
centuries), loud public lamentation over a deceased tieth century issued regulations on a fairly regular ba-
person in a large public gathering was portrayed as an sis in an attempt to stamp out this and other funeral
integral part of the funeral ritual and essential to the practices considered to be unchristian, unseemly and
honour of the deceased. Indeed, this belief remained a danger to public and private morality (6 S6illeabhiin
so strong that an account from the nineteenth century 1971, 19-23; Connolly 1982, 159-65; Corish 1986, 213).

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Caoineadh os Cionn Coirp: The Lamentfor the Dead in Ireland 67

One such regulation, dating from the eighteenth cen- earthly life, possessions, achievement, status and so
tury (the period from which the earliest and most out- on, and is accompanied by displays of grief consid-
standing remaining examples of the ritual lament date), ered by church authorities to be "immoderate" and
is quoted here in full, as it specifies what were prob- inconsistent with Christian belief in salvation.
ably the main reasons for Church objections to the cus- John Millington Synge also obviously perceived Chris-
tom. The vehemence of ecclesiastical opposition to it tian prayers for the dead and the traditional lament as
is evident, especially in relation to the hiring of incongruous: "Beforethey covered the coffin an old man
lamenters, and in the stringent sanctions to be imposed kneeled down by the grave and repeated a simple prayer
for breaches of the regulation: for the dead. There was irony in these words of atone-
ment and Catholic belief spoken by voices that were still
hoarse with the cries of pagan desperation" (Synge 1992,
Diocese of Leighlin (1748)
32). Synge, of Protestant Anglo-Irish stock and mainly
Whereaslikewise the heathenishcustoms of loud cries English-speaking, was, of course, effectively a cultural
and howlings at wakes and burials are practised outsider on the Aran Islands.
amongst us, contraryto the express commandmentof The contents of the regulation also give valuable
St. Paul in his Epist.to theThess.forbiddingsuch cries
and immoderategrief for the dead, as if they were not insight into the performance and compositional con-
texts of the lament and the attitudes of the people to it
to rise again, and to the great shame of our nation,
since no such practiceis found in any other Christian at that time. Lamenting the dead is shown to be cen-
in some partsof this diocesesome tral to the ritual of wake and funeral, but it is also sug-
country;and Whereas
have the deplorable vanity in the very time of their gested that families may have regarded its perform-
humiliation and that God has visited them with the ance as an opportunity to enhance their standing in
death of a friend, not only to glory in the number of the community by ensuring that the deceased was gen-
cries, but in order the more to feed their vanity and erously lamented. The wake for the dead, anchored
add fuel to their pride, do even send far and near to for so long in the home setting in Ireland, offered the
hire men and women to cry and compose vain ful-
family one of its best opportunities, perhaps, to ex-
some rhymes in praise of their deceased friends. It is hibit its wealth and possessions to relatives and com-
therefore (ordained) all Parish Priests and religious
munity (for the perspective of death as "opportunity"
laymen of this Diocese areherebystrictlychargedand see Taylor 1989).
commanded, in virtue of holy obedience, to use all
In the event that family members were unable to
possible means to banish from Christianburials such
anti-Christianpractices, by imposing arbitrarypun- lament the deceased formally, the passage clearly con-
ishment of prayers,fasting, alms and suchlike whole- firms that semi-professional mourners who had no
some injunctionson as many men and women as will personal connection with the family might also be
loudly cry and howl at burials. But as to such men hired-for a remuneration in cash or kind or both-to
and women as will or do make it their trade to cry or perform a formal poetic lament in praise of the de-
rhyme at burials, we decree and declare that for the ceased and to express grief at his demise. Keening was
first crime of this kind they shall not be absolved by one of a number of services performed by non-family
any but the Ordinaryor his representativesand in the members at a bereavement. Others include the neigh-
case of a relapse,the aforesaidcriersor rhymersare to bour who led the prayers for the dying and the rosary
be excluded from Mass and the Sacraments,and in
for the dead during the wake, the "handy-woman"
case of perseverancein this detestable practice,they
are to be excommunicated and denounced (0 who laid out the corpse, and the carpenter who made
1971, 139). the coffin. The "professional" aspect of the lamenting
Suiilleabhaiin
tradition was viewed with horror by the church au-
The lament over the dead and other wake "abuses" thorities and by most of the visitors to the country.
became a target of what might be regarded as a civilis- Their reaction came to be shared by many in Ireland,
ing campaign of the post-Tridentine Catholic church and by the nineteenth century it was the hostility and
in Ireland, as it attempted to reshape the religious and even contempt from within Irish society, emanating
moral life of the Catholic population. The regulation most notably from the Catholic hierarchy but shared
reveals the gulf in attitudes between the church au- by other sections of society (6 Muirithe 1978a, 26),
thorities and the laity, who seem to have regarded these which fundamentally undermined the lament tradi-
practices as much a part of the complex of rituals sur- tion. This process was hastened by other factors, such
rounding death as the prayers for the dead and the as the Great Famine in the mid-nineteenth century and
funeral liturgy. It highlights some of the most striking the forces of modernisation in the twentieth century,
features of the lament for the dead, starting off with and led ultimately to its demise as an integral part of
what probably is its most outstanding characteristic, mortuary ritual in Ireland-though it still occasionally
at least when viewed from the standpoint of Irish cul- manifests itself in an attenuated form in Gaeltacht or
ture which has been Christian for well over a thou- Irish-speaking areas of Ireland to the present time (0
sand years, that is the lack of references to the Chris- Madagain 1981, 311; and see pages 69-70 below).
tian afterlife, to heaven, hell or purgatory. Death, por- Catholic Church disapproval was conveyed to the
trayed as an outrage, is marked by the glorification of people by the parish clergy, who were expected to be

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68 PatriciaLysaght

diligent in attempting to stamp out practices of this introduced in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin in
kind: "... the priests from their pulpits constantly de- the 1850s, and in 1918 the new Code of Canon Law laid
nounce this custom, endeavouring by prayers and down that the funeral liturgy and Mass should hence-
threats to abolish it, and assuredly very justly, for it is forth take place in the church (Corish 1986, 213)-
offensive to the living and of no use to the dead" (Kelly though of course progress was geographically and so-
1848-52. Quoted 6 Coiledin1988, 115).Verbal clashes be- cially uneven. When one-night wakes became general,
tween the clergy and the paid lamenting women, who the lament over the dead (and also wake games) began
had a vested interest in the continuance of the custom, to lose momentum.
are also reported from the eighteenth and nineteenth cen- Another factor which greatly assisted the church in
turies (ibid. 116;6 Suiilleabhaiin1971, 141-2. See also, IFC its efforts to root out wake practices and thereby to
50:215-18; IFC53:68-70). Some priests, however, opposed hasten the decline of the traditional death-lament was
the custom in a more robust way, as the following ac- the emergence, in the decades after the Great Famine
count by Sedin0 Suiilleabhainof a confrontation between (1845-50), of a newly-prosperous and conservative
a priest and female lamenters in a remote area of rural Catholic middle-class laity, consciously modelling it-
Ireland at the beginning of this century so vividly shows: self on a Protestant elite with strong Victorian values,
for whom traditional funerary rituals involving lively
My father told me that he attended a funeral in the
parishof Tuosist,in South Kerry,at the turn of the cen- wakes and lamentation for the dead were an embar-
tury.As the coffinwas being taken in a cartto the local rassment (Corish 1986, chaps 5-8; Connolly 1987, 53-4
graveyardat Kilmackillogue,threewomen keeners sat and 62-9; Lysaght 1994, 192-3). A growing sensitivity
on top of it, howling and wailing at intervals.The par- to their position in society became evident among the
ish priest, on horseback,met the funeralnear Derreen, farming population from around the mid-century. From
a few miles from the graveyard,and rode at its head County Kilkenny, a largely prosperous farming area in
along the road. As soon as he heard the three women the southeast of Ireland, we hear in relation to the la-
howl loudly, he turned his horse around and trotted ment for the dead that:
back until he reachedthem, where they sat on the cof-
fin. He started to lash them with his whip, as the cart it would be hard to procurea genuine specimen now,
passed by,and orderedthem to be silent. This they did, as the people are beginning to feel ashamed of them,
but on reachingthe graveyard,they again took up their and unwilling to repeat them for fear of ridicule, of
wailings, whereuponthe priestforcedthem down from which they are very sensitive.
the coffinwith his whip. They were afraidto enter the All decent half-civilisedpeople now laugh at these
graveyardto howl at the graveside.This put an end to elegies, and hence the better class of farmershave en-
the hiring of keening women in that parish (0 tirely given them up, except in very few instances,
Stiilleabhain 1971, 143). where some old female member of the family cannot
be restrainedfromventingher griefin the realold strain
The Catholic clergy, conscious of their growing sta-
of poetry, accompanying it with that howling which
tus within Irish society, and "becoming more Protes- seems now to be peculiar to the old Irish (O'Donovan
tant in their conversation and manners" were aspiring 1858-9, 27 note 10).
to new models of behaviour in nineteenth-century Ire-
land. They were thus "anxious to distance themselves Societal changes affecting both laity and the Catho-
from the less sophisticated elements of their religious lic clergy, therefore, as well as the decline of the Irish
heritage" (Connolly 1987, 52-3). In addition, by the mid- language (de Freine 1978, 37-55) and the strengthening
nineteenth century, the Catholic church had itself position of the Catholic Church in terms of status, or-
emerged from a period of internal reform more ener- ganisation and congregational discipline in the course
of the nineteenth century, contributed to the decline (and
getic and orthodox in outlook and increasingly deter-
mined to bring religious practices, especially those con- eventual demise) of the traditional lament for the dead
nected with the crucial rite of passage, death, within as an active element of mortuary ritual in twentieth-
the control of the parish church. The parish-mission century Ireland.
movement, which began in 1840, gained momentum
in the 1850s and persisted throughout the remainder of Revelry and Reconciliation
the nineteenth century and beyond, played a crucial However, the fact that the custom of lamentation over
r81e in this connection. It seems that mortuary rituals a deceased person continued for so long in Ireland in
classed as "abuses" were targets of the missioners' "fire the face of such condemnation and disapproval, and
and brimstone" sermons, and their condemnation was was considered a necessary part of mortuary rituals, is
augmented by a threat of refusal of absolution to those clear evidence of its deep-rooted significance. As an
who took part in them (0 Stiilleabhdiin 1971, 157). Of integral part of the wake for the dead it must be con-
particular adverse significance for the wake for the dead sidered in conjunction with that other well-known as-
with its attendant lament tradition, was the required pect of Irish obsequies-revelry. The meaning and sig-
removal of the deceased to the church on the second nificance of the lamentation and revelry which charac-
night of the wake-when the larger crowd of relatives terised some wakes of the past in Ireland are viewed
usually attended, and lamenting would, therefore, be by tradition-bearers today partly in terms of adherence
more frequent and intense. This change was already to traditional practices and partly as a show of com-

