After having studied the Blasket Island and its people for several days, today we got to go out to the island!
The class took a ferry out to the island with Tomas, who works at the Blasket Island Centre. The ferry was a small boat that brought all of us to a point just beyond the pier. From there, we got into small rubber dinghies to get to the actual island. After a walk up some steep rocks, we reached the main part of the island, and were all amazed.
As with many of the things we have seen this trip, the Great Blasket Island was visually stunning. We had the fortune of having a sunny day, and the bright blue sky brought out all the colors in the landscape. The remnants of houses were scattered across the hills in various states of disrepair, and sheep roamed freely about. My first thought was that this was a lot like a ghost town from Wild West stories, but with a whole lot more green, and a lot less sinister. Despite being abandoned, the island is still very beautiful, even more so after having studied its history so thoroughly.
The class took a ferry out to the island with Tomas, who works at the Blasket Island Centre. The ferry was a small boat that brought all of us to a point just beyond the pier. From there, we got into small rubber dinghies to get to the actual island. After a walk up some steep rocks, we reached the main part of the island, and were all amazed.
As with many of the things we have seen this trip, the Great Blasket Island was visually stunning. We had the fortune of having a sunny day, and the bright blue sky brought out all the colors in the landscape. The remnants of houses were scattered across the hills in various states of disrepair, and sheep roamed freely about. My first thought was that this was a lot like a ghost town from Wild West stories, but with a whole lot more green, and a lot less sinister. Despite being abandoned, the island is still very beautiful, even more so after having studied its history so thoroughly.
Tomas showed us around the island, and told us the significance of several buildings and places. The entire village is abandoned now, and most has fallen to disrepair, with only the stone frames of the houses remaining, but people remember who lived where all the same.
We got to see the buildings that were once school on the island, as well as the homes of influential islanders including Thomas O'Crohan, who wrote "The Islandman," starting the island's literary tradition, and Peig Sayers, another famous Blasket author.
We got to see the buildings that were once school on the island, as well as the homes of influential islanders including Thomas O'Crohan, who wrote "The Islandman," starting the island's literary tradition, and Peig Sayers, another famous Blasket author.
The house to the right was one that I found particularly interesting, as it was the house of the king of the island. This may seem surprising when you consider that the house is one room, and, at less than 150 square feet of floor space, is the same size as all the other houses. The king of the Great Blasket, however, was not a king in the traditional manner. On small islands such as this one, it was not uncommon for the people of the village to elect a man to call their king. The king did not have any special privilege or power over the other islanders. He was simply chosen for his good moral character and called the king, while retaining his usual profession. The last king of the Great Blasket Island was Pádraig Ó Catháin, a postman. He would take a boat to the mainland in order to bring back packages and mail, usually from the relations of the islanders who were living in America. I felt like this story reflected the social character of the Islanders rather well. Everyone was so focused on working and getting by that there was very little time for disagreements, politics, or the like. The islanders seemed very in touch with what was necessary, and were very economical in their treatment of every aspect of life, including their treatment of others.
I was rather amazed by the amount of sheep running wild on the Great Blasket Island. With no more upkeep from the farmers, the sheep had free reign of the island, and wandered around as they pleased. Many of the old sheep had built up quite a bit of wool over the years, though there were quite a few younger sheep as well.
This observation prompted me to do some more research on the sheep in Ireland. Sheep is the fourth largest animal export from Ireland, and are raised for their wool, milk, and meat. These contribute to a big part of Ireland's economic structure, with animal products (overall) being one of their main exports. In 2010, a census found that there were 2.2 million breeding ewes in Ireland, with most residing in the counties of Donegal, Galways, Mayo, Wicklow, and Kerry (where Dingle is located). These countries all have very mountainous terrain with abundant grazing areas. For the islanders, the sheep would have been mostly used for the wool, with fish as the main source of food. There are several tales of the Islanders and their sheep, including one told to us at the Blasket Island Centre, about a small island where only sheep were kept. This small island was good for keeping sheep as they could not get off and no other animals could get on. One day, someone realized that, despite there being nowhere for the sheep to go, the shepherd had taken the time to build a wall all around the island. When asked why he's done this, the shepherd replied that there was one blind sheep, and he didn't want it to fall off. Once again, this sort of story stood out to me as a good description of the character of the Islanders. It would have been simple to just get rid of the blind sheep, but instead, the man had taken the time to build this wall to keep it safe. These people were very intent on doing things right and doing them well. They were not wasteful of any resources, as nearly everything was scarce on the island. And, well, it's also just a really sweet story.
This observation prompted me to do some more research on the sheep in Ireland. Sheep is the fourth largest animal export from Ireland, and are raised for their wool, milk, and meat. These contribute to a big part of Ireland's economic structure, with animal products (overall) being one of their main exports. In 2010, a census found that there were 2.2 million breeding ewes in Ireland, with most residing in the counties of Donegal, Galways, Mayo, Wicklow, and Kerry (where Dingle is located). These countries all have very mountainous terrain with abundant grazing areas. For the islanders, the sheep would have been mostly used for the wool, with fish as the main source of food. There are several tales of the Islanders and their sheep, including one told to us at the Blasket Island Centre, about a small island where only sheep were kept. This small island was good for keeping sheep as they could not get off and no other animals could get on. One day, someone realized that, despite there being nowhere for the sheep to go, the shepherd had taken the time to build a wall all around the island. When asked why he's done this, the shepherd replied that there was one blind sheep, and he didn't want it to fall off. Once again, this sort of story stood out to me as a good description of the character of the Islanders. It would have been simple to just get rid of the blind sheep, but instead, the man had taken the time to build this wall to keep it safe. These people were very intent on doing things right and doing them well. They were not wasteful of any resources, as nearly everything was scarce on the island. And, well, it's also just a really sweet story.
Getting to actually see the Great Blasket Island was wonderful, and gave me the context I needed to fully understand all the things I'd learned about it thus far. It's one thing to read and hear about an island, and another altogether to get to actually walk around that island, and explore what is left of the homes of these influential people. As much as we might read measurements and such, it's hard to get a scale of just how small these houses were, and how inhospitable the island is. Standing in these stone ruins, it was so much easier to imagine the life of the islanders, and their daily struggles.
Today was another great day, with lots to learn in the ways of history, but also in the feeling of a certain place. If I've learned anything throughout this trip, it's that there's nothing like visiting the place you're studying to truly understand it- and the Great Blasket Island is no exception to the rule.
I'm going to finish off this post with another slideshow of some of the lovely views of the island, for your viewing pleasure.
My camera died halfway through, so the last two pictures (of the beach) were taken by Josh!
Today was another great day, with lots to learn in the ways of history, but also in the feeling of a certain place. If I've learned anything throughout this trip, it's that there's nothing like visiting the place you're studying to truly understand it- and the Great Blasket Island is no exception to the rule.
I'm going to finish off this post with another slideshow of some of the lovely views of the island, for your viewing pleasure.
My camera died halfway through, so the last two pictures (of the beach) were taken by Josh!