The Aran Islands (Irish: Oileáin Árann, Aran Islands Dialect: [ˈɪlɑːn ˈɑːrənʲ], [nə ˈhɑːrənʲəxə]) are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. An island (ˈaɪlənd or isle (/ˈaɪl/ is any piece of land that is completely surrounded by water in two dimensions above high tide and isolated from other significant Galway Bay ( Irish: Loch Lurgan or Cuan na Gaillimhe) is a large bay / Sea Loch on the West Coast Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world
The largest island is Inishmore (Irish: Árainn (Mhór) or Inis Mór,[1]; Aran Islands Dialect: [ˈɑːrənʲ woːr], [ˈɪnɪɕ woːr ˈɑːrənʲ]) the middle and second-largest is Inishmaan (Inis Meáin / Inis Meadhóin; Aran Islands Dialect: [ˈɪnɪɕ mʲɑːn]), and the smallest and most eastern is Inisheer (Inis Thiar or Inis Oírr / Inis Oirthir; Aran Islands Dialect: [ˈɪnɪɕ iːr], [ˈɪnɪɕ siːr]). Inishmore ( Árainn ( Mhór) / Inis Mór) is the largest of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay in Ireland and has an area Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. Inishmaan (Inis Meáin the official name formerly spelled ga ''Inis Meadhóin'' meaning "middle island" is the middle of the three main Aran Islands in Galway Inisheer (Inis Oírr the island's official name ga ''Inis Oirthir'' meaning "east island" and traditionally ga ''Inis Thiar'' meaning "rear island" is the smallest Irish is a spoken language on all three islands, and is the language used for the names of the islands and many of the island's villages and place names. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish.
The approaches to the bay between the Aran Islands and the mainland are as follows; the North Sound / An Súnda ó Thuaidh lies between Aran and Leitir Mealláin, County Galway. It is more correctly known as Bealach Locha Lurgan in Irish. Gregory's Sound / Súnda Ghríoghóra lies between Aran and Inishmaan. It was formerly known as Bealach na h-Áite. Foul Sound / An Súnda Salach lies between Inishmaan and Inisheer it was formerly known as Bealach na Fearbhaighe. South Sound / An Súnda ó Dheas formerly known as Bealach na Fínnise lies between Inisheer and County Clare.
They are administratively part of County Galway.
Contents |
Geology
The islands' geology is mainly karst limestone and is thus more closely related to The Burren in Co. Karst topography is a landscape shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble Bedrock, usually Carbonate rock such as Limestone Dún Aengus (Dún Aonghasa is the most famous of several prehistoric forts on the Aran Islands, of Co Karst topography is a landscape shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble Bedrock, usually Carbonate rock such as Limestone Clare (to the south) than to the granites of Connemara to the north. Connemara (in Irish: Conamara) which derives from Conmhaicne Mara (meaning descendants of Con Mhac of the sea is a district in the west of
Huge boulders up to 25 m above the sea at parts of the west facing cliffs have been shown [1] not to be glacial erratics as originally believed, but rather as an extreme form of storm beach, cast there by giant waves that occur on average once per century. A glacial erratic is a piece of rock that deviates from the size and type of rock native to the area in which it rests the name " erratic " is based on the A storm beach is a Beach affected by particularly fierce Waves usually with a very long fetch.
Traditional life
Since the islands were first populated in larger numbers, probably at the time of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in the mid 17th century, when the Catholic population of Ireland had the choice of going "to hell or to Connacht", many fled to the numerous islands off the west coast of Ireland. The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649-53 refers to the re-conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell There they adapted themselves to the raw climatic conditions, developing a survival system of total self-sufficiency. Their methods included mixing layers of sand and seaweed on top of rocks to create fertile soil, a technique used to grow potatoes and other vegetables. [2] The same seaweed method also provided grazing grass within stone-wall enclosures grass for cattle and sheep, which in turn provided wool and yarn to make handwoven trousers, skirts and jackets, handknitted sweaters, shawls, caps, and hide shoes. A sweater, pullover, jumper, or jersey is a relatively heavy Shirt intended to cover the torso and arms of the human body (though in some cases A shawl ( Persian شال Shāl from Sanskrit: साडी śāṭī is a simple item of Clothing, loosely worn over the shoulders upper body and arms The islanders also constructed unique boats for fishing, building their thatched cottages from the materials available or trading with the mainland.