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Caoineadh os Cionn Coirp: The Lamentfor the Dead in Ireland 69

munity solidarity with the bereaved family. These im- have been perceived as being of, and for, the moment,
pressions can be deepened and extended, however, by rather than for posterity. In addition, as an oral compo-
reference to ideas and interpretations brought to the sition (associated especially with women), the lament
fore in anthropological analyses of mortuary rituals in found no place in the literary canon or manuscript tra-
this century. Essentially Durkheimian and rooted in the dition, and its survival therefore depended on memory,
structural-functionalist tradition and in the work of transmission and chance collection, in some cases long
Hertz and van Gennep in particular (Hertz 1960; van after it was first uttered (0 Coileaiin 1988, 115).
Gennep 1960), the benefits of some of this research have A lament composed around the middle of the nine-
been brought to bear on the interpretation of Irish wake teenth century was transcribed from oral dictation as
practices. Recent approaches in this connection suggest late as the 1930s. According to oral tradition about the
that what may be regarded as the two key elements of composition and performance of this lament, it is said
the wake-lamenting and revelry-correspond to the that the deceased's mother on hearing of his death, trav-
two universal features of the funeral rites of traditional elled twenty miles on foot to Cork city where her son
cultures identified in van Gennep's analysis of passage had been killed as a result of a fall from his horse, to
ritual, namely public mourning and a period of licence. perform the lament over his body (0 Murchadha 1939,
In that context, the lament is considered a primary force 22-3). A fragment of a lament published in the Irish
in enabling the transition of the deceased person into language around the middle of the nineteenth century,
the ambiguous Christian/ ancestral otherworld of Irish appeared in Irisleabharna Gaedhilge ("Gaelic Journal")
tradition and in effecting incorporation among the fam- (3 [1889]:104-6). Another said to have been composed
ily ancestors. The lamenting woman is viewed as both by the same well-known keening woman, Maiire Ni
a symbol and an agent of that process, while the games
Dhonnagaiin, Sliabh gCua, County Waterford, for her
and revelry are a means of reasserting continuing vi- brother was published in the same journal (4 [1889]:29).
tality and the potential for renewal in the community However, this latter example is more in the style of lit-
after the disruption caused by death (Honko 1974, 58 erary elegy than a traditional lament over the dead.
note 137; Karoly 1990, 228-9; 0 Crualaoich 1990, 146- The most elaborate surviving Irish-language "texts"
7; see also Turner 1974). date from the eighteenth century. One of them discussed
Of central importance in the obsequies, the lament here, Caoineadh Airt Uf Laoghaire("The Keen for Art
for the dead can be perceived, therefore, as a ritual O'Leary"), though referring to a death which occurred
embodying the power to effect reconciliationbetween in 1773, was written down from oral narration only at
the deceased and the bereaved family and community the beginning of the nineteenth century, and appeared
in order to effect the transfer to the otherworld and the in print for the first time towards the end of that cen-
proper incorporation with the ancestors-for the sake tury (O'Connell 1892).3
of the deceased and the living mourning group. This It seems that the liveliest interest in the lament for
reconciliation is to be achieved by means of the poetic the dead was in fact shown by visitors to Ireland and
expression of praise and grief addressed to the corpse other writers who, as already noted, were outsiders in
who, according to folk belief in parts of Ireland, retains cultural and linguistic terms. In fact the earliest pub-
the power of hearing until the priest throws three shov- lished "texts" of the traditional lament are English trans-
els of earth on the coffin at burial (0 hAilin 1971b, 7). lations by such people, some of whom thought little of
From this standpoint the lament can be perceived as of taking from or embellishing them. Thomas Crofton
primary symbolic significance to the deceased. That it Croker, for example, describes how an embellished
was also of symbolic and psychological importance to English versification of a lament by him had drawn very
the bereaved community, and the individual as well, favourable comment, and admits to omitting the for-
will become evident from the following discussions. It mulaic opening line of stanzas in some of his transla-
is necessary, therefore, to consider the structure and tions (Croker 1844, xxiii and 96). In many cases, these
content of the traditional lament over a deceased per- "texts" were also taken down from oral recitation long
son, its situation in the scheme of the funeral ritual, its after they were first performed and it is thus not al-
performance, and its effect on the audience. ways possible to relate the "text," or segments of it, to
the various stages of the wake or funeral.
"Texts" of the Lament for the Dead Virtually the same situation prevails in relation to
laments collected by folklorists and others in the twen-
In view of the fact that the lament for the dead was tieth century. Although the lament for the dead per-
constantly referred to by visitors to Ireland for many sisted as an active mortuary ritual into the early-twen-
centuries, it is surprising that there are relatively few tieth-century, no field record of lament texts or the lam-
substantial examples of individual lament "texts" in the entation performance in context appear to be available.
Irish language in existence. Some reasons can be put It has not been possible to unearth illustrations for this
forward for this. First of all, the nature of the lament as period of wake scenes involving the lament for the dead,
an oral product must be borne in mind. As part of the and only meagre examples of the music remain (0
living oral tradition, continually reworked and renewed Madag in 1981, 311-32; see also Appendix below). Ex-
for different individuals at different wakes and funer-
cept for a few fragments providing what must be no
als, the lament "text,"with outstanding exceptions, may more than a faint echo of the former vigour and full-

