Traveller Women through the Generations Older Women
Middle-aged Women
Younger Women
Celebrations
“We stayed beside a town at Christmastime so we could get to mass and have protection if a fall of snow came, so we could get food. We’d see the twinkly lights in the town a few miles away and it looked like our Christmas tree. After Christmas day, we’d get the turkey or goose carcass and bacon from the houses and we thought we had a feast.”
“We didn’t celebrate anything we hadn’t got the money for it anyway. I remember going to my older sister’s wedding party and it was in the back garden of a house with sandwiches and drinks.”
“These days everything from birthdays to engagement parties are celebrated. We hire a room and invite the family and would have a big cake and gifts are bought for the person. It is still hard to get a hotel or venue for Traveller weddings and celebrations.”
Girls’ Role
“Girls were left at the camp minding the children, from their family and their extended family. You didn’t get paid for this, it was expected of you, and your relations would be thankful. The straw for sleeping on would have to be lifted and tidied up and the road cleaned. There was an aluminum pot, kettle and tea can – if we used delph it would have broken with all the packing up when travelling. We had a grub box, no presses.”
“The girls would mostly have to go begging with the mother and help around the house cleaning and minding the younger ones. Which I did when I wasn’t in school.”
“The Traveller girl’s role is to clean the home and look after the children. It wouldn’t have been normal years ago for the women to work, apart from fortune-telling and selling swag, however with more courses available, there is a significant increase in the number of Traveller women working.”
Weddings
“Our parents or relations would draw down a match and you’d be told who you were going to marry. Less than a week after the match was drew down you’d be married – there was nothing to organise as we didn’t have the price of it! The morning of my wedding after the church I had to go to the fields and pick spuds to get the price of the crockery: two saucepans and a tea can. Many of us wore a shawl, and your wellie boots.”
“Weddings in my time weren’t too big; the women would wear a simple, straight long dress and veil and maybe have a small reception in a pub or hall and have soup and sandwiches and a few drinks.”
“Contrary to popular belief most Traveller girls do not have big fat gypsy weddings. As most Travellers don’t do their debs, we see our wedding as the only day we can really dress up. Years ago there would have been matched weddings and although this still exists it is not as common.”
Death
“When someone died if they had a tent or wagon the family would burn them and then sell the pony to pay for the funeral and have a few pints. We used to go to the barracks and ask the guards to send word onto Travellers in the other towns to let them know if someone had died. Hell would then break loose with the screaming and crying – Travellers cried more in them times when they heard of a death – even the men.”
“I remember when there was a death with a close relative we weren’t brought to the funeral. There would be no television or music allowed for a while, when my granny died, my mother wore black clothes for a year.”
“Nowadays, Travellers see funerals as a final way of showing respect to the dead. They believe the bigger the headstone the better. This is causing problems for some families as they have to go to money lenders and risk being put into debt.”
Entertainment
“We told stories and sang songs around the campfire. The young people would play ‘tig’ in the fields or ‘tip the coal’. At Easter we’d gather up loads of eggs in a can. On Easter Sunday we’d have a bet to see how many eggs a man could eat – a dozen was the most I saw ate by a trollop of a man! If a man had a gramophone, a piebald pony and cart he was sure of getting a woman.”
“When I was growing up I was allowed to go to the matinee with my older brothers and sisters and when I got older I went to the hop with my older sisters a very odd time.”
“Nowadays, Travellers use technology as their main source of entertainment e.g. laptops, phones, televisions, i-Pods, etc. This has changed dramatically as Travellers years ago wouldn’t even have had electricity.”
Travelling
“After Christmas we’d leave a warm camp and we’d go looking for work, mending pots. The cows were calving and the farmers needed the buckets and cans that the Travellers made. The Traveller girls made flowers to get the price of a plaid skirt and a cotton apron; then you felt like a woman. In October the men would go hunting and snaring and we’d sell rabbits and hares for 1 shilling and thruppence.”
“When we got our school holidays we would go travelling. We would stay on the side of the road in a tent with family and friends which I loved. An outside fire would be lit; we would play games with the children and listen to stories.”
“In today’s generation, even the Traveller families that want to travel don’t really get the opportunity to travel, mainly because it isn’t allowed due to the Trespass Act that was passed in 2002.”
