Edmund Lenihan (born 1950), also known as Eddie Lenihan, is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

author, storyteller, lecturer and broadcaster. He is one of the few practising '' seanchaithe'' (traditional Irish lore-keepers and tale-spinners) remaining in Ireland. He has been called "one of the greatest of Irish story-tellers""Irish Tales by Eddie Lenihan"
on BBC programme ''The Session'', broadcast March 2005. Retrieved 25 December 2007 and "a national treasure".
by Tom Knapp, published 10 January 2004, ''Rambles Magazine''. Retrieved 25 December 2007

Biography

Lenihan is a native of

Brosna, County Kerry Brosna () is a village and parish situated in the Sliabh Luachra area of County Kerry, Ireland. It lies from the town of Castleisland. The civil parish of Brosna consists of the village and a number of townlands. It is a mainly agricultural a ...

, Ireland, but currently resides in

Crusheen Crusheen () is a small village in County Clare, Ireland, in the civil parish of Crusheen (Inchicronan). Location The village is 10 kilometres northeast of Ennis on the R458 road to Gort. It is in the parish of Crusheen (Inchicronan) in the R ...

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,81 ...

. His college education was at Saint Ita's College in

Abbeyfeale Abbeyfeale (; ) is a historic market town in County Limerick, Ireland, near the border with County Kerry. The town is on the N21 road from Limerick to Tralee, some south-west of Newcastle West and south-east of Listowel and north-east of Tr ...

County Limerick "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Ireland, Province , subd ...

and

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

. He is a collector and

preservationist Preservationist is generally understood to mean ''historic preservationist'': one who advocates to preserve architecturally or historically significant buildings, structures, objects, or sites from demolition or degradation. Historic preservation us ...

of folk tales, recording stories told by older people as passed to them in

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985) ...

, and then distributing them to a wider audience via print, audio and filmed recordings.Penguin Group
bio at publisher's website. Retrieved 25 December 2007 Lenihan is particularly well known for his tales of Irish

folk hero A folk hero or national hero is a type of hero – real, fictional or mythological – with their name, personality and deeds embedded in the popular consciousness of a people, mentioned frequently in folk songs, folk tales and other folklore; a ...

es, fairies,

fallen angel In the Abrahamic religions, fallen angels are angels who were expelled from heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" never appears in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven"Mehdi Azaiez, Gabriel Said ...

s, and other supernatural beings as recorded in

Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths native to the island of Ireland. It was originally passed down orally in the prehistoric era, being part of ancient Celtic religion. Many myths were later written down in the early medieval era by Ch ...

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

and oral history. He has also published poetry, stories about historical and legendary

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

of Ireland, and

railroad history ''Railroad History'' (initially, ''The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin'') is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society since 1921. ''Railroad History'' consists primarily ...

. In his role as a cultural preservationist he maintains the largest private collection of folklore in Ireland. His first local reputation developed as an enthusiastic children's storyteller. But as his international storytelling reputation grew, he has appeared in the film, ''The Fairy Faith'', in a series of programmes on BBC radio, and at numerous high-profile folk festivals."Festival Thru The Lens!"
– Photos and report of Lenihan's appearance at the Killala Festival 2003, Castlebar, Ireland. Retrieved 25 December 2007Lenihan at Galway Arts Festival
Retrieved 25 December 2007

Conservation activism

In the 2004 reprint of his 2003 book, ''Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland'' Mr. Lenihan explained his continuing dismay at the rapid loss of Irish cultural heritage and artefacts resulting from industrialisation of rural Ireland. He described his motivation to preserve

hill forts A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Rom ...

, rural dwellings and

native plants In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equi ...

in the context of general preservation of folkways. He also briefly described how his conservation ethics had come to disagreement with the centralised progressive goals of

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

planners.

This had come to international attention in 1999 when Lenihan had stood up to road builders in County Clare who had wanted to cut down a special whitethorn tree. (The whitethorn is considered in local Irish lore, and

Celtic folklore Celtic folklore may refer to: The Folklore in the modern Celtic nations: * Hebridean mythology and folklore * Irish folklore * Scottish folklore * Welsh folklore Or the mythologies of ancient and modern Celtic peoples: * Celtic mythology * Irish ...

in general, to be sacred to the ''

Aos Sí ' (; older form: ) is the Irish name for a supernatural race in Celtic mythology – spelled ''sìth'' by the Scots, but pronounced the same – comparable to fairies or elves. They are said to descend from either fallen angels or the ...

'' – the fairy folk of Ireland.) In local tradition, this specific tree was believed to serve as the meeting place for the fairies of Munster whenever they prepared to ride against the fairies of

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Del ...

