Culture Night was an enjoyable event for everyone as visitors discovered new and interesting things about Traveller and Roma way of life. (Photos by Derek Speirs)
Life on the Road
Traveller staff from Pavee Point spoke about life on the road and what life was like for Traveller women in the old days. People learned how to make paper flowers, flowers that traditionally Traveller women used to make to hawk from door to door.
Tinsmithing
James Collins made a ‘ponger’ – or cup – that Travellers use to this day to drink tea. It was great to see the younger Travellers also picking up information on Traveller way of life they might not have heard before.
Information on the Traveller contribution to traditional music was available in the exhibition ‘Pavee Pipers’ while people also enjoyed the photographic exhibition by Derek Speirs ‘Pavee Pictures’ which features images of Traveller life from the 80s and 90s.
Roma
The history of the Roma in Europe was available including information on the Roma genocide in World War 2 known by Roma as Porajmos. Images of Roma in Ireland today were also on view in our exhibition ‘Roma – One People’.
The history of the 3 nomadic groups Roma, Traveller and Gypsy was explained very well in the 5 minute film ‘Roads from the Past’ which was also shown throughout the evening.
Minute for the Future
Everyone took a minute to imagine the future we want for our society and our planet as part of Climates an initiative to link in with day of Climate Action which also took place on 20 September. In Pavee Point we used the Traveller paper flower as a symbol of our vision for the future.
We’d like to thank everyone who visited and all staff who made this evening a memorable evening of exchange, learning and laughter.
