The Aran dress is very distinctive and is still worn today by the older people. Most noticeable are the colorful shawls worn by the women. The Irish language is still the one used most commonly by the people here. The Aran Islands have become synonymous with some of the finest writers and painters of this century, among them the dramatist J.M. Synge, Lady Gregory, Liam O'Flaherty, Jack B. Yeats, Sean Keating and Harry Clarke. During my visit, the Inishmaan cooperative, the governing body of the island, was working on plans to restore the cottage of John Millington Synge in time for the Synge Festival to be held from June 11 to 20, 1999.
Visitors can look out to the sea in the same spot where the famous playwright spent many hours.
Perhaps he composed his famous one-act tragedy Riders to the Sea as he sat here, or sketched out his Playboy of the Western World, since he used an Inishmaan tale as the basis for the plot. I spoke with Angela Faherty who runs a bed and breakfast on the island and is also a member of the Inishmaan Cooperative. She related some of the plans being worked on for The Synge Centenary next year. Since the island will only be able to accommodate about 100 people overnight, plans are underway to have visitors stay on the other two islands and be ferried back and forth to Inishmaan for the festival evenings. Under the capable direction of owner Tarlach de Blacham, beautiful upscale market sweaters and dresses in cashmere and alpaca are shipped to exclusive boutiques around the world, such as Barneys New York and Bergdorg Goodman.