Play recording: Caoineadh na dTrí Muire (2)
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- Teideal (Title): Caoineadh na dTrí Muire (2).
- Uimhir Chatalóige Ollscoil Washington (University of Washington Catalogue Number): 863805.
- Uimhir Chnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann (National Folklore of Ireland Number): none.
- Uimhir Roud (Roud Number): none.
- Uimhir Laws (Laws Number): none.
- Uimhir Child (Child Number): none.
- Cnuasach (Collection): Joe Heaney Collection, University of Washington.
- Teanga na Croímhíre (Core-Item Language): Irish.
- Catagóir (Category): song.
- Ainm an té a thug (Name of Informant): Joe Heaney.
- Ainm an té a thóg (Name of Collector): Fredric Lieberman.
- Dáta an taifeadta (Recording Date): 01/08/1978.
- Suíomh an taifeadta (Recording Location): New York, New York, United States of America.
- Ocáid an taifeadta (Recording Occasion): private.
- Daoine eile a bhí i láthair (Others present): Lisa Null, Peter Bellamy.
- Stádas chóipcheart an taifeadta (Recording copyright status): unavailable.
‘S a Pheadair, a aspail, an bhfaca tú mo ghrá bán?
Ochón, is ochón ó!
Chonaic mé ar ball é dhá ruaigeadh ag an námhaid.
Ochón, is ochón ó!
Muise, cé hé an fear breá atá ar chrann na páise?
Ochón, is ochón ó!
An é nach n-aithníonn tú do mhac, a mháithrín?
Ochón, is ochón ó!
An é sin an maicín a d’iompair mé trí ráithe?
Ochón, is ochón ó!
Nó an é sin an maicín a rugadh ins an stábla?
Ochón, is ochón ó!
Nó an é sin an maicín a hoileadh in ucht Mháire?
Ochón, is ochón ó!
A mhicín mhúirneach tá do bhéal is do shróinín gearrtha.
Ochón, is ochón ó!
Is crochadh suas í ar ghuaillí árda
Ochón, is ochón ó!
Is buaileadh anuas í faoi leacrachaí na sráide.
Ochón, is ochón ó!
Is cuireadh go cnoc Chealbhraí é ag méadú ar a pháise;
Ochón, is ochón ó!
Ag iompar na croiche agus Simon lena shála.
Ochón, is ochón ó!
Is cuireadh táirní maola thríra chosa ‘gus a lámha
Ochón, is ochón ó!
Is cuireadh sleá thrína bhrollach alainn.
Ochón, is ochón ó!
Muise éist, a Mháthair, is ná bí cráite
Ochón, is ochón ó!
Tá mná mo chaointe le breith fós, a Mháithrín.
Ochón, is ochón ó!
Notes
As Angela Partridge points out, the title by which this lament is known in Joe’s native Carna is Caoineadh na Páise (The Passion Lament). However, he accepted the title Caoineadh na dTrí Muire, which was given to the song following his first public performance of it in Dublin (Partridge, op. cit., 31). Caoineadh na dTrí Muire was a title associated with the song/poem in County Mayo. Versions from Donegal, Clare, Cavan, Kerry and Cork have also been recorded.
The song is best understood as a conversation between a number of participants including Peter, Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, and the Roman soldiers. This device advances the story with the greatest possible economy, allowing us to focus on the emotional intensity of each moment, from the viciousness of the soldiers to the disbelief and distress of Mary and finally to the quiet stoicism of Jesus, offering comfort to his distraught mother.
This is surely the most famous of the songs that Joe brought to public notice, and one of his own favourites. Along with Amhrán na Páise and Oíche Nollag, this lament reveals his deep reverence both for the spirituality of the subject-matter and for the tradition that his grandmother and others like her held up for her grandchildren and her community every year. As Máirtín Ó Cadhain wrote following Joe’s first public performance of this song in Dublin, In Caoineadh na dtrí Muire he brings home to us the joys and sorrows of Mary with the intimacy and poignancy of a Fra Angelico painting (quoted in Angela Partridge, Caoineadh na dTrí Muire: Téama na Páise i bhFilíocht Bhéil na Gaeilge, Dublin 1983, 4).
It seems to have been the case that singing this lament was, for Joe’s grandmother and other women in the community, not so much a performance as a very personal, painful, emotional experience. Angela Partridge, recording the song in 1975 from a near neighbour of Joe’s in Aird Thoir, Máire a’ Ghabha (Máire Bean Uí Cheannabháin), describes how the singer broke down in tears in the middle of the song and was unable to continue, saying ‘Tá mé goite chomh fada ansin is tá mé in ann… mar léifidh tú scéal ar ‘chuile mháthair, mar nach mbeidh ‘chuile mháthair mar sin lena mac féin? Gortaíonn Caoineadh na Páise mé an-mhór.’ (I’ve gone as far as I can… for you know it’s the story of every mother, for wouldn’t every mother be like that with her own son? Caoineadh na Páise really hurts me.) (Partridge, op. cit. 167-80).