The lost art of 'booleying' in Ireland rte.ie - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rte.ie Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The lost art of booleying in Ireland s uplands
Updated / Wednesday, 28 Apr 2021
08:31
An Irish woman driving cattle on Achill Island, Co Mayo 1900-1920 (Reproduced courtesy of National Library of Ireland)
Analysis:
The fluidity and freedom of booleying confounds the popular notion of old Ireland as a staid place where inflexible traditions kept people in their place.
The idea of leaving the house and doing some travelling over the summer, even within Ireland, is probably on the minds of a few of us these days. Seasonal holidaymaking had become commonplace in the last few decades, so it is obviously now a shock for that to be taken away.