Cloghane Old Cemetery, Co. Kerry
I spotted this grave back in the Summer of 2021. The surround erected to the grave definitely, to my mind, qualifies as unusual. On that wet August day three years ago, ‘vernacular’ was the word that sprung to mind – the seed having been planted in a lecture by Shane Lehane on a folklore module a few years before.
Reverting to my notes from 25th May 2019, Shane outlined traits that might qualify as vernacular, including:
- Like a basket and many other items of vernacular material culture, it is not intended to last forever and is but one in a continual line of such artefacts that are repeatedly replaced as they wear out through use or neglect. With the raw materials at a minimum, all you need is the TIME and KNOW-HOW, much know how passed on through generations
- Materials are inexpensive and easy to source. Tools are generally limited in quantity needed.
- This process demanded that we embrace tedium, repetition and graft. It made us connect with a pre-industrial system of material culture where hard tedious seemingly never-ending work demanded psychological resolve.
- The experience of doing, making, creating, enacting is in itself as important as the end product. What is precious is how things were made – not the things that were made.
- The vernacular object merely needs to be fit for purpose – it does not need to be best in class.
I have often thought of this grave and whether the family Ó Sé were plumbers.
Today is day 26 of the hashtag 31 Days Od Graves on Twitter – the name I still use for that social media. The theme for day 26 is ‘Unusual’ and I think that the work that surrounds the grave of Eamonn Ó Se, his wife Cáit Uí Shé, as well as Eamonn Ó Sé and Cáit Ní Shé qualifies.
