Hey you! Yes, you! Haven’t you heard? The second week of March means Seachtain na Gaeilge, which no longer means half-spirited year heads in your secondary school doing the roll call as Gaeilge, but a week dedicated to celebrating the jewel of the Irish nation’s culture: an teanga. Ranging from events that are completely trí Ghaeilge, to events that avoid it like the virus, Trinity’s societies have something for everyone this week!
Riding high on the success of last week’s action-packed Seachtain na hÉigse, organised by TCD’s Cumann Gaelach and Trinity’s Oifigeach na Gaeilge, this week is set to be slightly less busy. Ach, faoi mar a deir an seanfhocal: “Fóireann spallaí do bhallaí chomh maith le clocha móra”.
Monday
Kick-starting the week is the Trinity Women in Law (TWIL)’s all-female Mock Trial – the first of its kind in Ireland. The teams, who have spent the past week preparing, will compete in two rounds and the winners will battle it out in a live-streamed final on Facebook. If you’re still reading this paragraph you probably study law or fancy yourself as a law-head. In that case, TCD Eagle Law Gazette in collaboration with Trinity’s Free Legal Advice Centre (FLAC) are now accepting submissions for their third collaborative essay competition, generously sponsored by The Maples Group.
Submissions under the title “Exploring Gender Inequalities in the Protection and Administration of the Law” are to be submitted by email to [email protected] by early April.
Still not Gaeilge related, but of course could be if you attended with the right mindset, is Trinity Knitting Society (Knit Soc)’s event at 6pm. Thinking about starting a Depop shop? Or how about upping your fashion game for when you finally have a reason to get out of your pyjamas? At this event, the society will be offering sewing machine lessons – something worth a pretty penny on the outside world.
Tuesday
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but no one is fooled by your photoshopped VSCO sunset pics. Thankfully DU Photos have a photoshop workshop at 6pm on Tuesday, to show you how it’s really done. They will also be hosting an Instagram live earlier at 1pm so that you can familiarise yourself with the folks in the society beforehand.
DU Players, Cumann Gaelach and Trad Soc are bringing you the first Gaeilge-centric event na seachtaine. At 7:30, a Fake Wake, nó Tórramh Bréagach, will begin. Word on the street is that this society roast will be a knee-slapping event you won’t want to miss, regardless of language capability.
At 8pm, Trinity Jazz Society (Jazz Soc) are hosting a closed space for women and non-binary people to talk about their experiences in the music industry. Pop along if you have anything to share or if you simply want to have a more dignified and insightful conversation about sexism and prejudice in Ireland than you would at the average angry dinner table.
Wednesday
If, like me, you’re missing the National Gallery at the moment, QSoc have you covered with a virtual tour of the gallery’s queer art at 2pm on Wednesday. The annual DU Players Lipsync Battle that evening should be equally fantastic and queer. You can sign up to the Zoom via the link posted on DU Players’ social media accounts and finally get to show everyone how fierce your “Single Ladies” lip sync cover is.
Later, at 7pm, DU Modern Languages will host round two of their “Professionals” programme of events. The evening will consist of a panel discussion with five people from various fields who are all working in multilingual or language-oriented careers! The guest lineup will be announced soon but sources hint strongly at the inclusion of, you guessed it, some Gaeilgóirí.
At 7:30pm, the Hist are hosting their weekly debate, and this week’s motion is ‘This House Believes Journalism is Failing Democracy’. Well, this is awkward.
Thursday
Ar ais ag an buzz gaelach are QSoc and Cumann Gaelach. The two societies will be hosting a screening of Trás, a TG4 documentary which follows transgender people in Ireland and shares their experiences. The time is still TBC, so keep up with the societies’ social media accounts to find out more.
At 7:30pm, the University Philosophical Society will host their weekly debate. Coincidentally, it’s also media-related. The motion on the table is: ‘“This House Believes True Crime Media is Exploitative”. Whoever wrote An Gnáthrud might have a lot to answer for!
Friday
Friday brings us to the end of the week and two long-anticipated events. First is the Women’s Week concert, a huge collaboration between Jazz Soc, Trinity Orchestra, DU Music and Trinity Musical Theatre. It will stream live on Youtube and the link to watch or donate to international women’s day will be in each of the societies’ bios. If you would like to be part of the concert, Jazz Soc is still accepting submissions!
The other hotly anticipated event is the final of Trinity Law Society (Law Soc)’s Junior Mock Trial. The event will be livestreamed on Facebook for eager spectators and will see law stars Lucy Lü and Samuel Carthy go up against Dan Byrne and Carrie O’Kelly. Cad í an Ghaeilge ar “objection”?!
