My name is Jane, I am from Co. Laois, and I live in Ireland I got seriously into genealogy, history, culture about 4 years ago and I began posting to the various rootsweb newsgroups. At that time I was simply interested in surname distribution around Ireland and placename variations. I began to build up databases, graveyard transcriptions are something which fascinated me initially - I collected everything I could lay my hands on for each and ever county, I turned to name lists - all and any for anything from the 1800-1900 period. Then, I realised that my home county had very few records or so it seemed. There are recrods - hidden away is how I describe them, the strays from Laois - these kind of records - a reference to someone who married in another place or another country can point you to the location of that surname in the county you search in, there are lots of Laois records as well - for Laois - here in Ireland. I began transcribing the graveyards of Laois and I have covered about 1/3 of them - all unpublished. I began transcribing the Tithe records for Laois - I hit that on and off, I also began transcribing the parish records for Laois. I wanted to put my jig saw together - all the names from each source, match them up, find people living and dead. A friend asked me how long the parish work was going to take me - mathematicians think differently than we scientists do ( that's what I am - a scientist) and I said I don't know, he asked why are you doing this - I said because I like it - he said what will you do with it - I said share to whoever needs it - he said "Why?" I timed myself on one film - ten parishes in all - how long would it take me to cover that film. The answer was 365 days of five hours writing a day before I even hit a computer and had to do it all again. Why? I was at home in August and went to a set dancig course going on in Castletown, it's absolutely fantastic, they have dancing classes for three hours in the morning - and then in the afternoon the people who organise it take those on the course around teh county to showe them places and do things. At night, they have sessions organised in different places around teh county. Sheerans pub in Coolrain is really the main place but so many other places. These organisers - they get no payment for the tme and energy they give those who come to the course they organise, nothing for driving these people around in the afternoon or at night - Why do they do it? When we were there that time, we were invited to a wedding out in Dowlings pub in Errill, two musicians from Carlow were getting married in Errill, two fiddlers. We went, when we walked in the door there was the usual table of musicians in the pub, out in the yard another table - people standing al round these musicians - some leaving some coming - the musicians I mean - moving from one palce to another - there was also a marquee and in there the music was organised, someone calling different musicians and introducing them, there was dancing - old sean nós style - nothing like you've ever seen - or have seen rarely, there was story telling, we had mummers, we had singers and musicians of every sort. At 6am the following morning the Bride was playing her fiddle and all the music still going on - on the next day at 2pm there was still music. The wedding went on until the following Tuesday. These people all did that for nothing - they came from every one of the thirty two counties or Ireland to that wedding. It was for me a once in a life time experience. I go to music festivals all over the country, we meet the musicans all those others interested in the different aspects of our culture. I speak with old men who are story tellers, those who just talk about life as it was and it is. Lots of us are collectors - archivists of sorts, we talk and we chat, compare stories, drink lots of guinness and laugh an awful lot. We enjoy ourselves. Last weekend we were away somewhere in Ireland at a festival organised by musicians for musicians - the people who would be away during the summer, playing together. One session began in a pub at 3pm - there were two fiddlers and a box player, a friend of ours sat down and was asked to produce his maaaachine - a guitar. Etiquette calls for the musicians to wait to be invited into the group - it doesn't matter if the newcomer is the most famous musician in the country - the invitation has to be issued. By 5pm there were 15-20 people playing together. Like I said the music began at three o'clock, between then and 8pm there were sean nós singers, storytellers, different versions of different songs, musicians coming and going from the session. At 8pm the Bean an Tí gave them food so there was a break, then it began again - this session finished at 2am. Why do these people play like this and for so long? Not for money - they rarely get paid. Some will be invited back the followig year and they may get some money the others just come along because they love it. That's the why for everything. Jane