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70 PatriciaLysaght

ness of the tradition, the lament was not recorded even ces 2-4 below) or consist of sharp satiric verses imply-
though an active tradition of lament performance per- ing contention or verbal battles between women. These
sisted into the age of sound recording (though a poor memorable occasions and verses were clearly relished
quality tape-recording of loud chanting and stylised by the audience and remembered in oral tradition.
sobbing at a graveside in Carna, County Galway in 1979 The following stanza of a lament by a widow for her
was broadcast on the national radio in 1980. ibid., 311- only son was recorded from Peig Sayers, the famous
12). This was due partly to the reluctance of collectors Blasket Island storyteller, in 1944. Before reciting the
to intrude upon the occasion of death, recognising the verse Peig described the moment of performance, tell-
sacredness of the occasion and its ritual-and its "own- ing how the widow had just laid out her son in readi-
ership," as it were, by the mourning group. In addi- ness for the wake, when two men came in to measure
tion, there was the reluctance of tradition-bearers to the body for a coffin. In a paroxysm of grief she threw
perform the lament except in the context of death ("Sure herself on her knees beside the body, and, weeping co-
'tis no use keening unless the corpse is stretched out piously and wringing her hands, she intoned:
before one." Croker 1844, 101). Collectors of the Irish
Muise, mo ghra th6iis mo chumann!
Folklore Commisssion, who were involved in intensive Is ta t6gtha inniu do thoise,
sound-recording programmes in the 1940s, found that Is ni le breidin dubh na gorm,
tradition-bearers in the Irish-speaking areas of the west Ach le adhmaid tir na coille
of Ireland from whom they had recorded an abundance Is le tiirni crua ta fuinte (IFC965:87).
of folklore material, and who were known to be able to
[My love and my dear!
perform the ritual lament, were rarely willing to give Yourmeasurementwas taken today
an out-of-context demonstration. This reluctance may Not with black or blue frieze,6
have applied more to women, the traditional perform- But with unseasoned timber,
ers of the lament. A recent commentator records that And fastened with hard nails]
an elderly Gaeltachtwoman who had given a demon- (TranslationPatriciaLysaght).
stration of lamenting for a visitor blamed a subsequent
death in the family on her behaviour (0 Madagaiin 1981, For earlier periods there are numerous contempo-
328 note 4). Most of the documented sound recordings rary impressions of the performance of the lament es-
of keening were performed and collected by men, who pecially by visitors to Ireland from the sixteenth to the
nineteenth centuries. Many of them, unable to appreci-
may have been less reluctant than women to simulate ate the poetry of the lament, concentrated on the sound
a keening situation. One tradition-bearer, SeAn 0
Conaola from Cois Fhairrge, County Galway, recently and on emotional and behavioural aspects. These they
deceased-from whom a lament was recorded on almost invariably considered barbarous and uncivi-
record in 1946 (see Appendix 1)-recalls lised-not realising that the lament was a disciplined
gramophone
that he sung the lament over the "corpse" of the folk- expression of grief. Even Croker, who had a strong in-
terest in Irish tradition and tended to present a rela-
song collector, Seamus Ennis, who lay on the floor with
his hat on his chest in an attitude of death.4 However, it tively balanced view of Irish customs, considered the
is still possible to glimpse the power of the lament as lament for the dead a trait of "the less civilised" (Irish-
an expression of heightened emotions when older speaking?) areas of the country:
women in Gaeltachtareas occasionally break into loud The Irish funeralhowl is notorious, and although this
stylised chanting and sobbing at the wake or funeral of vociferous expressionof grief is on the decline, thereis
a contemporary (this occurred at a wake in the Don- still, in the less civilized parts of the country,a strong
egal Gaeltacht as recently as November 1994). Nowa- attachmentto the custom, and many may yet be found
who are keeners or mourners for the dead by profes-
days, though, the keening woman is usually alone and
the lament is in rudimentary form. sion (Croker1824, 172-3).
However, there are still many people in or from Our knowledge and appreciation of the content, per-
Gaeltachtareas who witnessed the lament in context as formance and functions of the traditional lament for
children, and are thus valuable sources of information the dead in Ireland are, therefore, to be gleaned from
about its performance and conventions. For example, this mixed bag of historical, literary and folklore sources
as recently as March 1995 during a recording session in covering many centuries.
the archive of the Department of Irish Folklore, a tradi-
tion bearer from the Dingle peninsula-an Irish-speak-
Lament Performances
ing area in west Kerry-described the traditional la-
ment over her deceased aunt performed by her mother The lament is a poem "born out of a moment" (Volmari
and other female relatives in her grandmother's home Porkka quoted by Honko 1974, 25). It is composed in
in 1937.5 Further information of this kind and exam- performance, and though there is some indication that
ples of lament "texts" are to be found in the archives of laments in Ireland may have been performed on other
the Department of Irish Folklore. Most of the references major occasions of parting-emigration and eviction
are from the 1930s. There are relatively few substantial
(0 Madagdin 1981, 317 and 330 note 23), the event which
lament "texts," and a sizeable proportion of those on facilitates and demands its oral composition in the Irish
record are mock laments (see, for example, Appendi- context is a death, usually of a male member of a fam-

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Caoineadh os Cionn Coirp: The Lamentfor the Dead in Ireland 71

ily (though there is at least one example of a mother's between lamenting women representing the relatives
lament for her daughter. 6 hAilin 1971b, 7). Its princi- of the dead man on the one hand, and the wife and her
pal interpreter is the lamenting woman, usually a close relatives on the other (Dinneen and O'Donoghue 1911,
relative of the deceased, who leads and controls the lii-liii; and see Appendix 5 below).
lamentation experience (IFC 433:25-6; see also Honko Among the finest, and best-remembered, examples of
1974, 26). the lament for the dead which have survived are those
In its most developed form in Ireland, the traditional addressed by a close woman relative-mother, sister,wife
lament or keen was a long extempore poem of eulogy or nurse--to a dead man. In the middle decades of the
and sorrow composed in Rosc metre. According to 0 twentieth century an old man from the southeast of Ire-
Tuama, this is a very old metre and was used prior to land still remembered the lament of a widow over the
the coming into vogue of the syllabic metres in the body of her husband who had been a ploughman. Ad-
eighth to ninth centuries (6 Tuama 1961, 22). This an- miring and praising his skill, but yet concerned with the
cient metre persisted, it appears, in Ireland and Scot- domestic difficulties the absence of a husband would cre-
land and was used especially for the purposes of the ate, she addressed the corpse as follows:
extempore lamentations for the dead. It is the metre in
which the earliest surviving examples of such laments tirigh suas id' sheasamh,
A's gaibh do sheisreachcapall!
are composed (for the music of the lament in Ireland
T6g f6d chtiig n-6rla ar treasnacht;
see de Noraidh 1965, 28; 0 Madagaiin 1981, 311-20; de Feach ormsa, a thaisce,
Noraidh and 0 hOgaiin 1994, 133 and 245; and Appen- 'S gan tada 'gam mar thaca,
dix 3 below). The leading woman set the rhythm and Ag dul ag baint na ag gearradh!
chanted or sung the verses in what has been described Ce dheanfaidhgn6 an mharga?
as a "plaintive recitative," a "simple unornamented Ce raghaidhgo Cnoc an Aifrinn,
kind [of chant] strongly reminiscent of Latin plainsong," A's tusa sinte feasta?Och, och6n!
with "no musical metre, complete freedom being given
[Rise and stand up
to language with several syllables and sometimes whole And tackle your plough-team!
phrases being sung on the same note" (0 Madagaiin Plough a five-inch furrow;
1978, 314-5). At the close of each stanza she led a cho- Look at me, my treasure,
ral cry (gol) in which the female relatives of the deceased With nobody to help me
and other mourners usually joined, repeating through- When I go reaping or cutting!
out the exclamation Och-ochdn! or some such words, Who will do my business at the market
Who will go to the hill of the Mass
by way of a burden to the verses (0 Madagaiin 1981,
As you lie stretchedfrom now on?
312-13; for the music of gol, ibid. 318-20).
Och, och6n!]
Other keening women present at the wake, or rela-
tives who had the gift of poetry, might also take turns (6 Suilleabhain1971, 132).
at leading the lament (see IFC 619:420-1), and if it hap-
CaoineadhAirt Ui Laoghaire--'TheLamentfor Art
pened that two renowned keeners attended or were
hired for the same wake, they might chant the dirge in O'Leary'
alternate verses and be joined by the other mourners in The most elaborate, and one of the most famous sur-
performing the choral cry (0 hOgaiin 1980, 20-1). Even viving examples of the genre, also happens to be a la-
more elaborate performances by four or more lamenters ment by a wife for her deceased husband. Caoineadh
are also on record. Eugene O'Curry, the nineteenth-cen- Airt Ui Laoghaire"The Lament for Art O'Leary," com-
tury Gaelic scholar, describes one such performance: posed by his poet wife Eibhlin Ni Chonaill, the aunt of
One stood near the head of the bed or table on which Daniel O'Connell, "The Liberator." At about fifteen
the corpse was laid, one at the feet, who was charged years of age she had already composed a lament on the
with the care of the candles, and one or more at each death of her first husband, an elderly man, who had
side; the family and the immediate friends of the de- died within six months of marriage (6 Tuama 1961, 8).
ceased sat around near the table. The mourner at the Her second husband, Art, a former officer in the Aus-
head opened the dirge with the firstnote or part of the trian army, was shot dead in County Cork in 1773, when
cry;she was followed by the one at the foot with a note he was only twenty-six years old and the father of two
or part of equal length, then the long or double part young children. "The Lament forArt O'Leary" has long
was sung by the two side mourners, after which the been recognised as a powerful exemplar of the Gaelic
members of the family and friends of the deceased tradition from which it sprang. Parts of it were remem-
joined in the common chorus at the end of each stanza
of the funeralode or dirge, following as closely as they bered and recited in Gaeltachtareas of Cork and Kerry
could the air or tune adopted by the professional until well into this century, and were written down at
mourners ... (Quoted 0 Stiilleabhiin 1971, 136). intervals during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The lament was first written down from the recita-
Competition and contention might arise between them tion of a County Cork keening woman in 1800, and
(ibid., 137-8), however, and the lament performance again from the same woman prior to her death in 1873.
might develop into a session of mutual recrimination- She lived about twelve miles from the scene of Art
often relished and long remembered in oral tradition- O'Leary's shooting. These are the most comprehensive

