Though St. Patrick’s Day is associated with drinking Guinness and sporting four-leaf clovers, we encourage you to expand your holiday to include one of the richest traditions in Ireland: storytelling.

In a modern world of television, books, and movies, it’s safe to say that we have our options for entertainment. But in the old world, people didn’t have Netflix to binge, libraries to scour, or a phone to scroll through. To the modern-day person, the lack of amenities sounds like a death-sentence of boredom. In the old world, though, they had to be creative to occupy their minds.

Who are the Seanchaí?

In ancient Ireland, when one was looking for entertainment, all one had to do was to find a Seanchaí (Shan-a-key). The Seanchaí were the storytellers in ancient Ireland, and the ultimate cure to boredom in their time. The gatekeepers of their country’s rich folklore, these bards could recite history and myth from memory, dazzling audiences with daring tales of heroes.

Why does Ireland need them?

Writing out all the legends from Ireland’s literary history would most likely span the length of the country several times over. But it was a special tradition of the Seanchaí in medieval times to pass along stories from practitioner to practitioner without ever writing them down. This was particularly true for the mythology from pre-Christian Ireland. Instead of written material, Ireland’s myths and historical tales were passed along orally, to the next generation. This oral tradition of sharing those myths is called “Béaloideas.” Because the first manuscripts in Ireland were not written until Christianity was established in the country, Ireland relied on the Seanchaí to preserve their early folklore.

A Country of Magic and Tradition

Ireland is a small country with a lot of legend. Not only did the storytellers of ancient Ireland have history to tell of—like the English conquests in the 1600s and the description of the Celtic and Gaelic cultures due to that colonization—but they had hundreds of myths to share as well.

Fairies, leprechauns, and goddesses color the narrative of Ireland. Macha, the Goddess of the Horses, for example, is a favorite myth from Irish folklore. This legend tells of a mysterious woman who was forced to race against the horses of the King of Ulster—while she was heavily pregnant with twins. When the race was over, she cursed the men of Ulster to suffer the pain of labor for the next ninety years.

Beyond banshees and demigods, though, Irish storytelling goes back to the origins of Ireland itself; all the way back to the first century AD, and sometimes even before. The rich tapestry of the Celtic and Gaelic cultures created a country with a story for every occasion.

Modern-Day Bards

For decades, Edmund Lenihan has been one of the Seanchaí in the world still practicing his craft. He is a fierce advocate for preserving the culture of his country. Lenihan co-authored Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland (2003). He speaks up against the destruction of the natural beauty of Ireland for modern convenience. Without the preservation of ancient forts, trees, and fabled fairy abodes, he is sure that Ireland will lose its cultural heritage. He continues to orally tell the history of Ireland to warn people of the consequences of forgetting to honor the past.

Marianne McShane is another popular Seanchaí. She’s been featured in many Irish festivals, has a YouTube channel to tell her stories orally, and continues to hold events to speak around the world. “There is no artifice in storytelling—” she says, “you must let story speak for itself.” She began telling stories in the United States, when she was a librarian in New York, to cure herself of homesickness, and she realized that storytelling not only eased her missing home but connected her to it further. “I love bringing listeners into the Otherworld with me so that they too can be entranced with a sense of wonder,” she says.

These Seanchaí are bringing old stories to modern-day listeners. Luckily, the Celtic Revival and the Irish Literary Revival in the 19^th and 20^th centuries churned up renewed passion for the Celtic folklore of Ireland today. From that movement, festivals and competitions celebrating the oral tradition of storytelling have multiplied. With the Luck of the Irish on our side, hopefully we will see the practice of the Seanchaí become a more prevalent form of entertainment once again.

Though you may not be able to find a Seanchaí to spin you tales of Irish heroes, this St. Patrick’s Day, try exploring the decorated folklore of Ireland for yourself.