The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #139920   Message #3213141
Posted By: GUEST,Phien O'Phien
26-Aug-11 - 03:53 PM
Thread Name: Pavee (Irish Traveller)
Subject: RE: Pavee (Irish Traveller)
"When were people started to be called Travellers? My great grandfather and his 3 brothers were listed as "4 Travlers" on some document..although we have no reason to believe they were Travellers as they were from Dingle. mg"

We have been called irish Travellers since the turn of the last century as far as i know... Shakespeare mentions the "roving Irish" in one of his plays...But the name we know ourselves by is "Pavee' That used to be a secret word as is much of our language...but it is used often now...Many Pavee left Ireland and settled all over the world...Murphy's village in the USA is made of all Pavee's who left during the famine..some self claimed experts on our culture state there can be no more than 120.000 of us in the world although that is probably higher than what there actually is...more like 70/80, 000...we are a minority within minorities...