“We picked potatoes, we pulled beet and we footed turf for Bord na Móna. We sold the tin cans to the farmers. We’d tell fortunes to girls and boys in the houses (we’d have quizzed their neighbours for the information beforehand). We sold ballad sheets; the last hit I sold was ‘My name it is Eileen McMahon’, then the radio came and we were out of business.”
“I worked in Dunnes Stores parttime when I left school and then in a restaurant in Mullingar, I was getting about £20 a week. I had to hand my Mother most of it.”
“Women nowadays don’t have to beg anymore. The availability of CE schemes allows women to further our education and develop new skills. Traveller organisations also give employment and training. Travellers are now primary health-care, youth, and education workers.”
Home
“We would make the bread, wash the vessels and milk the goat. Travellers nearly all kept goats at that time; goats’ milk was good for a child with skin problems or if they’d asthma. People think Travellers are dirty but we had strict customs around the camp. There was a bucket for water and there was a separate basin for washing the clothes and our bodies in. A separate bowl was used for mixing bread.”
“The women still look after the home. It is our pride and joy. Nowadays we have more money and like to have nice ornaments. The kitchen sink can only be used for vessels or food; there’d be no washing of bodies or clothes there.”
“This hasn’t changed much over the years, Traveller women and girls still continue to clean the home and rear the children. However, it is easier for today’s generation as some of us now have electricity, therefore we can use washing machines and dishwashers.”
Education
“We had no education in those times, the only schooling we got was for the sacraments. We’d pull into a town three weeks beforehand and go and meet the priest. The Legion of Mary was sent out to learn the children their prayers at 6pm every evening and then they’d go to church with country (settled) people. Well-off people in the towns would loan you the communion clothes and you’d give them back afterwards.”
“I went to presentation convent in Mullingar from age five to twelve then I went to secondary school (Tech) for two years, when I was forty I went back to adult education.”
“Travellers are staying in education. They realise the importance of having a good education, they also have the support to continue education. I completed my Leaving Cert and also a pre-nursing course.”
Family
“We all came from big families. There would be 12 to 15 children in most families. Children often died young and few Travellers lived to old age. Travellers looked out for each other. If there were children on the road where you’d be camped and their parents had gone off, those children would be fed, minded and put to bed. The women would all share the food and clothes they got out in the country.”
“We were a large family of eight boys and five girls. We were very close and helpful to each other and looked out for one another when we went anywhere.”
“Nowadays Traveller families are smaller than in the past. Travellers are planning their families and the day of large families is gone. Most families now have 3 to 5 kids. We’re very family orientated and we live in large sites which are home to many of our extended family.”
Community
“We’d a great relationship with the farmers, they helped the Travellers to survive. They got to know us by name and we would be welcome into their homes. We’d bring news from different parts. When we were going for milk they’d bring us into the house and give us supper. We would sing songs and tell stories. There was great trust on both sides. Settled women often altered the clothes they were giving us so that they’d fit.”
“I’ve lived amongst settled people all my life, I always found them very nice and helpful and I have a lot of settled friends and I get along with them.”
“Many Traveller women are mixing with the settled community through education or work purposes. They may also socialise in pubs or discos and although it is not common some Travellers marry settled people.”
“Knock was a favourite place to visit. We never went abroad in them times. Travellers believed in cures; they had them for ringworm, haemorrhages and whooping cough. We also believed in the 7th son or daughter. You had to fast before mass, even if you missed the early mass and couldn’t go till 12 you weren’t allowed as much as a drink of water. I’d also bless my face in the morning and say prayers first thing.”
“We were always made go to mass and say our prayers. We would go to holy wells and curing places, and if we were sick we would always believe we were cured.”
“Travellers in general are very religious people; however young Travellers do not practice their religion as much as the older generation. Many do not attend mass weekly and no longer go on pilgrimages. However if someone gets sick or you get bad news we would go for cures and visit Lourdes.”
Making a Living
Faith and Cures
Tra ve l l er s Rig h t s a re Hum a n Ri g ht s
Pavee Point Travellers' Centre, 46 North Great Charles Street, Dublin 1. Tel: (00353) (1) 878 0255