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72 Patricia Lysaght

extant versions of the lament and form the basis of 6 cestors she performed her final public session of lam-
Tuama's 1961 composite version, though several short entation. It also appears that she added some stanzas
texts collected from oral tradition (a number of which to the lament in later years (0 Tuama 1961, 7 and 86-7).
stem from IFC manuscripts) were also used (0 Tuama On the basis of Scottish material (Bromwich 1948,
1961, 7-8 and 46-50). A number of translations have 247-8), it is evident that by the second half of the sev-
also appeared (these include: O'Connor 1970; Dillon enteenth century at the latest, certain regular stylistic
1971; Jackson 1971, 268-74). Unless otherwise stated, features and a repertoire of stock metaphors had de-
the lines quoted in Irish below are taken from 6 Tuama veloped which could be, and were, used over and over
1961 and the English translation from Dillon 1971. again by keening women. Many of these are used by
Consisting of almost four hundred lines, "The La- Eibhlin Ni Chonaill to give a formal external structure
mentfor Art O'Leary"is the Irish example par excellence to her lamentation. As lamenter she speaks directly to
of the genre, and it is worthy of consideration here for the deceased addressing him in simple terms of endear-
a number of reasons. As it was the most extensive sur- ment-Mo charathu is mo shearc-mhaoin!(My friend and
viving lament "text," it was possible, on the basis of my treasure!); Mo chara thu is mo thaitneamh!(My love
textual and contextual details, to arrange it in five parts, and my pleasure!). (These sorts of phrases were tradi-
each one referring to a particular phase of the wake tionally repeated several times at the commencement
and funeral ceremonial, thereby providing a rare of each verse "to allow time for the mental arrange-
glimpse of possible lament discourse at the various cru- ment [and metrical shape] of the verse which is to fol-
cial stages of the obsequies. Additionally, it provides low" (ibid., 242). She describes the former lavish hos-
not only a catalogue of conventional themes and im- pitality of his home, an introductory motif in many sur-
ages found in lament poetry the world over, and en- viving laments (ibid., 243; Hall 1841-3, 1:227). She de-
capsulates the political and cultural atmosphere of its scribes his noble appearance on horseback and how his
time, but perhaps even more significantly, it can also enemies retreated before him:
be read as an exposition of two journeys by the lament-
Mo charago daingean tu!
ing woman in question, who was also the chief mourner: Is cuimhin lem aigne
a private journey through the grief and mourning proc- Gur bhrea thiodh hata dhuit,
ess, from denial through anger to acceptance of death; An 1i brea earraighid,
and a public journey in her symbolic role as agent of Faoi bhanda 6ir tarraingthe,
transition and incorporation. Claiomh cinn airgid-
Because of the exceptional nature of Art O'Leary's Laimhdheas chalma-
death-it appears that he was killed at the behest of a Rompsaiilbhagarthach-
neighbouring Protestant land-owner named Morris, to Fir chritheagla
whom he had refused to sell his famous chestnut mare Ar naimhaidchealgach-
for five pounds, as required under a provision of the Tti i gc6ir chun falaracht,
Is each caol ceannann7flit.
Penal Laws-and because of the manner of burial, it
D'umhlaidis Sasanaigh
appears that the lament was composed in sections at a Sios go talamh duit ...
number of locations over a period of time. It is likely
that Eibhlin performed the initial, most personal and [My friend forever!
intimate, part of the lament at the spot where her hus- My mind remembers
band had died. Here she recalls their elopement and That fine spring day
How well your hat suited you,
marriage, her husband's personal appearance and per-
Brightgold banded
sonality, and describes her furious gallop on his chest- Sword silver-hilted-
nut mare to the scene of the fatal shooting. A second
Right hand steady-
phase of lamentation occurred during the wake in the Threateningaspect-
O'Leary home prior to the removal of the body for Tremblingterror
burial. Her duty then was to pay public honour and Our treacherousenemy-
respect to the deceased by reciting his genealogy and You poised for a canter
recalling his nobility and wealth. At this point a sharp On your slender bay horse.
verbal conflict seems to have arisen between Eibhlin, The Saxons bowed to you,
as chief mourner and lamenter, and her sister-in-law Down to the ground to you ...]
(see Appendix 5 below). Art was given temporary She praises his noble lineage and the natural beauty
burial, probably because of a decree of the Penal Laws and fertility of his petite patrie, and she calls on him to
prohibiting burial within monastic precincts (Bromwich rise up and come home with her as a hero:
1948, 237); and between this burial and his final inter-
Mo charathu is mo chuid!
ment in the O'Leary cemetery, Eibhlin added to her la-
A mharcaighan claimh ghil
ment, giving public vent to rage and grief, naming and
Jirigh suas anois,
cursing those responsible for her husband's death and Cuir ort do chulaith
calling for revenge (which was realised) (Bromwich Jadaigh uasail ghlain,
1948, 238-9). As he was finally laid to rest with his an- Chuir ort do bhdabhardubh,

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Caoineadh os Cionn Coirp: The Lamentfor the Dead in Ireland 73

Tarraingdo lamhainniumat. is a reference to a premonitory dream which forebodes


Sitid i in airde t'fhuip; his death; the grief at his death is reflected in nature;
Sin i do lair amuigh. and comely women are said to be bereft at his untimely
Buail-se an b6thar caol id soir, demise.
Mar a maol6idh romhatna toir, This lament is essentially a structured personal, tribal
Mar a gcaol6idh romhatna sruth ...
and communal response to death in the traditional
[My friend and my dear! manner. It invites interpretation on a number of levels:
Oh bright-swordedrider, it can be read as a public document in response to a
Rise up this moment, public duty, one that is redolent of the political, reli-
Put on your fine suit
gious and cultural antagonisms and tensions of eight-
Of clean, noble cloth,
Put on your black beaver, eenth-century Ireland, and concerned, too, with the
cosmic significance of death; but it is also a review of
Pull on your gauntlets.
the significant moments of the shared private life of
Up with your whip; Eibhlin Ni Chonaill and Art O'Leary. Drawing on an-
Outside your mare is waiting.
Takethe narrowroad east, cient lament conventions and on her own powers of
Wherethe trees thin before you improvisation, and taking advantage of the dramatic
Where streamsnarrowbefore you]. potential of the metre, Eibhlin Ni Chonaill unleashes a
range of emotions-love, loss, guilt, grief, pity, family
Emphasising her loss still further she states that she
is not calling on dead family members or ancestors, or pride, anger and revenge-all within the schema of the
traditional lament for the dead. Skilfully intermingling
on those who have emigrated, but rather on Art him-
stock motifs with the expression of individual grief, she
self:
powerfully creates a picture of an intimate relationship
Mo ghri thti is mo chumann! as she tells of her elopement and marriage, her weep-
ing children calling in vain for their dead father, and
Ni hiad go lhir ata agam da ngairm her memories of her husband returning to kiss her and
Ach Art a bhaint areirda bhonnaibh his children as he left home for the last time. While ex-
Ar inse Charraigan Ime!-
Marcachna lairachdoinne ... pressing the personal anguish of wife / lamenter, she also
draws on age-old tradition, depicting herself as the ar-
[My love and my treasure! chetypical keening woman embodying the disorder and
disarray, even the "madness," of death (Partridge 1980,
It's not all of them I'm calling
25-37). Epitomising her liminal status as symbol and
But on Art who was slain last night
At the inch of Carriganima!- agent of transition and incorporation, she drinks her
dead hero's blood, just as Emer is said to have done for
The brown mare's rider ... ]
Cuichulainn, and Deirdre for Naoise (Bromwich 1948,
She engages in verbal conflict with members of her 249). In what is perhaps the most dramatic and power-
husband's family. Addressing her deceased husband, fully symbolic sequence in the poem, she details her
she disputes her sister-in-law's accusation that she went journey through the wilderness of disorientation to re-
to bed on the night of his wake, which would have im- claim her husband's body from nature so that the nec-
plied disrespect for him, stating that it was necessary essary transition rites can be performed. Alerted to her
in order to calm his distressed children. She curses his husband's fate by the return of the riderless and blood-
enemies or the person who informed on him and those stained mare, she takes three leaps from culture into
responsible for his death: nature (Douglas 1976):
Greadadhchughat is dith Thugas l4im go tairsigh,
A MhorrisghrAnaan fhill! An trio lim ar do chapall.
A bhain diom fear mo thi Do bhuaileas go luath mo bhasa
Athairmo leanbh gan aois : Is do bhaineas as na reathaibh
Dis acu ag sitiil an ti. Chomh maith is bhi s~ agam,
'S an trii duine acu istigh im chli, Go bhfuarasromhamtu marbh
Agus is d6cha ni cuirfead diom. Cois toirin iseal aitinn,
Gan Pipa gan easpag,
[Badluck and misfortune Gan clhireachgan sagart
Come down on you, Morris! Do 16ifeadhort an tsailm,
That snatched my protector, Ach seanbheanchrfonnachaite
My unborn child's father: Do leath ort binn di fallaing -
Two of them walking Do chuid fola leat 'na sraithibh;
And the third within me, Is nfor fhanas le hi ghlanadh
And not likely I'll bear it]. Ach i 61 suas lem basaibh.
Other conventional motifs of the lament for the dead
[My first leap was to the threshold
also occur in the stanzas performed by Art's sister. There My second reachedthe gateway