. Monaghan, Patricia (2004) ''The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog''. New World Library p.67 His activism and protests had made international headlines, and succeeded in altering the road project to spare the tree. Mr. Lenihan is not a violent activist. In the 1999 incident he used the tactic of mobilising public awareness by telling the old, traditional stories that mentioned the traditional significance of the

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

, as well as the punishments that came to those who harmed the abodes of the fairies.Devereux, Paul (2003) ''Fairy Paths & Spirit Roads''. Sterling Publishing, pp.151–3Away with the Fairies
by Viv Francis. Retrieved 25 December 2007

Lenihan's informants

In his cultural preservation efforts Mr. Lenihan relies heavily on local informants. These individuals are (often elderly) members of the rural community who are steeped in a tradition of oral history.

Jimmy Armstrong

Jimmy Armstrong was born in 1914 in Ballyrougham, the son of a land steward for a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, t ...

. His stories of the people, places and heroes of County Clare were incorporated into the 1982 book, ''Long Ago by Shannonside''. His importance in Lenihan's estimation was "...remarkable, then equally significant is the fact that one such man's death can deprive an area of a large part of its oral tradition at one blow".

Bibliography

Books

* Lenihan, Edmund. ''Long Ago by Shannonside'' (1982) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''A Loss of Face and Other Poems'' (1983) Inchicronan Press. Crusheen, Co. Clare. OCLC: 17518025 * Lenihan, Edmund. ''The Portrait Gatherer'' (1984) Inchicronan Press. Crusheen, Co. Clare. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Even Iron Men Die'' (1985) Inchicronan Press. Crusheen, Co. Clare. OCLC: 33124197 * Lenihan, Edmund; Frances Boland. ''Stories of Old Ireland for Children'' (1986) (republished 1997) Mercier Press. Cork. * Lenihan, Edmund; Joseph Gervin. ''Strange Irish Tales for Children'' (1987) (republished 1992) Mercer Press. Cork. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''In Search of Biddy Early'' (1987) Learning Links. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''In the Tracks of the West Clare Railway'' (1990) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin. (republished 1991) Irish American Book Co. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Ferocious Irish Women'' (1991) Mercier Press. Dublin. (Republished in 1997 as ''Defiant Irish Women'' ) * Lenihan, Edmund. ''The Devil Is an Irishman'' (1995) Mercier Press. *Lenihan, Edmund. ''A Spooky Irish Tale for Children'' (1996) Mercier Press. Dublin. * Lenihan, Edmund; Athena Alchazidu. ''Neuvěřitelná irská dobrodružství'' (1991) Ando. Brno. (

Czech language Czech (; Czech ), historically also Bohemian (; ''lingua Bohemica'' in Latin), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech R ...

) * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Gruesome Irish Tales'' (1997) Mercier Press. Cork. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Humorous Irish tales for children'' (1998) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Wad of Notes'' (1998) Gem and Emerald Books. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''The Savage Pigs of Tulla'' (2000) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Rowdy Irish Tales for Children''(2001) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin. * Lenihan, Eddie; Carolyn Eve Green. ''Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland'' (2003) Gill & Macmillan. Dublin. (Republished 2004) Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam. New York. (Penguin edition) * Lenihan, Edmund; Alan Clarke, ''Irish Tales of Mystery and Imagination'' (2006) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin. (title as listed b
Worldcat
* Lenihan, Eddie; Alan Clarke. ''Irish Tales of Mystery and Magic'' (2006) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin. (title as listed by Amazon.com)

Media

* Lenihan, Edmund. ''Fionn MacCumhail and the Dark Pool'' (1983) Ceirnini Cladaig. Baile Atha Cliath, Éire. (Cassette Tape) * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Niamh and the Giant'' (1984) Claddagh Records. Dublin. OCLC: 39034369 (Cassette tape) * Lenihan, Edmund. Story Teller. (1986) Claddagh Records. Dublin. OCLC: 64861824 (Cassette Tape) * Lenihan, Edmund ''Storyteller 2'' (1988) Claddagh Records. Dublin. OCLC: 39034419 (Cassette tape) * Aziz, Peter; Elizabeth Jane Baldry; Neil Boyle (II); and Hugh Boyle (III). ''The Fairy Faith'' (2001) Wellspring Media. ASIN: B00005K9OQ (Documentary DVD) * Lenihan, Edmund; Colcannon (Musical group); Windhorse Productions. ''The Good People'' (2001)

Sounds True In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

. Boulder. OCLC: 47106057 (Cassette Tape) * Lenihan, Edmund; "Tell Me a Story Podcast" (2020) Produced by Philip Murphy & John Lillis.

References

External links

Eddie Lenihan – ''Seanchaí'' – Storyteller
– Author's website *
"Festival Thru The Lens"
– Photos and report of Lenihan's appearance at the Killala Festival 2003, Castlebar, Ireland

Photos from Round Stone Summerfest 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenihan, Edmund Irish children's writers Irish folklorists Irish poets People from County Kerry 1950 births Living people Claddagh Records artists