Traveller Women through the GenerationsOlder Women Middle-aged Women Younger Women

Celebrations

Girls’ Role

Weddings

Death

Entertainment

Travelling

Making aLiving

Home

Education

Family

Community

Faith andCures

“We stayed beside a town at Christmastime so we could get tomass and have protection if a fall of snow came, so we could getfood. We’d see the twinkly lights in the town a few miles awayand it looked like our Christmas tree. After Christmas day, we’dget the turkey or goose carcass and bacon from the houses andwe thought we had a feast.”

“Girls were left at the camp minding the children, from theirfamily and their extended family. You didn’t get paid for this, itwas expected of you, and your relations would be thankful. Thestraw for sleeping on would have to be lifted and tidied up andthe road cleaned. There was an aluminum pot, kettle and teacan – if we used delph it would have broken with all the packingup when travelling. We had a grub box, no presses.”

“We didn’t celebrate anything wehadn’t got the money for it anyway.I remember going to my oldersister’s wedding party and it was inthe back garden of a house withsandwiches and drinks.”

“The girls would mostly have to gobegging with the mother and helparound the house cleaning andminding the younger ones. Which Idid when I wasn’t in school.”

“These days everything from birthdays toengagement parties are celebrated. We hirea room and invite the family and would havea big cake and gifts are bought for theperson. It is still hard to get a hotel or venuefor Traveller weddings and celebrations.”

“The Traveller girl’s role is to clean the homeand look after the children. It wouldn’t havebeen normal years ago for the women towork, apart from fortune-telling and sellingswag, however with more courses available,there is a significant increase in the numberof Traveller women working.”

“Contrary to popular belief most Travellergirls do not have big fat gypsy weddings. Asmost Travellers don’t do their debs, we seeour wedding as the only day we can reallydress up. Years ago there would have beenmatched weddings and although this stillexists it is not as common.”

“Nowadays, Travellers see funerals as afinal way of showing respect to the dead.They believe the bigger the headstone thebetter. This is causing problems for somefamilies as they have to go to moneylenders and risk being put into debt.”

“Nowadays, Travellers use technology astheir main source of entertainment e.g.laptops, phones, televisions,i-Pods, etc. This has changed dramaticallyas Travellers years ago wouldn’t even havehad electricity.”

“In today’s generation, even the Travellerfamilies that want to travel don’t really getthe opportunity to travel, mainly because itisn’t allowed due to the Trespass Act thatwas passed in 2002.”

“Women nowadays don’t have to beganymore. The availability of CE schemesallows women to further our education anddevelop new skills. Traveller organisationsalso give employment and training.Travellers are now primary health-care,youth, and education workers.”

“This hasn’t changed much over the years,Traveller women and girls still continue toclean the home and rear the children.However, it is easier for today’s generationas some of us now have electricity, thereforewe can use washing machines anddishwashers.”

“Travellers are staying in education. Theyrealise the importance of having a goodeducation, they also have the support tocontinue education. I completed my LeavingCert and also a pre-nursing course.”

“Nowadays Traveller families are smallerthan in the past. Travellers are planningtheir families and the day of large families isgone. Most families now have 3 to 5 kids.We’re very family orientated and we live inlarge sites which are home to many of ourextended family.”

“Many Traveller women are mixing with thesettled community through education orwork purposes. They may also socialise inpubs or discos and although it is notcommon some Travellers marry settledpeople.”

“Travellers in general are very religiouspeople; however young Travellers do notpractice their religion as much as the oldergeneration. Many do not attend mass weeklyand no longer go on pilgrimages. However ifsomeone gets sick or you get bad news wewould go for cures and visit Lourdes.”

“Weddings in my time weren’t toobig; the women would wear asimple, straight long dress and veiland maybe have a small receptionin a pub or hall and have soup andsandwiches and a few drinks.”

“I remember when there was adeath with a close relative weweren’t brought to the funeral.There would be no television ormusic allowed for a while, when mygranny died, my mother wore blackclothes for a year.”

“When I was growing up I wasallowed to go to the matinee withmy older brothers and sisters andwhen I got older I went to the hopwith my older sisters a very oddtime.”

“When we got our school holidayswe would go travelling. We wouldstay on the side of the road in atent with family and friends which Iloved. An outside fire would be lit;we would play games with thechildren and listen to stories.”