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74 PatriciaLysaght

My third leap reachedthe saddle. psychological implications of the lament, and to un-
I struckmy hands together derstand the role of the lamenting woman within the
I made the bay horse gallop family and community.
As fast as I was able,
Although the occasions during the obsequies when
Till I found you dead before me the lament was performed varied somewhat from area
Beside a little furze-bush.
to area, nevertheless a certain pattern emerges. Lament-
WithoutPope or bishop,
Withoutpriest or cleric ing or keening was not permitted at the bedside of a
To read the death-psalmsfor you, dying person as this was believed to prolong the agony
But a spent old woman only of death (Lysaght 1995a, 43; for a similar injunction in
Who spread her cloak to shroud you- Greek tradition see Alexiou 1974, 5 and 38). Lament-
Yourhearts blood was still flowing: ing was also forbidden at the moment of death, dur-
I did not stay to wipe it ing the period the body was left alone to allow rigor
But filled my hands and drankit]. mortis to set in, and during the preparation of the body
But she contains nature-on behalf of the deceased, for the wake. These were silent moments during which
herself and the community. She successfully negotiates the soul was thought to make its peace with God and
the "wilderness" of the mourning process on her jour- commence its journey to the otherworld. The relatives
of the deceased were usually not present during, or
ney back to culture and normality.
Recent work suggests that the five stages of adjust- did not participate in, the preparation and laying out
ment to dying or to the death of a loved one, identified of the body. The main phases of lamentation occurred
by Elisabeth Kiibler-Ross-denial, anger, bargaining, during the wake and funeral-that critical period dur-
sadness and accceptance (Kiibler-Ross 1985, 34-121)-- ing which the deceased remains among the living.
can be recognised in Eibhlin Ni Chonaill's lament, and The first session of lamentation took place at the
in other laments also (see Bourke 1988, 288-9); at the commencement of the wake. On coming into the pres-
end she is reconciled with both the dead and the liv- ence of the corpse after all preparations were com-
ing-and with herself. Time has passed and, although pleted, the mourners gathered round the body and la-
her sense of loss and grief is still acute, it is now con- mented for the first time. By so doing they signalled
tained and locked away in her heart. A version of her the commencement of the wake. The other significant
last public tribute to the deceased on behalf of the liv- moments of the obsequies when lamentation was per-
formed were: when relatives arrived at the wake-house;
ing community prior to the moment of burial was still
at the close of the wake when the body was placed in the
part of the oral tradition of County Waterford in the
southeast of Ireland in the 1940s, when it was sung by coffin; as the funeral left the house for the cemetery when
a noted traditional singer, Labhras 0 Cadhla, for a folk the lamenting was particularlyintense (Hall 1841-3, 1:230;
music collector of the Irish Folklore Commission, Liam cf. Alexiou 1974, 42); at intervals during the journey to
de Noraidh.8 the cemetery; on arrival at the cemetery, and at the
While Eibhlin Ni Chonaill's lament for Art O'Leary graveside when the coffin was lowered into the grave
is both an intensely personal confrontation with death, (Lysaght 1995b, 192-3; IFC 1841:326-7). The following
and also the performance of a public customary duty, account from the oral tradition of County Kerry (c. 1945)
it may also, perhaps, have deeper cultural significance. mentions most of these occasions:
It is ultimately also an address to Art's ancestors. In In the old days when coming within sight of the house
relating his genealogy and praising his petite patrie she lamenting took place, and it was continued into the
is symbolically identifying him in ancestral terms and presence of the corpse. Anyone who did not lament a
appealing on his behalf to the family dead whom he bit over the corpse was severely criticised ... When the
will join. Thus it is in this context that she asks the coffin was brought out the relatives gatheredround it
fundamental question of the lament: N6 cadd'imighardeir and they lamented ... The lament continuedto the cem-
ort? "Whatever befell you last night?" (i.e. where have etery,and when the coffin was placed in the grave fur-
ther lamenting took place (0 hAilin 1971a, 8. Trans-
you gone?). This is the pivotal moment in the lament, lated by PatriciaLysaght.See also IFC 117:176).
which is balanced by Art's subsequent interment
among his ancestors in Kilcrea Abbey. As lamenting Only family members were usually present for the
woman she has, therefore, symbolically both reclaimed coffining of the corpse as the remainder of the mourn-
him (by drinking his blood) and enabled him to inte- ers waited outside for the removal of the deceased (feet
grate with his ancestors. foremost) from the house; if the family members were
unable to perform the lament, the keening woman
would also be present at that point to perform a lam-
The Place of the Lament in Mortuary Ritual
entation (IFC 1841:326). It was vital, according to folk
Using evidence from a number of detailed descriptions belief, that no tears fell on the corpse during lament-
of wake and funeral scenes in nineteenth-century lit- ing, especially when the body was in the coffin, though
erature (Hall 1841-3, 1:221-9; O'Donovan 1858-9, 27 a reason for this is not always forthcoming (IFC 8:57;
note) and twentieth-century accounts from oral tradi- Mag Uidhir 1932, 68; and see Honko 1974, 38). It was
tion in IFC archives, it is possible to elucidate the socio- customary to place the closed coffin on chairs outside

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Caoineadh os Cionn Coirp: The Lamentfor the Dead in Ireland 75

the house prior to commencing the journey to the cem- with black ribbons, if an adult; white, if the party be
etery when lamenting would again take place. unmarried;and flowers, if a child. Close by it, or upon
There are several descriptions by visitors to Ireland it, areplates of tobaccoand snuff;around it are lighted
of the performance of the lament en route to the cem- candles. Usually a quantity of salt is laid upon it also.
The women of the household range themselves at
etery. In the eighteenth century Thomas Campbell either side, and the keen [for caoineread caoineadh]at
wrote: "On this road I met an Irish funeral ... I met it
once commences.Theyrise with one accord,and, mov-
unexpectedly in turning a corner, and no sooner did ing their bodies with a slow motion to and fro, their
the mourners see me, than they set up a yell that fright- arms apart, they continue to keep up a heart-rending
ened my horse not a little ... As they pass through any cry.This cry is interruptedfor a while to give the bean
town, or meet any remarkable person, they set up their chaointe(the leading keener) an opportunity of com-
howl" (Thomas Campbell [1777]. Quoted 0 Madagaiin mencing. At the close of every stanza of the dirge, the
1981, 329 note 8). Folklore accounts from the twentieth cry is repeated, to fill up, as it were, the pause, and
century in IFC also testify strongly to the performance then dropped; the woman then again proceeds with
of the lament on the way to the cemetery (see in this the dirge, and so on to the close. The only interrup-
connection the subject index sub Caoineadh na Marbh tion which this manner of conducting a wake suffers,
in the archive of the Department of Irish Folklore). This is from the entranceof some relative of the deceased,
material indicates that the lament was performed at who, living remote, or from some other cause, may
not have been in at the commencement.In this case,
locations en route where the funeral procession tradi-
the beanchaointeceases, all the women rise and begin
tionally halted, or where the coffin was formerly placed the cry, which is continued until the new-comer has
while the bearers rested (IFC 48:267; "The Caoine"). cried enough. During the pauses of the women's wail-
From County Clare we hear that if relatives joined the ing, the men, seated in groups by the fire, or in the
funeral procession on the way to the cemetery the cof- corners of the room, are indulging in jokes, exchang-
fin was taken off the cart and all gathered round and ing repartees, and bantering each other, some about
lamented over it (IFC 433:112-13). their sweethearts,and some about theirwives, or talk-
It was considered wrong to lament for the dead on ing over the affairsof the day ...
The keener having finished a stanza of the keen,
returning to the house after the funeral (Nior cheartaon
sets up the wail in which all the mournersjoin in. Then
olagdn a chasadhnd aon ghol a dheanamhtar eis filleadh ar a momentary silence ensues, when the keener com-
an dtigh i ndiaidh na sochraide ("It was not right to la-
mences again,and so on--each stanzaending in a wail.
ment or cry on returning to the house after the funeral
The keen usually consists in an address to the corpse,
..." IFC 34:88). While the matter needs further investi- asking him "Why did he die? &c., or a description of
gation, it would appear that subsequent lamentation his person, qualifications,riches, &c.,"it is altogether
for one's own dead was also confined to the cemetery, extemporaneous; and it is sometimes astonishing to
and performed on an ad hoc basis on the occasion of observe with what facility the keener will put the
other burials. While the dead were remembered in Irish verses together,and shape her poetical images to the
tradition, it would appear that visiting cemetries case of the person before her ...
tended to be avoided, except on the occasions of fu- The lamentation is not always confined to the
nerals. However, keening in the cemetery after Mass keener; any one present who has "the gift" of poetry
on Sundays is reported from the parish of Cloghaneely, may put in his or her verse: and this sometimes oc-
in northwest County Donegal, in the early-nineteenth curs. Thus the night wears away in alterationsof lam-
entation and silence, the arrivalof each new friend or
century, where presumably the graveyard surrounded relative of the deceased being ... the signal for the re-
the church (see An ClaidheamhSoluis 9.20 [1907]:8). It
newing of the keen ... But we have witnessed the ar-
was also considered wrong to grieve too much or too rival of persons who, instead of going over and sit-
long for the dead as it could keep them "from their ting down by the corpse (which indicated an inten-
rest." tion to join in the keen), fell on their knees immedi-
It is evident from the foregoing discussion that lam- ately on entering, and offered up a silent prayer for
entation for the dead-by family and community-- the repose of the departed soul. The intervals in the
surrounded all the crucial stages of the wake ceremony keen are not, however, always silent-they are filled
involving the gradual removal of the deceased from up by "small plays" on the part of the young, and on
the world of the living and transition to the world of the part of the aged, or more serious, by tales of fairie
the dead. The extent to which lamentation for the dead and phantasie ... (Hall 1841-3, 1:222-4).9
was incorporated into the structure of the wake for
The pivotal role of the lamenting woman is also evi-
the dead in Ireland, can be seen from the folklore ma-
dent as she presides over the public lamentation event.
terial collected especially in the early-twentieth cen-
Singing or chanting alone, she reacts to the particular
tury (IFC 691:419-56). It is also obvious from the fol- death before her (and to the fact of human mortality).
lowing extensive mid-nineteenth-century account of a In leading the choral cry that punctuates her own per-
wake scene when the lament was still an active ele-
ment of the wake drama: formance, she joins the whole mourning group in the
public expression of sorrow and grief.
The body, decently laid out on a table or bed is cov- Under the guidance of the lamenting woman who
ered with white linen, and, not infrequently,adorned was an expert in the control of crying (her own and

