Factsheet - Culture and Heritage
The Traveller community is the collective owner of Traveller culture and heritage.
The experience of Travellers in Ireland today can be described as one fo social and cultural exclusion. The widespread denial of Travellers' cultural identity exacerbates the experience of exclusion. Travellers nomadic tradition is equated with vagrancy and thereby criminalised; Traveller crafts and Traveller language is not recognised; Travellers' values, beliefs and customs are dismissed or ignored in a monocultural education system; the Traveller economy and work patterns are not acknowledged and if they are, are denigrated.
Cultural Rights
Travellers and Traveller culture have been marginalised and rejected over the centuries. This continues to be prevailing climate affecting Travellers in Ireland today. Accepting, resourcing and celebrating Traveller identity, culture and heritage is a central element in any strategy to counter this situation and improve the circumstances of Travellers.
Nomadism
Moving from one place to another has given rise to a distinct Traveller way of looking at the world. Nomadism is often described as a state of mind. Even where Travellers occupy houses they regard accommodation as essentially temporary in nature - as do other nomadic peoples around the world. A Traveller living in a house is still a Traveller - just as an Irish person living in Britain is still Irish.
Music and Storytelling
Historically, Travellers played a role as bearers of culture - music and storytelling. They brought songs and stories from parish to parish and developed unique styles of singing, playing music and storytelling. This has influenced many musicians of today who openly acknowledge their debt to these Traveller musicians of the past.
Language
Travellers inhabit two worlds - the settled world and the Traveller world. Traveller culture reflects this. Although little spoken today, an important part of Traveller heritage is their own language - Cant.
Cultural and Heritage Centre
The Traveller Cultural Heritage Centre at Pavee Point has been in existence since 1990. Its aims are to: research and document Traveller history which has previously gone unrecorded; to promote Travellers' positive identity as an ethnic group through cultural action; to resource the traditional skills of Travellers and to improve knowledge and appreciation of Interculturalism in Ireland.
For further information contact the co-ordinator, Cultural Heritage Progarmme at culture@pavee.iol.ie.
