Irish Tinkers

Irish Tinkers by Wiedel, Janine. Hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780312436278.

Well, now I dont gossip about no one just in case the wind is shifty like a weasel or the lake is round like a hollow ear. My ears burn never cause to tell you the truth if you know what I mean I like being respected. The origin of the Irish Tinkers and of their secret language, shelta, has long been the subject of fierce controversy amongst historians. Some say the were forced into an itinerant existence by the social and economic upheavals of the 17th century; others that they are descendants of a pre-Celtic class of skilled metal workers and others that they are the remnants of dispossessed nobility. But whatever their origins the Irish Tinkers are now threatened on all sides. Their skills are no longer necessary to the settled community. At the same time their numbers are dwindling and the battle for day to day survival is becoming more and more desperate. This book is a permanent record of this curiously resilient people made while there is still time. The moving photographs together with the transcribed tape-recordings which show the tinkers extraordinary eloquence as they talk about their lives, reveal the anguish of a people in transition; nostalgia for the old days and uncertainty about the future; concern for the passing of traditional values and fatalistic acceptance of present difficulties. But, in spite of this there can also be seen those qualities of independence, pride, self-respect and sheer endurance of the hardships of living which cannot fail to command compassion, admiration and also regret that 20th century industrial life should require such casualties.