Across Gaeltacht parishes of Kerry, Galway, Donegal, and Mayo, the traditional seanchaí served as living genealogist, local topographer (dindshenchas), and fireside narrator of Ossianic Fenian sagas, Ulster Cycle hero-tales, and supernatural sídhe encounters. 1
Systematic wax-cylinder and Ediphone fieldwork initiated by Séamus Ó Duilearga and the Irish Folklore Commission from 1935 preserved tens of thousands of manuscript pages from master storytellers such as Peig Sayers and Seán Ó Conaill. 1
