Turns out we don’t know anything!  What a surprise!  Just found out that what we thought was seaweed harvesting are actually lobster and crab pots. Hard to see how, but when I showed the pics to the hotel desk clerk he snap answered with the lobster pot explanation. 

  Went to the Doagh Famine Village today. Remote, located at the top of Donegal . The first house we went in is the house where our guide grew up. In one picture he is pointing to his parents. It’s a 2 room cottage and there were 6 kids, parents, and grandparents lived, until the 1980’s. One of the cottages was set up for a wake and he explained all the traditions and the reasons for them that went into a wake. I made a video of part of his presentation partly so you can see how hard it is to understand them. Then we learned about poteen and had a sample. Think moonshine. Apparently, when it’s made with lead pipes instead of copper, you get lead poisoning, go comatose, and appear to be dead. But sometimes after 2 days you can  wake up, thus the Irish wake, burials only after 3 days, and the professional “keeners” whose weeping and wailing were specifically supposed to wake the dead.  Next set of pictures were still at the Famine Village and show things like the sod house where girls who got pregnant out of wedlock were banished, cottages made of peat, an eviction, and information about the famine and potato blight.

 Ok, apparently the video won’t go here, so if you want to see it, just text or email me and I’ll send it to you.

 

We think they are harvesting sea weed, but aren’t certain.

 

 A pretty church in Donegal.