“I worked in Dunnes Stores part-time when I left school and then ina restaurant in Mullingar, I wasgetting about £20 a week. I had tohand my Mother most of it.”

“The women still look after thehome. It is our pride and joy.Nowadays we have more moneyand like to have nice ornaments.The kitchen sink can only be usedfor vessels or food; there’d be nowashing of bodies or clothes there.”

“I went to presentation convent inMullingar from age five to twelvethen I went to secondary school(Tech) for two years, when I wasforty I went back to adulteducation.”

“We were a large family of eightboys and five girls. We were veryclose and helpful to each other andlooked out for one another whenwe went anywhere.”

“I’ve lived amongst settled peopleall my life, I always found them verynice and helpful and I have a lot ofsettled friends and I get along withthem.”

“We were always made go to massand say our prayers. We would goto holy wells and curing places, andif we were sick we would alwaysbelieve we were cured.”

“Our parents or relations would draw down a match and you’dbe told who you were going to marry. Less than a week after thematch was drew down you’d be married – there was nothing toorganise as we didn’t have the price of it! The morning of mywedding after the church I had to go to the fields and pickspuds to get the price of the crockery: two saucepans and a teacan. Many of us wore a shawl, and your wellie boots.”

“When someone died if they had a tent or wagon the familywould burn them and then sell the pony to pay for the funeraland have a few pints. We used to go to the barracks and ask theguards to send word onto Travellers in the other towns to letthem know if someone had died. Hell would then break loosewith the screaming and crying – Travellers cried more in themtimes when they heard of a death – even the men.”

“We told stories and sang songs around the campfire. Theyoung people would play ‘tig’ in the fields or ‘tip the coal’. AtEaster we’d gather up loads of eggs in a can. On Easter Sundaywe’d have a bet to see how many eggs a man could eat – adozen was the most I saw ate by a trollop of a man! If a manhad a gramophone, a piebald pony and cart he was sure ofgetting a woman.”

“After Christmas we’d leave a warm camp and we’d go lookingfor work, mending pots. The cows were calving and the farmersneeded the buckets and cans that the Travellers made. TheTraveller girls made flowers to get the price of a plaid skirt anda cotton apron; then you felt like a woman. In October the menwould go hunting and snaring and we’d sell rabbits and haresfor 1 shilling and thruppence.”

“We picked potatoes, we pulled beet and we footed turf forBord na Móna. We sold the tin cans to the farmers. We’d tellfortunes to girls and boys in the houses (we’d have quizzedtheir neighbours for the information beforehand). We soldballad sheets; the last hit I sold was ‘My name it is EileenMcMahon’, then the radio came and we were out of business.”

“We would make the bread, wash the vessels and milk thegoat. Travellers nearly all kept goats at that time; goats’ milkwas good for a child with skin problems or if they’d asthma.People think Travellers are dirty but we had strict customsaround the camp. There was a bucket for water and there was aseparate basin for washing the clothes and our bodies in.A separate bowl was used for mixing bread.”

“We had no education in those times, the only schooling we gotwas for the sacraments. We’d pull into a town three weeksbeforehand and go and meet the priest. The Legion of Mary wassent out to learn the children their prayers at 6pm everyevening and then they’d go to church with country (settled)people. Well-off people in the towns would loan you thecommunion clothes and you’d give them back afterwards.”

“We all came from big families. There would be 12 to 15children in most families. Children often died young and fewTravellers lived to old age. Travellers looked out for each other.If there were children on the road where you’d be camped andtheir parents had gone off, those children would be fed, mindedand put to bed. The women would all share the food andclothes they got out in the country.”

“We’d a great relationship with the farmers, they helped theTravellers to survive. They got to know us by name and wewould be welcome into their homes. We’d bring news fromdifferent parts. When we were going for milk they’d bring usinto the house and give us supper. We would sing songs andtell stories. There was great trust on both sides. Settled womenoften altered the clothes they were giving us so that they’d fit.”

“Knock was a favourite place to visit. We never went abroad inthem times. Travellers believed in cures; they had them forringworm, haemorrhages and whooping cough. We alsobelieved in the 7th son or daughter. You had to fast beforemass, even if you missed the early mass and couldn’t go till 12you weren’t allowed as much as a drink of water. I’d also blessmy face in the morning and say prayers first thing.”

Pavee Point Travellers' Centre,46 North Great Charles Street, Dublin 1.Tel: (00353) (1) 878 0255

Travellers Rights are Human Rights