The Wayfarer

The night before Patrick Pearse was to be executed for his part in the Easter rising, and the rebellion against British rule in Ireland, he wrote some very moving pieces including the poem The Wayfarer. I couldn't imagine sitting in a jail cell awaiting your eminent death because you fought for your country and it's people.
The Wayfarer has a since of sorrow to it. Pearse reflects on the beautiful little things in life that he knows he will miss when he dies. The poem is a reminder to appreciate the simple things in life because they could all disappear. I'm sure Pearse wishes he had more time to continue appreciating the place he lives and the people around him. The message the Wayfarer obtains seems loud and clear to me and is a wonderful piece of work.

"The Lake Isle of Innisfree"

W.B. Yeates is one of the most famous Irish writers. This particular poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" was written in 1888 when Yeates was only twenty-three years old. He talks about going to a lake in Innisfree which is a town in county Sligo on the west coast or Ireland. The narrator wants to build a cabin there and grow beans. It sounds so peaceful to live alone in the Irish country side. The narrator appreciates the small things because he does not have them. He is stuck in the city rather than in the country where he would love to reside. From this poem I see the idea of noticing the small things because they may not always be there.

Boadicea

The strength and right of Celtic woman long ago was incredible. In times when in other places women were though of as property and their sole purpose was to serve men, Celtic nations had female leaders like Boadicea. Boadicea was the queen of the Iceni Tribe who lived under Roman rule peacefully until her husbands death. The corrupt ,male, Roman leaders decided to take advantage of the tribe she protested and was beaten and forced to watch her daughters being raped. But, Boadicea would not back down and she staged an uprising against the devilish Romans who had hurt her tribe and family. Unfortunately, the battle ended in her death along with many others in the tribe. I'm sure that they died with honor fighting for what they believed in under a strong leader, their queen Boadicea.

Bealtaine

I read a poem called Bealtaine from Kate Delahunty's Verses from Ireland and wanted to learn more about the holiday in the poem's subject. To understand the word's meaning -taine means "fire" and usually is referred to as the ancient custom of purifying cattle the eve of the holiday by driving them between two bonfires. In old, Druid Ireland this holiday would have been held at the beginning of summer and in the poem they say it is held on the first of May. The poem informs that the holiday included dancing and feasts as many holidays do. This ancient, mystical holiday must have been very exciting for all who participated in it.

The Walworth Farce

On Saturday night I attended the play Druid Ireland The Walworth Farce by Enda Walsh. I am no theater critic but I will try to give you a little incite on what I got from the play. Basically the story is about a father who has gone crazy with guilt and his two sons. The family lived in Cork Ireland but when the father kills his brother and sister in law he fleas to London with the two boys, leaving his wife. When the boys ask why they moved the father comes up with a story to cover up the truth and makes the boys reenact the story every day so that the brother who saw what really happened with not realize the truth. Although the play is funny as most Irish stories are, it digs into some very serious topics like murder, abuse, and insanity. The brother who is allowed to go to the store everyday ends up meeting a girl and she comes to give him his groceries when he grabs the wrong bag. The father is furious and locks her in the house, forcing her to become a part in the play. The son feels so terrible and wants her to be freed so he begs his brother for help. The other brother ends up stabbing their father then makes his brother kill him. The girl escapes but the brother is so mentally unstable that he can't leave. He has a break down and stays in the house where he was never able to leave. The play didn't have too much to do with Ireland except for the Irish tunes played, the accents, and the dream to return to the emerald isle. There was humor in the seriousness which is a huge part of Irish literature. The play was sad, humorous, fast paced, and interesting. So if you have a chance to see The Walworth Farce I would recommend it.

Irish Ghost Story

Irish stories are known to have a lot of humor. Here is a story from my friend Taryn.

This story happened a while ago in Dublin , and even though it sounds
like an Alfred Hitchcock tale, it's true.

John Bradford, a Dublin University student, was on the side of the road

hitchhiking on a very dark night and in the midst of a big storm. The

night was rolling on and no car went by. The storm was so strong he
could hardly see a few feet ahead of him.

Suddenly, he saw a car slowly coming towards him and stopped.

John, desperate for shelter and without thinking about it, got into the

car and closed the door.... only to realize there was nobody behind the

wheel and the engine wasn't on.

The car started moving slowly. John looked at the road ahead and saw a

curve approaching. Scared, he started to pray, begging for his life.

Then, just before the car hit the curve, a hand appeared out of nowhere

through the window, and turned the wheel. John, paralyzed with terror,

watched as the hand came through the window, but never touched or
harmed him.

Shortly thereafter, John saw the lights of a pub appear down the road,
so, gathering strength, he jumped out of the car and ran to it.

Wet and out of breath, he rushed inside and started telling everybody

about the horrible experience he had just had.

A silence enveloped the pub when everybody realized he was crying...
and
wasn't drunk.

Suddenly, the door opened, and two other people walked in from the dark

and stormy night. They, like John, were also soaked and out of breath.

Looking around, and seeing John Bradford sobbing at the bar, one said
to
the other.....


'Look Paddy.....

there's that idiot that got in the car while we were
pushing it!!!!'

Banshee

A scarier Irish character is a banshee. A banshee is a spirit that is always a woman. Seeing a banshee in your home is supposed to mean that someone is about to die! They can take many different female forms, ugly, beautiful, warrior, peasant ext. But no matter what they look like they always sing a sad sad song for all to hear. But its said that banshees only come for major Irish families. But just in case I hope I don't hear any mysterious cries in the night....

