• 11:00am–1:00pm: Seminar: The Practice of Voluntary Gravedigging in the West of Ireland with Dr. Danny Conway

• 1:00–2:00pm: Break

• 2:00–3:00pm: Death Rituals and Folk Customs based on the National Museum of Ireland collections, with Keeper Clodagh Doyle

• 3:00–4:00pm: Aspects of Gravedigging: Ancient and Modern, Regulations and Memorials with historian Albert Siggins

Event Background

• In 2018–19, Dr. Danny Conway interviewed 26 men in Mayo and Galway who had long been involved in voluntarily digging graves for neighbours who had passed away. Concerned that this traditional practice might be disappearing, Danny set out to document both the physical work involved and the social, personal, and community motivations for taking part.

• In June 2022, he revisited some of the participants to explore whether Covid‑19 restrictions had impacted this custom. Many of these men are hoped to join this symposium and share their responses to Danny’s findings. Danny is a Visiting Fellow at The Open University, UK. His research was published online in December 2024 as Voluntary Gravedigging in the West of Ireland: https://oro.open.ac.uk/101454/

Speakers

• Clodagh Doyle will discuss death rituals and folk customs based on the National Museum of Ireland’s collections. Clodagh has worked with the Irish Folklife Collection since 1995 and has been Keeper of the Irish Folklife Division since 2020. She is based at Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co. Mayo.

• Albert Siggins, historian and former colleague in the Folklife Division (1970s onward), will present on ancient and modern aspects of gravedigging, including regulations and memorials. Albert’s historical research, especially relating to his native Co. Roscommon, has significantly contributed to public understanding of local history.
  
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