Mayo museum hosts What’s the Scéal? storytelling event

WHAT’S the Scéal? is a series of storytelling events that celebrates this ancient tradition and seeks to highlight the role of storytellers in Ireland today.

The National Museum of Ireland and Poetry Ireland have partnered up with some of Ireland’s renowned and talented storytellers to host a programme of events for adults and children alike.

A Mayo event will see the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life, at Turlough Park, deliver a mini-symposium in collaboration with Poetry Ireland and storytellers from Ireland and abroad on Friday, November 26, looking at the role of the storyteller in Ireland today and exploring the challenges and opportunities.

Master of ceremonies and chair for the panel event is poet and author Terry McDonagh. He will be joined by special guests and professional storytellers Nuala Hayes and Donald Smith, with the event live-streamed from 2 p.m. on Friday.

This hour and a half event will explore the life of storytellers in Ireland and how institutions like museums, libraries and galleries can provide not just a venue but also a resource for storytellers in the modern world of storytelling.

Ireland has long had a tradition of storytelling. From the deep well of Celtic folklore dating back into our ancient past, the seanachaí brought forth tales of fairies, fiends, friendships and adventures. In more recent times they performed tales at the fireside of a visiting house, to the merriment and often terror of their fixated audiences. Today that tradition still thrives, and storytellers all over Ireland continue to tell the tales of old and add their own voice to the ever growing treasury of stories.

For younger audiences, storytellers Nuala Hayes, Jack Lynch and Pat Ryan are delivering a three-day series of storytelling events for primary and post-primary schools across Ireland this week. Schools participating come from counties Dublin, Donegal, Kerry, Laoise, Mayo, Wicklow and Wexford.

This series is using some of the objects found in the NMI - Country Life collections as inspiration for the stories.

For the older audience the NMI have invited Jack Lynch and Len Graham for an hour and a half of storytelling on Saturday, November 27. Don’t miss this great opportunity to see two legendary storytellers performing some great stories and songs from Ireland’s deep folklore tradition. This event will be streamed live across the country and the world.

For more information on the events, or to check out the National Museum of Ireland’s other programmes, visit https://www.museum.ie/en-ie/home.