It is only very recently that the islands have had reliable electricity and communications. Many blame the decline of Irish speaking among young members of the island community on English-language television, available since the 1980s; furthermore, many younger islanders leave for the mainland when they come of age. Irish is spoken less by the younger generation, although a casual visit to the island will reveal people of all ages conversing fluently in the language.
Most jobs on the island are in fishing or in the tourist industry. Islanders differ in their attitude towards visitors; generally speaking, however, islanders are friendly but also sometimes desirous of preserving their own cultural traditions and therefore occasionally distant. Such a visitor-visited dynamic arises in many situations elsewhere in the world where a small, closed culture becomes an object of fascination for a much larger group.
Pub life can be raucous, and islanders sometimes gather in the evenings to share music. It is worth remembering also that the islands are very small, and that island residents are all known to each other.
Tourism
There are several Iron Age forts on Inishmore, including Dún Aengus (Dún Aonghasa, Aran Islands Dialect: dūn aŋgəs) and the Black Fort (Dún Dúchathair). This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. Dún Aengus (Dún Aonghasa is the most famous of several prehistoric forts on the Aran Islands, of Co Visitors come in large numbers, particularly in the summer time. Two companies operate a ferry service from Rossaveal in County Galway : the islander-operated Aran Direct and the government-subsidised Island Ferries. Rossaveal (official name Ros an Mhíl) is a fishing and an Irish speaking Village in Connemara, Ireland, and the main Ferry County Galway (Contae na Gaillimhe is located on the West Coast of Ireland. An air service (Aer Arann) is available from Inverin, both of which have connecting buses from Galway city. Aer Arann is a Regional airline based in Dublin, Ireland. They operate scheduled service on 40 different routes between Ireland, France Inverin or Inveran ( is a Village in Connemara between Spiddal and Casla in County Galway, Ireland. There is also a ferry service from Doolin, in County Clare (near the Cliffs of Moher) to Inisheer. Doolin ( Dúlainn in Irish) is a coastal village in County Clare, Ireland, on the Atlantic coast County Clare ( Irish: Contae an Chláir) commonly referred to as simply Clare, is a county on Ireland and part of the wider The Cliffs of Moher (Aillte an Mhothair lit cliffs of the ruin, also known as the Cliffs of Coher from the Mhothair are located in the Parish of There is currently no direct ferry service from Galway city. Galway (Gaillimh is the only city in the province of Connacht in Ireland.
Literature & arts
Local artists
One of the major figures of the Irish Renaissance, Liam O'Flaherty, was born in Gort na gCapall, Inishmore, on August 28, 1896. For a comparatively small island Ireland has made a disproportionate contribution to World literature in all its branches Liam O'Flaherty ( August 28, 1896 &ndash September 7, 1984) was a significant Irish Novelist and Short story Inishmore ( Árainn ( Mhór) / Inis Mór) is the largest of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay in Ireland and has an area Events 475 - The Roman General Orestes forces western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos to flee his Capital Year 1896 ( MDCCCXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Máirtín Ó Díreáin, one of the most eminent poets in the Irish language, was also from Inishmore. Máirtín Ó Direáin (1910-1988 born in Sruthán on Inishmore in the Aran Islands was an Irish language poet Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. Inishmore ( Árainn ( Mhór) / Inis Mór) is the largest of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay in Ireland and has an area
Visiting artists
The islands have had an influence on world literature and arts disproportionate to their size. The unusual cultural and physical history of the islands has made them the object of visits by a variety of writers and travellers who recorded their experiences.
