Folklore: The Shared Human Experience

Hannah’s ancestry traces back to Ireland, and learning about the folklore that would have shaped the way that her great grandparents, great great grand parents and all the Mulvanys before them would have related to nature and the places around them has been a main feature of her past month in the country. She wanted to delve deeper into the folklore that the country is famous for, so spoke to Bairbre Ní Fhloinn, professor of folklore at University College Dublin, about how it has framed humankind and our relationship to nature, and how it links together all humanity.In the conversation, she regularly references folklore as being a shared history, not just within a locality, but of the human species as a whole. Localities may have their own manifestations and translations, but all follow similar themes, many of which we will cover in this episode. Folklore is so important for so many reasons, including helping us humans to understand our connection with the earth. Feeling and valuing this connection is crucial for human beings actually wanting to protect and preserve the nature that we have left. Bairbre has an upcoming paper about how Irish folklore has shaped the relationship between the country's humans and its natural places, both historically and in the modern day, and we get a sneak peek at some of the main features of the paper in this episode.And no, there's not a leprechaun in sight!

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