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76 Patricia Lysaght

that of the mourning group), the obsequies provided 7Ceannann,"white-faced," "blaze"; literally "a white-
structured opportunities for the expression of grief, for faced horse."
those who experienced the death as a personal loss,
8Collected30 August 1940. From: de Noraidh, and 6
for those from whom the expression of grief was ex-
hOgain 1994, 133, by kind permission of Comhairle
pected, and for those who were still grieving the loss BhdaloideasEireann. Originally published in: de Noraidh
of a loved one. The wake and funeral ceremonies - at 1965,28. Reproducedin 6 Madagain 1981,314-15. The tune
least in the Irish context - also delimited the bounda- was notated directlyby de Noraidh, a professionalfolksong
ries in time and space for intense grieving for the dead. collector,fromthe informant,but we cannotbe sure,of course,
While it was considered wrong to grieve excessively, that it was the one actuallyused by EibhlinNi Chonaillmore
the expression of intense personal sorrow was still than one hundred and sixty years previously.
possible and permissible over and over again within 9These are the wake amusements detailed by 0
the ambit of the wake and funeral. To outsiders the la- SGilleabhAiin1971, 26-129. See also in this connection Mercier
ment for the dead may have appeared incongruous and 1962,49-53. Fora short discussion of the lamentfor the dead
shocking, but the fact that it continued so long in the as part of the wake; see Hartmann1952,164-5.
face of persistent opposition can only suggest that it 10Taken down fromfromthe recitationof Tomas0 Murchii,
was of psychological importance for the participants, Baile Loiscithe(78), Bailena nGall, Co. Kerry,by his sixteen-
perhaps relieving them of the feelings of anxiety and year-old granddaughter, Eibhlin Ni Mhurchii, 1932 (IFC 22:
guilt with which modern-day approaches to death have 80-82);edited and translatedby PatriciaLysaght.Thislament
made us only too familiar. was recited by the same Eibhlin Ni Mhurchti, in the Depart-
ment of Irish Folklore, March 1995. On this occasion she said:
Departmentof Irish Folklore,University College Dublin "Mhuiin m'athair crionna dhomh e nuair a bhios im
ghearchaille an-6g, agus thagadh cuairteoiri isteach agus
Abbreviation d'iarrtai orm e sin a ra!" [My grandfather taught me that when
I was a very young girl, and visitors would come in and I
IFC. Irish Folklore Collections would be asked to recite it.] Some lines of this lament occur
in another mock lament in the Irish language from Beare Is-
land (off the southwest coast of Cork)-see Partridge 1981.
Acknowledgement See also Appendix 3, and compare Appendix 4.
All extracts from the IFC are published with the per-
mission of the Head of Department, Department of Irish
Folklore, University College Dublin, Ireland. ReferencesCited
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6Coarsewoollen cloth.

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78 Patricia Lysaght

0 Crualaoich, Gear6id, "Contest in the Cosmology and the edited with additional notes by Thomas Wright. London:
Ritual of the Irish 'Merry Wake'." Cosmos: The Yearbookof George Bell and Sons, 1892.
the TraditionalCosmologicalSociety 6 (1990):145-60.
O'Donovan, John. "Extracts from the Journal of Thomas
Dinely Esquire, giving some Account of his visit to Ire- Appendix 1
land in the reign of Charles II communicated by Evelyn
Caoineadh Os Cionn Coirp: Lament Over a Corpse.
Phillips Shirley Esq. with notes by John O'Donovan LL.D."
Journalof the Kilkennyand South-Eastof IrelandArchaeologi- Recited by Sean 0 Conaola, Cois Fhairrge, County Galway
cal Society New Series 2 (1858-59) [1859]:22-33. (1946).
6 hAilin, Tomais. "Caointe agus Caointeoiri." Feasta (Ean iir 1. Muise a Phidraig, a Phidraig,
1971): 7-11. (1971a)
Agus a Phidraig bhoicht, ti tti sinte!
. "Caointe agus Caointeoiri." Feasta (Feabhra 1971):
5-9. (1971b)
o muise a Phidraig bhoicht,
Ceard a dheanfas me?
Go deo na ndeor gan th6, gan thti!
o hOg iin, Daithi. Duanaire Osral. Dublin: An C16chomhar,
1980. [Padraig, Padraig
And poor Padraig, you are stretched!
o Madag iin, Breandin. "Ceol an Chaointe." In Gnditheden
Oh, poor Piadraig,
Chaointeoireaht,ed. Breandin 0 Madag iin. 30-52. Dublin:
An C16chomhar, 1978. What will I do?
For ever and ever without you, without you!]
. "Irish Vocal Music of Lament and Syllabic Verse." In
- The Celtic Consciousness, ed. Robert O'Driscoll. 311-32. 2. A Phidraig, 6 h6, a Phidraig!
Toronto and Dublin: McClelland and Stewart / The Dolmen Ba fear sa ngleann thu,
Press, 1981. Agus ba fear ar an ard thu,
Ba fear ar an gcladach thti,
6 Muirithe, Diarmaid. The English Language in Ireland.Dub- Agus ba fear ar an gcnocain thti.
lin and Cork: The Mercier Press, 1977; 1978. (1978a) Ara muise, ceard a dheanfas do Pheadairin bhocht?
"An Chaointeoireacht in Eirinn-Tuairisci na Agus do mhiithrin bhocht?
dTaistealaithe." In Gndithe den Chaointeoireacht, ed. Och, och, 6;
A, muise, och6n 6 go deo!
Breandin 0 Madagiin. 20-9. Dublin: An C16chomhar,
1978. (1978b) [Padraig, oh, Padraig!
"On Tour in the Gaeltacht." An ClaidheamhSoluis 9.20 (1907): You were a man in the valley,
7-8. You were a man on the hillock?
You were a man on the seashore,
o Murchadha, Gear6id. "Caoine Dhiarmada mhic Eoin Mhic And you were a man on the hill.
Chirthaigh." ?igse 1 (1939):22-8. And what will your poor little Peadar do?
And your poor mother?
o Siilleabhiin, Sean. Irish Wake Amusements. Cork: The
Alas, alas, oh!
Mercier Press, 1971. Translation, by the author of Caitheamh
Aimsire ar Thdrraimh.Dublin: An C16chomhar, 1961. Alas, alas, oh, forever!]

6 Tuama, Sein. Caoineadh Airt Uf Laoghaire. Dublin: An 3. Muise a Phidraig, agus ti thi sinte!
Agus do liirin bhrei
C16chomhar, 1961.
Ag dul sios agus suas an b6thar.
Partridge, Angela. "Wild Men and Wailing Women." ?igse Ce ti le hi a mhealladh,
18:1(1980):25-37. N6 ce ti le hi cheangal?
Ta tti reidh, ti t6i thios!
, ed. "'Is Beo Duine Tar JEisA Bhuailte ...': Caoineadh
aorach as Beara."Sinsear3 (1981):70-6 (without translation). Ara bh6, 6 go deo!