Irish Halloween

Many people do not know that Halloween comes from pagan Ireland when then celebrated the new year on November 1st making October 31st (Halloween) their "New Years eve." They believed that on that on that night the living and deceased walked together, the dead as animals. This spooky belief has changed a little but most people still believe in similar, scary things happening on Halloween.
When Christianity came to Ireland the holiday became known as all Hallows eve where people gave a day of respect and remembrance to Saints. This more religious take on the holiday has not traveled to the US but we still copy a lot of other traditions. Carving pumpkins for example comes from the times when Irish people put candles or coals in carved potatoes. The tradition carried when immigrants came to America and found a larger supply of pumpkins which are larger and easier to carve.
Halloween costumes also have an Irish history. In pagan Celtic Ireland the spiritual leaders (Druids) would dress up as evil or scary things in hopes that they would be protected from being noticed as humans by any evil creatures they may have met up with during that night when the two worlds combined. So this Halloween when your sitting around a bonfire your doing the same thing that the ancient Celtic people would have.

Irish Cinderella Story

The story of Cinderella is very popular in American culture and Ireland has their own version of the tale of Cinderella. There are three sisters named Fair, Brown, and Trembling. Fair and Brown are very mean to their youngest sister Trembling because she is very beautiful and don't want her to marry before they do so the older sisters make her stay home and tend to the house. One day when the older sisters are at church the henwife came to Trembling and, with magic made her a beautiful white gown, green shoes and white horse. Trembling rides to the church and when it ends she rides away so no one knows who she is but would like to! The older two sisters have no idea that the mysterious woman is their younger sister but are still very jealous and have dresses like hers made because they want to get the attention all of the men gave to her. The next Sunday Trembling comes to church in a black gown with a black horse and the sisters again have similar ones made. On the third Sunday Trembling wears the most beautiful gown ever seen. When she tries to ride away the kings son grabs her foot causing her to loose her shoe. He then searched Ireland for the woman who's foot fit the shoe. When he came to the sister's house they try to hide Trembling but by luck she is able to try on the shoe proving that she is beautiful woman at Church. Trembling marries the King's son and has two children with him. One day her jealous sister pushes her off a cliff and she is swallowed by a whale. Luckily a young boy sees this and when the enchanted whale spits her out at high tide Trembling tells him to notify the Prince to shoot the whale with a silver bullet so she will not parish. The prince saves his wife and they repay the boy with their daughter's hand in marriage. And they all live happily ever after.

The Unicorn Song

One of my favorite songs growing up was The Unicorn Song. A lot of Irish songs carry a story line, especially this one. The song starts off talking about God, Noah, and the great flood. The song follows the Scripture telling how Noah builds an Ark for two of every animal to live on so they are saved from the flood. But, when the rain starts to fall the Unicorns, who are very playful, don't get on the boat because they would rather play in the rain. This explains why we don't have Unicorns today. I think it is an entertaining way to educate children on the Story of Noah's Ark. This song is an Irish music classic and I believe will be around forever and I would ecourage others to listen to it.

The Children of Lir

The story of The Children of Lir takes place long, long ago in druid Ireland. Lir was the god of the sea and his four children were very gifted, having the most amazing singing voices ever heard. Their mother died in childbirth of twin boys. Lir was very sad until he met his dead wife's sister, Aoife. Lir and Aoife married and soon after she became jealous of how much lir loved his children.
Aoife devised an evil plan to get rid of the children. She took them on a walk and convinced them to go swimming and as they did she cast a spell, condemning them to 900 years as swans only the bell of a new God would set them free. Lir went looking for his children and found out what Aoife had done. He sent her to a deemed life in the sky and visited his children everyday for 300 years. The children were then sent to a different lake and never saw there father again. After 300 years at the new lake they went to another location where they met a christian missionary. They knew he could help them become free so they stayed with him for years learning about his Christian God and St. Patrick. One day he rang a bell for mass, turning the swans back into children. They aged very fast so the man baptised them immediately before they died.
I like this story because with their patience they were able to find happiness and God. It was terrible that they had to leave their father but if they hadn't they would have never learned about the Christian religion. Aoife's curse really saved them.

My Giant's Causeway

Here are some pictures of Giant's Causeway That I took when I visited it in July of 2008.

Giants Causeway

The story of Giants Causeway is amusing, like many Irish tales. It shows how being clever is sometimes much more valuable than being "big and strong". Finn MacCool is said to be the hero who made the Causeway so that a taunting Scottish Giant could come battle him. But, after seeing the size of the giant and being so exhausted from building the pathway across the Channel he realized he needed to come up with a plan. He dressed up like a baby and waited for the giant. When the giant saw Finn's "son" he was terrified of how big he must be if his baby is that huge! So the giant ran back to Scotland destroying the causeway as he went. This story is so intriguing because there are hexagonal stones on the coast of Northern Ireland and directly across in Scotland. These stones look like they have been hand made and fitted together and draw in millions of tourists a year, making this legend unforgettable.

For Starters

With this blog I would like to share my thoughts about traditional Irish stories. Irish folk tales are so entertaining and I would love to try and read them all and find there deeper meanings. I hope to find and read as many of these as possible. Irish literature is so entertaining and I hope to share my love with others and encourage people to read the stories I find and recommend. I would love for people to recommend stories through my blog also and maybe even share their family stories, because we all know how Irish people love to tell their family stories and have so many. So let the craic begin!