Chiff and Fipple Forums

Hello everyone
Some time ago, I was playing at a historical event and afterwards I wantet to see, if I could get a understanding about the origin of Irish Jigs.

Doing this, I came across this timeline:
https://celticsteps.ie/our-story/the-hi ... sic-dance/

It seems quite valid, I think.

Maby some of you will find it interesting as well.

It seems quite valid, I think.

Don't believe everything you read on the interwebs.

As they say on Wikipedia, [citation needed].

I know practically nothing about Irish dance other than Riverdance and the old jokes about the lost manual 'Volume 2: the upper body movements'.

But as soon as anyone starts asserting that anything traditional dance related links back to sun worshipping, the [citation needed] klaxon in my head goes off good and loud!

I shut down at the ancient celitc dance (fwiw, I am at the Willie week dance recital at the minute) but this one really got me:

In 1970, the birth of the Gaelic Athletic Association, a sub division of Comhaltas organised competitions where teams of dancers from around the country gathered together to share their own style of set dancing to all. This too inspired other communities to foster a pride in their own unique take on Irish dancing and look for and revive their own style of sets.

I am not even sure what they are trying to say there but if they think the GAA was formed in 1970 as a sub division of Comhaltas, they cannot even get simple, verifiable facts right.

Mr.Gumby wrote: ↑Thu Jul 06, 2023 12:45 pm
I am not even sure what they are trying to say there but if they think the GAA was formed in 1970 as a sub division of Comhaltas, they cannot even get simple, verifiable facts right.

Good points from both of you.
I actually find I a bit worrying, that an otherwise very professional looking page, seem to be quite faulty, when it comes to facts.

Well, as you said Mr. Gumby:

Don't believe everything you read on the interwebs

It is important to be critical to references and to cross-read different sources.

Mr.Gumby wrote: ↑Thu Jul 06, 2023 2:30 am

It seems quite valid, I think.

Don't believe everything you read on the interwebs.

Indeed ...

"The Celts were sun worshippers who practiced a pagan dance within a circular formation of stones which has some commonality to the circular formation of Irish set dancing"

Sorry, but I had to laugh out loud at this silly invention and reach.

The webpage doesn't even give the title of the book that is referenced correctly. It is <i>Toss the Feathers: Irish Set Dancing</i> by Pat Murphy. And the transcriptions from the book are inaccurate to the point of incomprehensibility.

The book is basically a collection of set dances, but it has a brief historical introduction, which has been criticized by some reviewers. Basically the question is whether all set dances were imported into Ireland from elsewhere, or is there a native tradition that goes back to the first recorded mentions in Elizabethan times.

The topic of step-dancing, which is what many people think of when they think of Irish dancing, isn't covered at all.

I have to admit that the image of woad-covered ancient Celts dancing The Siege of Ennis in a stone circle has some appeal, but I think it lacks supporting evidence.