Good Folk Cafe · published
Hey, it’s Halloween! Or, as I like to call it ever since I moved to Ireland, Samhain (please look up the pronunciation to hear it for yourself).
Samhain was a thing long before people in the US, Japan, and everywhere else in the world started dressing up as pop culture references at the end of October. But I’m not going to go into the origins and traditions of Samhain in this post. Though I do like to share that the original Jack-o'-lantern is carved from a turnip instead of a pumpkin, and by gosh, the one in the museum is really the stuff of nightmares.
So, the Ship of Theseus: how many parts of a ship can you replace until we no longer consider it the same ship? Just like tradition and folklore, how much can we change before it becomes a completely different thing? Okay, it’s not a perfect metaphor, but just stick with me here. Because I want to talk about carrying the past into the future and figure out together what is important to carry over and what we want to change and update to fit the world we live in today.
For example, using a pumpkin instead of a turnip if pumpkins make more sense to the environment you live in? Then yeah, why not? But dressing up as 6 7? Not sure what that’s about, as much as anyone is sure about what 6 7 even means. So is Halloween Samhain? Or has it evolved into something that looks like a ship but doesn’t really sail anymore?
Ireland is doing a push to remind the world where Halloween originated from by calling itself the home of Halloween. And it was at a show that was part of this push that I was treated to a wonderful storytelling session filled with weird and enchanting stories from the west of Ireland. I loved how the Seanchaí (storyteller) embellished the stories with modern-day references, which blended these old stories with the present day.
Stories are told to capture and entertain the audience, so I feel that the best way to keep them alive is by updating them to keep them relevant. And with folklore, the beautiful thing about it is that it’s a story that keeps on getting passed on. And that’s exactly where we want to go with Good Folk Cafe. Now that we’re moving into Winter, it’s time to slow down, rest and connect with people around a fire to listen to stories. And for the team, it means collecting stories to weave into Good Folk Cafe, so we too can do our part to carry on the wisdom and stories of the past into the future. Sometimes that would mean that it looks pretty much like the same ship, just one that isn’t falling apart, and at other times, it might look a little different, but at its core, it’d still be a vessel that carries people across the sea.
Now for the update! We’ve collected our first folklore associated with the content in our game. Before, we only had recordings of some stories we were told, but this time, we did a little collaboration with Stiofán Ó Coileáin from Hog and Dice and got a story that is actually linked to some of the content in our game. So please enjoy the new story added to the build on Itch.io today, and do give Stiofán a follow on their socials if you liked it.