Corporate Crying, Class Collusion, and Life under Patriarchy Catfights: Mná Caointe in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

In Ireland, until the mid-nineteenth century, women commonly managed death.  Throughout the laying out, wake, funeral procession, and burial, female ritual specialists, primarily mná caointe (keening women), demonstrated their control by remaining close to the corpse.  Ranging from the semi-professional to the more occasional, mná caointe performed the caoineadh (lament) and led their communities in the public expression of grief.  Performances included extemporaneously composed, sung, oral elegiac poetry, interspersed with choruses of wailing cries.  In addition to praising the deceased, mourning his/her passing, and aggressively criticizing his/her enemies, mná caointe articulated their own concerns and assorted social tensions. 

While ensemble performances of numerous mná caointe were required by grieving families to honor the deceased, and keeners’ articulation of assorted socially taboo topics (including condemnation of domestic violence) was facilitated by women in attendance, keening was often a venue for competition and conflict between women.  This paper will examine opportunities for female community offered by the practice as well as the divisive character of the tradition in the mid to late nineteenth century.