Rajeczky, Benjamin. "Typen ungarischer Klagelieder." [Padraig you are stretched!


Deutsches Jahrbuchfiur Volkskunde3 (1957):30-45. And your fine little mare
Going up and down the road.
Synge, John Millington. TheAran Islands.London and Dublin: Who is there to coax her?
Elkin Matthews/Maunsel and Company, 1907; reprint Or who is there to tie her up?
Harmondsworth: Penguin Twentieth Century Classics, 1992. You are done, you are down!
Taylor, Laurence J. "Introduction: The Uses of Death in Eu- Ah, oh, forever!]
rope." AnthropologicalQuarterly 62 (1989):149-54. 4. Ara muise a Phidraig, a Phidraig,
Turner,Victor. The Ritual Process.Chicago: Aldine Publishing A st6r agus a Phidraig,
Co., 1969; reprint Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1974. A ghrA gheal mo chroi thi!

van Gennep, Arnold. The Rites of Passage. Translated by [Pidraig, Pidraig,


Monika V. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee. London: My love, and Pidraig!
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960. Bright love of my heart!]

Wright, Thomas, ed. The Historical Works of Giraldus (Source: Sound Archive, Department of Irish Folklore. Ed-
Cambrensis.Translated by Thomas Forester. Revised and ited and translated by Patricia Lysaght.)

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Caoineadh os Cionn Coirp: The Lamentfor the Dead in Ireland 79

Appendix 2 Do bhi deirfitir di sa ch-iinne agus ar si sin leis an ndeirfitir,


"A dheirfiiirin dhflis, suas taobh liom agus Sedina
CaoineadhBrdige-A Mock Lament ni tiocfi
caoineadh?" D'fhreagair an deirfidir i agus diirt [There was
Sedn 0 Mo Oh! My Sweetheart! a sister of her's in the corner and said she to her, "Dear little
Rtun!-Sein
sister, won't you come here by me and lament Sein?" The
Do bhi landin ann fad6 agus do thug an fear an-drochshaol sister answered her saying]:
don mhnaoi bhocht. Do bhidis ag bruion is ag achrann
gach 1S 6 mhaidin go hoiche. Pe sceal e cailleadh an fear 4. Do thiocfainnse taobh leat,
agus do chaoin a bhean mar seo e [There was a married Mara mbeadh go raibh fear ti 'gat,
couple one time and the man gave the poor woman a very A bhi trodach bruionach,
bad life. They were fighting and quarrelling every day from A loirgeodh a fhuilleach
morning till night. At any rate the man died and his wife Tar eis na hoiche,
lamented him as follows]: Is mara mbeadh se 'gat le sineadh,
Gurbh e do chroise a iocfadh!
1. Mo ghri is mo st6r thti! Is amboch och6n, a Sheaiin 6, mo rtn!
Ba r6-bhrei an tseoid thti
Nuair a fuaireas 6g t6i, [I would come beside you,
Do chritai an bh6 dom, But for you had a husband
Is chuirtei an bainne don ch6fra, Who was pugnacious and quarrelsome,
Is an eochair id' ph6ca, Who would look for his leavings
Is do leanbh im' dheol-sa, Of the night before,
Is ni faighinn deor do, And if you didn't have it to extend,
Is amboch och6n, a Sheaiin 6, mo rnin! It was you would pay dearly!
And alas! alas! Sedinoh! my sweetheart!]
[My love and my treasure!
You were too great a jewel 5. Cead moladh m6r le Muire!
When I got you young, Ta mo bhoinn le tine,
You would milk the cow for me Taimo chios diolta,
And put the milk in the press Agus dion ar mo thi,
And the key in your pocket, Fear mo thi ag dul don reilig,
And your child at my breast, Is nir chasa se choiche ar an gcistin!
And I would not get a drop of it. Is amboch och6n, a Sheain 6, mo rin!10
And alas! alas! Sean oh! my sweetheart!]
[May Mary be praised a hundred times!
2. Mo ghri is mo chumann tdi! The soles of my feet are to the fire,
Mar do dheanthai an chuigeann dom, My rent is paid,
Is chuirthed na cearca chun suite dom, There is a roof on my house,
ThabharthA dom an taobh ba chrua den leabaidh, My husband is going to the graveyard,
An taobh ba ramhaire den bhata, And may he not return to the kitchen!
Is an taobh ba chaoile den bheatha. And alas! alas! Sean oh! my sweetheart!]
Is amboch och6n, a Sheain 6, mo rnin!
(Source: IFC 22:80-82. County Kerry, 1932. Edited and trans-
[My love and my dear! lated by Patricia Lysaght).
For you used to churn for me
And put the hens hatching for me,
You gave me the hardest side of the bed
And the stoutest side of the stick Appendix 3
And the slenderest portion of food. Caoine Magaidh (A Mock Lament)
And alas! alas! Sean oh! my sweetheart!]
(For stanzas 1-3 and chorus, see Figure 1)
3. Ni chreidfinn
f*in 6n riocht-
DAmbeitheA seacht feA sios, 4. Mo ghridh ti is mo chumann!
Leac le cil do chinn, Do churthA na cearca chun nide,
Leac le tricht do bhoinn, Do th6gthi an t-im den chuiginn,
Seacht leac os cionn do chrof- Is mise sa chdinnne ag sileadh,
NA go n-direofi aris, A Sheiin 6ig a ritiin!
Is go dtiocfi os cionn mo chinn 5. Mo ghridh ti is mo chiall!
Le bata glas 6n gcoill. 'S ti fkas6g ar do ghiall,
Is amboch och6n, a Sheiin, 6, mo run! Gan ti ag fiachaint soir na siar,
[I would not believe from heaven- Is t'anam gldigeal ag an ndiabhal,
If you were seven fathoms down, A Sheiin 6ig, a ri6tiin!
A flag at the back of your head, 6. Mo chreach mh6r is mo lat
A flag at the soles of your feet, Nuair a gheobhair-se uaim amach
Seven flags over your heart- Is braitlin bin id'ghlaic,
But that you would rise up again, Is tairnge sios id chab,
And that you would come over me Do chualacht suas le t'ais,
With a green stick from the wood. Is mise r6mpa amach,
And alas! alas! Sein oh! my sweetheart!] Mo ramhan agam is mo shluasad

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z1

7. Caoinemagalaib.
(A MOCK LAMENT.)
ANDANTE.

1. O 1 mol..adh mor le Mui..re, Mar ta oliath..an mo thighe-se

aluth...mhar, 'Gus oruxtdh mhon' im' ohis..tin, Is m'fhear

tighe ag dul 'on roil..ig, a Sheain oig, a riuin.

A Sheain, tri lar mo ohroidhe a..nonn. Do ohosa..a fad...a

buidhe in..te aios le taobh do thighe, A

Shea..a..a..ain, tri lar mo chroidhe a...nonn.

Gol a gol o, gol 0, gol o; Gol o, gol o, gol

o, gol o, gol; Gol a gol o, gol

o, gol o; A Sheain, tri lar mo chroidhe a...nonnl

Mo thaisce is mo riuiin tuit 3 Mo ghraidh til is mo thaisce !


Is do bbuailtb~i me le craobh is riita, Do thugtha dhom an taobh ba chrua dei
Is le ceann reambar a' tsuiiste; An chuid ba chaoile 'en bheatha, [leabair
Is moladh bhearfad 'on Ur-mbac 'San ceann ba raimhre 'en bhata,
Mar ba dhuit-se ba thuisce, A Sheain 6ig a ridiinI
A She&in 6ig a riiin I

Figure 1. The first three stanzas of a lament published in Journalof the Irish Folk Song Society 19.4 (1922):21-3). The remaining
stanzas, translation and notes are presented in Appendix 3.

