A small west Waterford community will this weekend attempt to revive awareness of a remarkable heritage of Irish-language scholarship, music and dance.
The Sliabh gCua area, nestling in the valley between the Comeragh and Knockmealdowns mountain ranges, was famous in the mid-18th century for its poetry court, or cuirt filiochta. A leading light in these was the almost legendary figure of Donncha Rua Mac Namara (1715-1810).
Later the spirit and excitement of these gatherings was brought into modern times through the work of a whole series of notable Gaelic scholars.
There was Donal O Fearachair (1852-1929), Padraig O Mileadha (1877-1947) and Padraig O Fiannusa (1914-1990). Moreover, Padraig O Cadhla (18751948), in helping to found Ring College, played a major part in ensuring that Deise Irish is alive and being spoken today.
A distinguished gathering at Sliabh gCua in 1977 to mark the unveiling of a monument to Padraig O Mileadha included three prominent figures now sadly deceased, Cearbhall O Dalaigh, Tomas O Fiaich and Donal Foley of The Irish Times.
Eigse Sliabh gCua, a weekend of special events to celebrate the special Gaelic heritage of this area, will run from Friday to Sunday this week. It will be opened on Friday in the village of Tooraneena by the Waterford County Manager, Donal Connolly, and music, song and lectures will follow.
Dr Padraig O Machain, of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, will speak on the Irish manuscripts of Sliabh gCua. Other speakers will include the distinguished Irish scholar and orator, Nioclas Mac Craith, of Ring, and there will be a literary and historical bus tour of the spectacular countryside where this rich heritage of scholarship flourished.
All the talks are in Irish and English and take place in the community centre in Tooraneena village, 15 miles from Clonmel and 11 miles from both Cappoquin and Dungarvan.
Hospitality is the hallmark of this special area, for, as Ciaran Mac Mathuna recalled on his Sunday morning RTE Radio programme last weekend, there is an ancient saying: "Tooraneena, mar a liontar an ghloine" (Tooraneena, where they fill the glass).