irish travellers

Have you heard of Irish Travellers? The Irish Traveller Movement provides plenty of online reading material for those wishing to learn about travelling culture. Traveller NGOs in Dublin and the rest of the country work for advocacy on behalf of Travellers, access to government assistance, and preservation of their traditions. So who are the Travellers? 

The Irish Travellers (yes, 2 “L”s) are an ethnic minority Romani community that live mostly in Ireland and England today. Irish Travellers have a culture similar to Roma people, but are ethnically Irish (white European). Have you ever seen the movie Snatch? Brad Pitt plays a Traveller named Mickey O’Neil who the British characters can hardly understand because of his thick accent. They speak a language called Shelta which combines the Irish language (Gaelic), modern English, and a complex set of techniques like word reversal and substitution to make their spoken language almost unintelligible to outsiders. 

Romani people, by comparison, originated near India during medieval times. Though different in origin, Romani and Irish Travellers have similar cultures due to their strictly conservative religious values as well as nomadic lifestyles. Irish Travellers are sometimes referred to as "tinkers". In the past, the derogatory term "knackers" was also used, but is no longer socially-acceptable. Both these terms are based on historical occupations in metal work and animal slaughter. In modern times, Traveller men are revered as experts in horse-breeding and strong workers in the construction industry.

Travellers have always been fiercely nomadic. Some continue to live in caravans, moving from place to place each season. They are known for avoiding social interaction with mainstream Irish society or "country people" in order to preserve their culture. A typical Traveller grows up doing outdoor activities like hunting with dogs and racing horses rather than indoor hobbies. Although most Travellers prize life on the road, new generations have settled in mobile homes, which may be why mobile homes are called "caravans" in Ireland.  There is a documentary-style TV program on BBC Channel4 called My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding that follows Irish Travellers and their unique weddings. One Traveller family living in Dublin 1 expressed that this program fairly portrays travelling culture and lets families speak about their own values.

see the show 

Another look at Irish nomadic life is a book I borrowed from the library called Gypsy Boy: One Boy's Struggle to Escape from a Secret World. In this true memoir of Romani boy Mikey Walsh, he writes about a gritty childhood being groomed as a boxer and his struggles accepting his community’s way of life. 

Have you met any Travellers? What is your impression of the modern-day nomadic lifestyle?