Beginning around the late 19th Century, many Irish writers travelled to the Aran Islands; Lady Gregory, for example, came to Aran in the late nineteenth century to learn Irish. Isabella Augusta Lady Gregory (15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932 née Isabella Augusta Persse, was an Irish Dramatist and folklorist. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. At the turn of the century and throughout his life one of Ireland's leading artists, Seán Keating , spent time every year on the islands translating on to canvas all the qualities that make the inhabitants of these Atlantic Islands so unusual and in many respects remarkable. Seán Keating (Born John Keating, Limerick, September 28, 1889 &ndash Dublin, December 21, 1977)
Many wrote down their experiences in a personal vein, alternately casting them as narratives about finding, or failing to find, some essential aspect of Irish culture that had been lost to the more urban regions of Ireland. A second, related kind of visitor were those who attempted to collect and catalog the stories and folklore of the island, treating it as a kind of societal "time capsule" of an earlier stage of Irish culture. A time capsule is a historic cache of goods and/or information usually intended as a method of Communication with people in the future Visitors of this kind differed in their desires to integrate with the island culture, and most were content to be considered observers. The culmination of this mode of interacting with the island might well be Robert J. Flaherty's 1934 classic documentary Man of Aran. Robert Joseph Flaherty (16 February 1884 Iron Mountain Michigan - 23 July 1951 Dummerston Vermont) was an American Filmmaker who directed and produced Man of Aran ( 1934) is a Documentary film by Robert J Flaherty, a Docufiction on life on the Aran Islands off the
One might consider John Millington Synge's The Aran Islands as a work that straddles these first two modes, it being both a personal account and also an attempt at preserving information about the pre- (or a-) literate Aran culture in literary form. Edmund John Millington Synge ( (16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909 was an Irish Playwright, Poet, Prose writer and collector of Folklore. The motivations of these visitors are best exemplified by W. B. Yeats' advice to Synge: "Go to the Aran Islands, and find a life that has never been expressed in literature. "
In the second half of the twentieth century, up until perhaps the early 1970s, one sees a third kind of visitor to the islands. These visitors came not necessarily because of the uniquely "Irish" nature of the island community, but simply because the accidents of geography and history conspired to produce a society that some found intriguing or even beguiling and that they wished to participate in directly. It should be emphasized that at no time was there a single "Aran" culture: any description must be necessarily incomplete and can be said to apply completely only to parts of the island at certain points in time. However, visitors that came and stayed were mainly attracted to aspects of Aran culture such as:
- Isolated from mainstream print and electronic media, and thus reliant primarily on local oral tradition for both entertainment and news. Oral tradition, oral culture and oral lore is a way for a society to transmit history, literature, law and other Knowledges
- Rarely visited or understood by outsiders.
- Strongly influenced in its traditions and attitudes by the unusually savage weather of Galway Bay. Galway (Gaillimh is the only city in the province of Connacht in Ireland.
- In many parts characterized by subsistence, or near-subsistence, farming and fishing. Subsistence agriculture is self-sufficient farming in which farmers grow only enough food to feed the family and to pay taxes or feudal dues
- Adapted to the absence of luxuries that many parts of the Western world had enjoyed for decades and in some cases, centuries.
For these reasons, the Aran Islands were "decoupled" from cultural developments that were at the same time radically changing other parts of Ireland and Western Europe. Though visitors of this third kind understood that the culture they encountered was intimately connected to that of Ireland, they were not particularly inclined to interpret their experience as that of "Irishness. "
Instead, they looked directly towards ways in which their time on the islands put them in touch with more general truths about life and human relations, and they often took pains to live "as an islander," eschewing help from friends and family at home. Indeed, because of the difficult conditions they found -- dangerous weather, scarce food -- they sometimes had little time to investigate the culture in the more detached manner of earlier visitors. Their writings are often of a much more personal nature, being concerned with understanding the author's self as much as the culture around him.