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Caoineadh os Cionn Coirp: The Lamentfor the Dead in Ireland 81

Chun cludaithe anuas ort, So that you cannot rise up again,


A SheAin 6ig, a ridiin ! Johnny, my love!
7. Cuirfead leac le cdl do chinn, 8. Yet nothing shall persuade me
Is leac eile le traichtdo bhuinn, That you will not jump up, some day,
DhA leac deag n6 tri And brandish a green stick from the wood
Anuas ar aghaidh do chroidhe, High over my head,
NA leigfidh duit dirghe anios, Johnny, my love!]
A Sheain 6ig, a ridin !
This air was recently taken down by Mr. Wilfrid Brown from
8. Acht ni chreidfinn fMino'n rioghacht the singing of Mr. Padraig 0 Siocfhradha ("An Seabhac"), of
NA go bpreabfai f6s it' shuidhe, Dingle, County Kerry, the author of An Baile Seo Againn-ne
'S bheadh bata glas 6'n gcoill and Jimin Mhdire Thaidhg, and editor of An L6chrannwhen
Go h-aird 6s cionn mo chinn, that excellent little paper was alive.
A Sheain 6ig, a ridin ! The tune in this case is far superior to the words, and
probably was used for serious laments in this metre, which,
[1 Great praise be to Mary as An Seabhac indicates below, lends itself peculiarly to ex-
That I have a house with sound walls, tempore composition. The best example we have of such a
And a heap of turf in my kitchen, lament is "Caoine Airt Ui Laoghaire," of which two or three
And my man is going to the graveyard, texts are available.
Johnny, my love! The verses being of varying length, some explanation of
the manner of singing them is called for. The last three lines
Chorus-
of each verse are sung as the last three lines of verse 1, and
Johnny, my heart of hearts! the opening strain is repeated as often as is required until the
Your long yellow legs third line from the end is reached.
Stretched along the side of your house, It is curious to note that the story attached to the song,
Johnny, my heart of hearts! that of a husband and wife who didn't agree, the husband
pretending to be dead so as to see what she would say, is the
Woe, woe etc.
very theme on which the late J.M. Synge, who was familiar
Johnny my heart of hearts! with West Kerry, built his play, The Shadowof the Glen.
2. My treasure and my darling!
You used to club me with branch and root, D.J.O'S.
And with the stout end of the flail; Fuaireas an Caoine seo - ce61 agus focail - 6 ShedinBin 0
And I will praise the Noble Son Conchubhair sa bhliain 1903. Bhi Sean 'na chomhnuidhe an
That you died before me, uair sin, agus atAif6s, ar an mB6thar Buidhe, i n-aice le Baile
Johnny, my love! M6ir, dha mhile siar 6'n nDaingean. Bhi se tiompal tri fichid
3. My love and my treasure! bliain d'aois an uair sin. TAim6rin sean-amhran agus sean-
You used to give me the hardest side of the bed, che6il aige. Is e is fearr a dheineadh caitheamh aimsire agus
And the smallest portion of food, greann do lin tighe againn a bhiodh bailithe i dtigh an ghabha
And the biggest end of the stick, gach oidhche gheimhridh. Bhiodh an Caoine go minic ar
Johnny, my love! sitibhal aige. B'e sc"al a bhi aige 'na thaobh nAiso : fear na
reidhtigheadh a bhean is e leig se air bas d'fhAghail chun
4. My love and my dear! se cad f(in,
diarfadh sise nuair bheadh se fein, dar
go gcloiseadh
You used to put the hens to nest, lei, tar eis bhAis. Nuair a bhi se f6 chlir do chaoin si 6 mar ba
And take the butter from the churn!
ghnath an uair sin. Nior r6-mhaith an chAil a thug si air, ma
While I was crying in the corner, b'fhior di.
Johnny, my love! S' an ce61 an chuid is tairbhfghe de'n Chaoine seo.
5. My love and my sweetheart! Deireadh Sean Ban go mbiodh an ceol sin go minic ag lucht
There is a beard on your jaw, caointeach~iin agus go gcuirti cainnt leis do r~ir an duine a
And you are looking neither this way nor that, bhiodh marbh agus do rdir na d tr~ithe f6nta a bhiodh ann.
And your radiant soul is with the devil, An mheadaracht filiochta ati sa chaoine bhi s6 i gcumas na
Johnny, my love! nGaedhilge6iri go coitianta cainnt a cheapadh dh6 d'iarracht
aon uaire.
6. O grief and desolation! San triomhadh cuid de'n che61, mar a bhfuil an "gol 6!"
When you leave me and go out deireadh Sein nach ag gol a bhiodh an bhean a dhein an
Clutching your white shroud caoine seo, acht go seinneadh si go mdidhreach, luath 4, agus
With a nail down through your gob, go rinnceadh si leis an dtocht athais a bhi uirthi toisc go raibh
The company walking beside you, "fear a tighe ag dul 'on roilig."
And I in front of them all
Carrying my spade and shovel [I got this lament-words and music-from Sein Ban O
To cover you up with-- Conchubhair in the year 1903. Sean was living at that time,
Johnny, my love! and is still, in BdtharButr,near Baile Mdr, two miles west of
Dingle. He was about sixty years old at the time. He has many
7. I shall put a stone at the back of your head, old songs and old music. He was best at entertaining a house-
And another at the soles of your feet, ful of us gathered together in the smith's house every night
And twelve stones, or thirteen, of winter. He often performed the Lament. A story he had
Right over your heart, about it was: a man whose wife and he did not get on let on

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82 Patricia Lysaght

he had died in order to find out what she would say after his caoineadh do dheanamh, agus f6 dheireadh dhirt si:
death, as she thought. When he was laid out she lamented
him as was usual at that time. She gave him no great reputa- Mara nd6anfam e a mholadh,
Ni dh6anfam 6 a chaineadh;
tion, if she was telling the truth.
The music is the most useful aspect of this Lament. Sean Agus mA ta s6 ins na Flaithis,
Go bhfana se uainn in airde!
BAn used to say that the keeners often used this music and
that words were put to it in accordance with the deceased
and his good qualities. Irish speakers were generally able to [A Keening Woman Who did not Wish to Keen her Husband
improvise words to the metre of the lament. There was a man long ago and he and his wife used not agree
Sean used to say that at the third part of the music where with one another. He got sick and he died. The priest told the
the "gol 6!" is, that the woman who made this lament used woman to lament him-she was a keening woman, you
not to cry at all but that she used to sing it merrily and quick. know? But she wouldn't! She said he did not deserve it. The
and that she used to dance for joy because the man of the
priest kept exhorting her to perform the lament, and in the
house was dead!] (Translated by Patricia Lysaght). end she said:
An Seabhac. If I do not praise him,
A Highland lament (hitherto unpublished), collected by Miss I'll not censure him,
L.E. Broadwood, was similarly composed for a man who was And if he is in heaven
pretending to be dead. May he stay away from us on high!]

A.M.F. (Source: IFC 48:32-33. County Cork, 1934. Edited and trans-
lated by Patricia Lysaght).
(Source: Journalof the Irish Folk Song Society 19.4 (1922):21-3.)

Appendix 4 Appendix 5
(a) Briag-Chaointe-A Mock Lament CaoineadhAirt Ui Laoghaire"The Lament for Art O'Leary"
Mo ghra 's mo st6r tli! Art O'Leary's sister:
'S is 6 f6 ndeara dhomhsa
Gan coinneal im' dh6irne Mo chara is mo st6r tu!
Ag teacht chun do th6rraimh, Is m6 bean chumtha ch6rach
Ach gur shnaidhmis go h6g me 0 Chorcaigh na seolta
Le bodach nach f6nta Go droichead na T6ime,
'Chuireann glas ar an gcomhrainn Do thabharfadh macha m6r b6 dhuit
Is an eochair 'na ph6ca Agus dorn bui-6ir duit,
Na raghadh a chodladh 'na seomra
Deirti nuair a theadh gaolta an duine mhairbh go dti an Oiche do th6rraimh.
t6rramh sa seansaol go mbeireadh gach duine coinneal leis.
Tai si seo a chur in i61 dhiinn cad ina thaobh ni rug si fein [My friend and my treasure!
ceann 16igo dti t6rramh a hathar. There's many the handsome woman
From Cork of the sails
To the bridge of Toames
[My love and my treasure!
The reason that I come Who would give you a fine herd of cows
Without a candle in my hand, And a fistful of yellow gold,
To your wake, Who would not go to bed
Is that you married me off young The night of your wake].
To an unsavoury churl Eibhlin Ni Chonaill's reply to Art O'Leary's sister:
Who locks the press
And puts the key in his pocket]. Mo chara crof is uan ti,
Is ni creid-se an duain sin
It was said that when the relatives of the dead person went NA an cogar a fuairis
to the wake in the old times that each one of them would
Gur a chodladh chuas-sa.
take a candle with him. [In this lament the woman] is telling
Ni hea, a uainigh,
why she did not bring one with her to her father's wake. Ach ag cur do leinibh chun suainis
(Source: IFC 53:268. County Cork, 1983. Edited and trans- Do bhi ro-bhuartha.
lated by Patricia Lysaght).
[My love and my lamb!
Do not believe that story
(b) Bean Chaointe nar mhaith Idi a Fear a Chaoineadh Or the whisper you got
Bhi fear ann fad6 agus ni r~itiodh s6 f~in agus a bhean le That I went to bed.
ch6ile. Do buaileadh breoite 6 agus do fuair s6 bis. Diirt an It wasn't so, my little lamb,
sagart leis an mhnaoi caoineadh a dhfanamh d6-bean But to pacify your child
chaointe dob ea i, tAa fhios agat. Ach ni dhdanfadh. DGirt si Who was very distressed].
nir thuill s6 uaithi &.Do lean an sagart ag tathaint uirthi an (Source: C MadagAin 1981, 313-14).

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