IRELAND: WHERE MAGIC AND HISTORY MEET
The Giant’s Causeway (Northern Ireland)
The basalt columns of the Giant’s Causeway look anything but natural, even though they were formed by ancient volcanic activity. Irish folklore has another explanation: the landscape is said to be the work of the giant, Finn MacCool, who was responding to a challenge by his Scottish neighbour – Benandonner – to built a causeway across the sea so they could meet.
Giant’s Causeway Chaussée des Géants, formation volcanique composée de 40 000 colonnes hexagonales verticales juxtaposées (orgues basaltiques) / folklore ici, légende / landscape paysage / challenge défi / neighbour voisin / across d’un bout à l’autre de.
The Book of Kells
Currently on display at the Trinity Library in Dublin, the Book of Kells is one of Ireland’s national treasures. Created circa 800, it contains four gospels from the New Testament, decorated with what are considered the finest examples of medieval ornamentation in history.
Book of Kells Livre de Kells, également connu sous le nom de Grand Évangéliaire de Saint Colomba / currently actuellement / on display exposé / library bibliothèque / circa aux environs de, vers (époque) / gospel évangile, bonne parole / fine beau, admirable.
The old god of Newgrange
Dating back from 3200 BC, Newgrange is older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids! It’s use is unclear, but it is a site of religious significance, and mentioned in various folktales. Dagda, the god of agriculture, is said to live there.
to date back remonter (à) / BC = Before Christ avant Jésus-Christ / Stonehenge site d’Angleterre méridionale où se trouve le plus grand ensemble mégalithique du pays, probablement érigé à l’âge du bronze / significance importance / folktale conte traditionnel.
3 questions with Tomm Moore, director of Le Peuple Loup
Tomm Moore is an award-winning, director of animated films. His work revolves around the adaptation Irish folk tales. His latest film, Le Peuple Loup, follows the story of Robyn, a young huntress, who comes to Ireland with her father to hunt the last wolf pack of the country.
film director réalisateur / award-winning primé, récompensé / animated d’animation / to revolve around tourner/graviter autour de / hunter chasseur(-se) / pack ici, meute.
Vocable : You released three movies (Brendan et le Secret de Kells, Song of the Sea and now Le Peuple Loup). Why were Irish folk tales such an inspiration? Tomm Moore : When I was in college, it became a bit of a manifesto that we wanted to reclaim some of these stories for ourselves. So we looked at the Book of Kells and Irish art. When we started working, we discovered there were always other stories we wanted to tell – so we made more movies!
to release sortir / Song of the Sea (VF) Le Chant de la mer / college université / to reclaim ici, se réapproprier.
Vocable : Could you tell us a little bit about the creation of Le Peuple Loup? T.M : We discovered stories about wolves and about how connected we were with them. Ireland was sometimes called “Wolf Land”, because it was considered “untamed”. And only then, we came up with the story of Robyn, who wants to be a huntress, but ends up becoming a wolf herself.
land terre / untamed indompté, sauvage / to come, came, come up with imaginer, concevoir, créer.
Vocable : What’s your favourite Irish legend? T.M: I keep coming back to the Legend of the Selkies, which is the main theme of Song Of The Sea. Selkies are seals with the ability to become people – often women – by removing their seal skin. There are many very melancholy tales of people falling in love with selkies, and preventing them from turning back into seals by hiding or stealing their skin. I’m currently working on a graphic novel about this.
seal phoque / to remove enlever, retirer / skin peau / to prevent from (+ ger.) empêcher de / to turn back into redevenir / to steal, stole, stolen voler, dérober / graphic novel bande dessinée (généralement pour adulte), roman graphique.