This third mode of being in Aran died out in the late 1970s due in part to the increased tourist traffic and in part to technological improvements made to the island, that relegated the above aspects to history. Perhaps the best literary product of this third kind of visitor is An Aran Keening, by Andrew McNeillie, who spent a year on Aran in 1968. Another, Pádraig Ó Síocháin, a Dublin author and lawyer, learning to speak Gaelic to the fluency of an islander became inextricably linked to the Aran handknitters and their Aran Sweaters, extensively promoting their popularity and sale around the world for nearly forty years. Pádraig Augustine Ó Síocháin (PA, 1905 &ndash 1995 was an Irish Journalist, Author, Lawyer and Gaelic language activist Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. "Knit" redirects here See also KNIT and Knitted fabric. The Aran (or Arran) is a style of jumper/ Sweater that takes its name from the Aran Islands off the West Coast of Ireland.
A fourth kind of visitor to the islands, still prominent today, comes for spiritual reasons often connected to an appreciation for Celtic Christianity or more modern New Age beliefs, the former of which finds sites and landscapes of importance on the islands. Celtic Christianity, or Insular Christianity (sometimes called the Celtic Church or the British Church) broadly refers to the Early Medieval New Age ( New Age Movement and New Age Spirituality) is a Social Collective Phenomenon and a Spiritual Nature Finally, there are many thousands of visitors who come for broadly touristic reasons: to see the ruins, hear Irish spoken (and Irish music played) in the few pubs on the island, and to experience the often awe-inspiring geology of cliffs. Tourism is Travel for Recreational or Leisure purposes The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel Tourists today far outnumber visitors of the four kinds discussed above. Tourists and visitors of the fourth kind, however, are under-represented as creators of literature or art directly connected to the island; there are few ordinary "travelogues" of note, perhaps because of the small size of the islands, and there are no personal accounts written about Aran that are primarily concerned with spirituality.
Tim Robinson's Stones of Aran: Pilgrimage (1986) and Stones of Aran: Labyrinth (1995), and his accompanying detailed map of the islands, are another resource on the Aran Islands. Robinson's work is an exhaustive, but not exhausting, survey of the Aran geography and its influence on Aran culture from the Iron Age up to recent times. Robinson also has written, and continues to write, about the Connemara region that faces the Aran Islands on the Galway mainland.
Aran Island sweater
The islands are the home of the Aran sweater, which has gained world-wide appeal during the course of the 20th century. The Aran (or Arran) is a style of jumper/ Sweater that takes its name from the Aran Islands off the West Coast of Ireland. Much of its popularity can be attributed to the enthusiasm and engagement of Pádraig Ó Síocháin, who deeply cherished the islands, their people and their native traditions after he first arrived there in the fifties, recording life as it was then on endless reels of film. Pádraig Augustine Ó Síocháin (PA, 1905 &ndash 1995 was an Irish Journalist, Author, Lawyer and Gaelic language activist The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem acc of traditio which means "a giving up delivering up surrendering" and is used in a number of
Aran knitting is often falsely associated with the Scottish Isle of Arran. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. The Isle of Arran ( Scots Gaelic: Eilean Arainn) is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, with an area of 430 km² (167 square [3]
The Aran currach
The (modern) Aran version of the light-weight boat called the currach (Aran Islands Dialect: kørəx, korəx) is made from canvas stretched over a sparse skeleton of thin laths, then covered in tar. A Currach or Curach is a type of Boat with a wooden frame over which animal skins or hides were once stretched - nowadays canvas is more usual Bitumen is a mixture of organic Liquids that are highly Viscous, black sticky entirely soluble in Carbon disulfide, and composed primarily It is designed to withstand the very rough seas that are typical of islands that face the open Atlantic. Indeed, it is said that the Aran fishermen would not learn to swim, since they would certainly not survive any sea that swamped a currach and so it would be better to drown quickly. Despite the undoubted strength of these boats, they are very vulnerable to puncture.
