Irish Oral Tradition

Stories define culture through the villains and heroes. In a given culture or identity, stories prepare their audience by showing what to expect. Heroes exemplify positive traits to be mimicked, and villains and obstacles offer warnings for future challenges. The tone of stories, their length and their moral all vary depending on the medium, culture, and audience. The study of "stories" is separated from mass media by the academic community, and often by the general public. This separation is understandable, but not important. Stories persist through all mediums as a way to transmit an identity's characteristics and attitudes. The purpose of this project is to retell stories from the Irish oral tradition to illustrate traits, flaws, and virtues. For an identity as prevalent as Irish, there are a lot of pre-conceived ideas and about what the culture is like. Racism and stereotypes (positive and negative) contribute to an "identity" only partially of the Irish making.