No Twixing or Crossing is the title of a new collection of beliefs and superstitions which was produced by artist and folklorist Michael Fortune as a result of conversations with a group of Traveller women from the Bunclody area of County Wexford in January and February 2023.
The content shared here with him is practiced, believed and multi-layered. "This is not 'copy and paste' folklore, Michael says. "Instead, these accounts are real and transcribed from the mouths of those who practice them".
Produced with the support of Wexford Library Service, what's immediately striking about the collection is the lack of names associated with the stories. For many folklorists, collectors and historians, this very fact goes against all the standards of recording and documenting, as the person's name is a vital part of the story.
However, this was the condition that the group made with Michael prior to this publication; that all the stories were to be published nameless.
"Naturally at first I thought this would throw up archiving and validity questions but after the first session with the women, I could see it made sense for them," he says.
"It made sense as the stories were communal and collective, and they were the shared voices of the women. The stories were of and from their community and not the individual. There was no interest in whose voice it was or who owned them - that didn't matter, as they all owned the folklore".
The researching and recording sessions were multi-layered and multi-voiced with what Michael Fortune described as "loads of natural cross-talking, side chats, laughs, jokes, messing and general busyness".
In many cases, the stories shared No Twixing or Crossing don’t just belong within the Travelling Community; they can be found right across the county and the country. However, it is the currency that they hold in this community that struck Fortune, who has documented many communities across Ireland.
"The beliefs and stories have a reason to exist," he says, "as they are valued and practiced. As a result, these beliefs, customs and expressions often change slightly as they are passed on in the traditional manner of word of mouth. Sometimes they take on different meanings and things get lost, re-shaped and moulded to suit the lives of those who tell them.
"That is okay, as there are no rules or right or wrong when it comes to folk belief and practice - we all do what works for us".
No Twixing or Crossing will be launched in Bunclody Library, Co. Wexford, on Thursday, June 8, at 7 p.m, and will be available in libraries across Wexford - find out more about Michael Fortune's work here.