The islanders were always totally self sufficient. In calmer weather the Currachs would go out and spend the night fishing under the Cliffs of Moher , returning after dawn full with fish. The Cliffs of Moher (Aillte an Mhothair lit cliffs of the ruin, also known as the Cliffs of Coher from the Mhothair are located in the Parish of Nowadays they are only used inshore, tending lobster-pots. More modern versions are still built for racing at the many local regattas, or "Cruinnithe" up and down the west coast of Ireland during the summer months. A regatta is a term used to describe either a Boat race or series of boat races
Conventional shoes cannot be worn, so the fishermen wear soft calf-skin moccasins called pampooties, made of goatskin or cowskin.
Popular Culture
The Aran Islands have found more recent fame and experienced a boost in tourism as a result of being featured in the television comedy Father Ted. Father Ted was a popular 1990s Television Situation comedy set around the lives of three Irish Catholic priests on the remote (and The show is set on the fictional Craggy Island, but local sights such as the Plassey shipwreck feature in the opening sequence to the show, and the island of Inishmore hosted a Friends of Ted festival in 2007. Craggy Island is a fictional island off the west coast of Ireland and is the primary setting for the comedy television series Father Ted. Inishmore ( Árainn ( Mhór) / Inis Mór) is the largest of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay in Ireland and has an area
The Aran Islands were mentioned in James Joyce's short story, "The Dead", as a destination where native Irish is spoken.
(The right to be the "official" home of Craggy Island was disputed with smaller neighbour Inisheer, and settled - in appropriate fashion - by a fiercely contested 5-a-side football match. Inisheer (Inis Oírr the island's official name ga ''Inis Oirthir'' meaning "east island" and traditionally ga ''Inis Thiar'' meaning "rear island" is the smallest The title will be decided in a similar manner in early 2008).
The Lieutenant of Inishmore is a popular play written by Martin McDonagh which was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, on 11 April 2001. The Lieutenant of Inishmore is a Black comedy by Playwright Martin McDonagh, who wrote the Tony award winning play The Martin McDonagh (born 26 March 1970 is a contemporary Irish playwright and Film director. The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC is a British Theatre company It also had a run on Broadway in New York City where it was nominated for 5 Tony awards, and now is played all over the world. Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located The City of New York The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American Theatre and are presented
How to Die: or The Good Gatsby, the humor novel by Wm. Douglas Warren's last chapter is entitled The Aran Islands, set almost entirely in Dún Aengus, although it is just referred to as "a round fort. "
Notes
- ^ The official Irish name for the large island is Árainn However, the British Ordnance Survey, when surveying the landscape of west Ireland, invented the name Inishmore for the largest island probably to avoid confusion with Aran Island in County Donegal. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Ordnance Survey (OS is an Executive agency of the United Kingdom government Aran Island can refer to several places Arranmore or Aran Island off the coast of County Donegal in Ireland Aran Inis Mór the commonly gaelicised form of this new name, has gained widespread acceptance.
- ^ Borgese, Elisabeth Mann. Seafarm: the story of aquaculture. New York: Harry N. Adams, Inc. , p. 105.
- ^ Morris, Johnny. "Grail Trail", The Telegraph, 2006-03-18. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 37 - The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius ' will and proclaims Caligula emperor Retrieved on 2007-02-24. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 303 - Galerius, Roman Emperor, publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the .
See also
External links
- Aran Islands travel guide from Wikitravel
- Official Guide to the Aran Islands
- Online Map of The Aran Islands
- Irish Government Information on Inhabited Offshore Islands
- http://www.marinetimes.ie/aran.html
- Guided Bus tours of the Aran Islands featuring the famous fort Dun Aonghasa
- Guardian article on Inis Meain
- Western Australia has a link to the Aran Islands
- An interesting documentary made in 1934 about the Aran Islands
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic