*Irish-American Saint Patrick Immigrates to America I remember hearing something growing up that used to deeply confuse me: the Irish don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. This isn’t true, of course, St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and the Irish have been celebrating him on his feast day in the liturgical calendar (March 17th) for at least 1,000 years…But haven’t you heard the rumor that all rumors have a grain of truth? The truth isn’t that the Irish don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but that the modern conception of St. Patrick’s Day (think “Kiss Me I’m Irish” tees, shamrocks and Guinness everywhere, and parades, parades, parades!) is more of an American invention. Or, more specifically, an Irish-Spanish-one-day-American invention. The first known St. Patrick’s Day parade took place over a millennia after his death in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida. In 1601, the area was a Spanish colony, but an Irish vicar named Ricardo Arturo (or, Richard Arthur in his native tongue) organized the event to honor the Saint, who at the time his parishioners believed protected the city’s crops. This fact didn’t even come to light until 2017, when a historian named Michael Francis discovered a record of the event in centuries old documents about gunpowder expenditure! Before this discovery, America was still quick to snag the claim of the first St. Patrick’s Day parade, though there’s some debate about which city gets the honor. Boston, still known today for its wealth of Irish-Americans, held its first parade in 1737 when Irish soldiers serving the British marched through the city in solidarity and the Irish Immigrants of the city came out in force to celebrate with them. However, despite their first parade not occurring until 1762, New York City also likes to claim the honor! It comes down to the fact that NYC’s became not only the biggest parade in the country (with up to 3 million attendees and 150,000 people marching pre-COVID,) but also the most consistent (Boston only made theirs an annual event after NYC and used to draw in only a measly million attendees.) While millions of attendees are pretty impressive, what if I told you one of the runners up was in SRL’s own backyard? The Holyoke, Massachusetts St. Patrick’s Day Parade might not be not as well-known as Boston or New York, but this parade still became one of the largest in the country. Hosted every year pre-2020 on the Sunday after the holiday, Holyoke started the tradition in 1952 and its numbers reached 400,000 by the 2011 celebration…which is ten times the population of the city itself. It’s all down to the fact that Holyoke had historically held one of the densest populations of Irish Immigrants in the country—in the 1800s it was called “Ireland Parish.” The parade has been considered so influential that many notable officials have attended, including two Speakers of the House and even President John F. Kennedy when he was a Massachusetts state senator (even with Boston only two hours away!) But this all begs the question: why such huge celebrations? It’s not just the American desire to go big. Something that’s easy to overlook in this country’s history is the treatment of Irish Immigrants, particularly in the 1800s. When the Famine arrived in 1845, over 1 million Irish citizens fled to the New World to avoid starvation. The Irish may have found a more agriculturally prosperous country, but they also found a society ready to discriminate against them because of their poverty, their Catholic beliefs in largely Protestant America, and their thick, foreign accents.
St. Patrick’s Day parades in American cities developed into larger and larger gatherings not only as cultural touchstones that helped the Irish celebrate their heritage and find a sense of community, but also as a way for these immigrants to gain power in a place that denied it to them. The culmination of this came in 1948, when President Truman attended New York City’s parade, a nod to the political capital the Irish immigrant had gained in the previous century. From those 1 million immigrants, at least 32 million United States citizens now claim Irish ancestry, and the idea of being discriminated against for being Irish is in our past. Still, when you have a pint or give someone a pinch this year, take a moment to remember the background and purpose of all that green…then get back to the celebration! This post is part of a series. Read more about Ireland's history by reading about some of Ireland's most romantic traditions here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram.
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The Man, the Myth, the Legend: Saint Patrick It’s March and you know what that means: Saint Patrick’s Day is just around the corner! This month on the SRL blog, we’ll be covering all things to do with (as the Irish would prefer we stop calling it…) St. Patty’s Day and all the celebrations of Irish heritage it invokes. And while March 17th probably conjures images of green beer and leprechauns, you probably don’t know quite as much about the holiday’s namesake: the mysterious Saint Patrick. We might be calling this post “Irish Mythology,” but first, the facts: St. Patrick was real, but he wasn’t Irish. The man who would eventually be canonized was actually born Maewyn Succat in Roman Britain (though some sources would argue Scotland or Wales—it was a long time ago, after all) into a prosperous family. During his teen years, his father’s villa was attacked by Irish raiders and St. Patrick was abducted and sold into slavery. St. Patrick spent 6 or 7 difficult years as a slave and herdsman in the cold, wet fields of Ireland before he dreamed of his escape: a voice told him to make a run for the coast. It worked, and St. Patrick was able to return home. However, St. Patrick’s time in Ireland had deeply affected him, and caused him to not only become a fervent Catholic, but to return to the place of his captivity on a mission of good works. While St. Patrick’s many writings are often incoherent (his Latin is comparatively poor to others of his time,) scholars agree they all hold a pure conviction to help the people of Ireland through his religion. While it’s easy to dismiss this as typical missionary work these days, St. Patrick did this at severe risk to his person—he was “cast into chains” at least once and often had to hide for fear of his life—because he believed he had heard “the voice of the Irish” calling to him. He continued this work of converting his former captors until his death in 461 in Saul, Co. Down near the site of his first church at the mouth of the Slaney River. St. Patrick is buried at Down Cathedral in Downpatrick and is visited to this day on March 17th as a “traditional day for spiritual renewal.” What’s still best known about St. Patrick are the myths surrounding him: the shamrocks and the snakes. In a Sunday School tale often still told today, St. Patrick used Ireland’s native shamrock to explain the concept of the Trinity to his converts. With those three leaves (which is typical—making four so rare and lucky!) that are connected by a singular stem, the shamrock became a real-world analogy for God’s multifaceted presence in the Christian faith (God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit—both separate and the same.) Whether or not St. Patrick was actually the first to teach this, it’s a helpful physical example to explain the concept! And now, the biggest myth: the snakes! If you know only one thing about St. Patrick, it’s that he was the pied piper of snakes, driving all the serpents of Ireland into the sea. If you’ve heard about Adam and Eve, it’s not too hard to figure out the allegory here—by being largely responsible for the conversion of the Irish from Paganism to Christianity, St. Patrick was thought (from the perspective of the times) to have driven the “evil” off the island. This is something we can definitively prove is a myth, as there is not a single geological record of a snake ever existing naturally in Ireland—after all, the island broke off from mainland Europe during the Ice Age and the cool climate isn’t particularly suitable for a cold-blooded creature. There are many lesser-known, but no less miraculous miracles said to be performed by St. Patrick—above all, the raising of the dead. St. Patrick claims in his own writings to have raised at least 33 people from death (notably Jesus’s age at his time of death,) and also apparently had healing powers. His prayers were said to have caused everything from a wolf returning a lamb to him unharmed and a herd of swine appearing to feed a hungry crowd in a deserted area to uncovering deceits and smiting blasphemers—all of which may be clear metaphors for the religion he stood for, but are stated as fact in the earliest known records of them. Having taken place in the 5th century—there’s no way to know for sure! One more surprising St. Patrick fact? The color traditionally associated with him wasn’t green, but blue. It’s a lighter, azure-like blue still often called “St. Patrick’s Blue” and can be seen on older Irish flags, as well as on the emblem of the Irish Citizen Army, who attempted to end British rule in 1916 with the infamous Easter Rising. By the time the Irish Citizen Army used this blue as their symbol, it was already fading in fashion as St. Patrick’s color simply due to the fact that Ireland is a truly green country. As early as the 1798 Irish Rebellion, the “wearing of the green” (a shamrock on the lapel) became a nationalistic practice and eventually came to be associated with St. Patrick, but bits of blue can still be seen…the Presidential Flag of Ireland, for instance!
No matter your religion, St. Patrick was a man of strong convictions, devoted to serving a country he saw as needing his help and spiritual (truly, moral) guidance. Instead of hating his former captors, the people who had kidnapped him and worked him to the bone, he returned with kindness in his heart. Remove Catholicism from the story and you’re still left with something to celebrate: St. Patrick’s Day isn’t only a celebration of Ireland, but a celebration, just as spring is arriving, of awakening, forgiveness, and new beginnings to come. This is Volume IV of a series. Read our last installment all about Irish love stories here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. Check out Volume I and Volume II! 1. Hook Lighthouse in County Wexford is one of the oldest in the world. While the present structure has been around for 848 years, there’s evidence that a lighthouse has stood on that spot back to the 5th century. 2. St. Patrick is also the patron saint of Nigeria. He was named the patron saint of the country by Irish bishops in 1961—the same year Ireland opened their embassy in Lagos (there’s actually a long-standing Irish Catholic presence in the country!) 3. It may or may not be a coincidence that Nigeria actually beats Ireland in Guinness consumption (though it’s only second on the list--the UK takes the top spot!) 4. And while Ireland doesn’t drink the most Guinness in the world, it does drink almost the most tea (impressively beating the UK), at an average of 1,184 cups of tea a year…per person. (Only Turkey has Ireland beat!) 5. Still, Guinness is one of Ireland’s most renowned exports—the famous Guinness Brewery located in Dublin and the top tourist destination while in town. Don’t worry, it will still be there when you’re able to travel again: in 1795, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease on the land. 6. If you are planning on visiting one day, consider going in April or June: they’re the driest months of the year there, depending on where you are in the country. But any month will work! While Ireland’s often considered one of the wettest places in the world, it’s actually 80th on that list (though it does have one of the oldest rainfall records in the world—300 years old!) 7. The infamous Billy the Kid, real name Henry McCarthy, was born to two Irish immigrants in New York City in 1859. While his career as an outlaw and his life were short, he was said to be fluent not only in English, but also Spanish and even Irish Gaelic! 8. Ireland has won the Eurovision Song contest more than any other country in the world, seven times since 1970. They’re also the only country that’s won three times consecutively! (Not really sure what Eurovision is? Most Americans aren’t really—just think of it was “a cross between ‘The X-Factor’ and a Miss Universe pageant.”) 9. An Irish art director and film production designer named Austin Cedric Gibbons designed the statue we call an “Oscar” today in 1928. If you look closely, the coveted Academy Award is a knight holding a sword, standing on top of a film reel. 10. Students at Trinity College in Dublin have a much-believed and almost beloved curse: if you pass beneath the “Campanile” (a bell tower,) you’ll fail all your exams. Even those who don’t believe in superstitions admit avoiding the area—if only because it’s also believed to be built over the graveyard of a medieval monastery.
This post is part of a series, read Volume I here and Volume II here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. The Irish Love Story Since it’s the day after Valentine’s Day, we decided it was the perfect time to share one of Irish mythology’s most epic love stories! Why the day after? Because Irish mythology, and particularly Irish love stories, aren’t known for their happy endings. In fact, Joseph Campbell, one of the preeminent scholars in comparative mythology of the 20th century, theorized that our concept of love in Western, modern culture was not only influenced, but entirely formed by Irish mythology. Campbell believed that Irish mythology’s insistence of true, romantic love over duty (ending, usually, in tragedy) has formed Western consciousness as we know it. Innumerable Pre-Christian, Irish love stories involve the lovers running away from society into the wilderness with only their “love to keep them warm” (no one sings that sad, romantic classic quite like Billie Holiday.) When the Normans invaded Ireland at the beginning of the Middle Ages, they (like many before and after them—look at Halloween or Christmas traditions, for instance) adapted Irish mythology into their own tales for their own purposes. This adaptation became the archetype of courtly love, forming the Arthurian legends that still influence our storytelling and romantic ideals today. Take, for example, the story of Grainne (typically pronounced “Grawn-ya”) and Diarmuid (aka “Dear-mid”,) from the Fenian cycle—one of the most enduring love stories in all of Irish mythology. (Even if these names are new to you, it will probably sound a bit familiar.) Grainne was the beautiful daughter of the High King of Ireland, who decided his daughter should marry the (aging) mythic hero and warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill (or these days by the pronunciation: “Finn MacCool,”) leader of the warriors known as the Fianna. Like many things parents try to map out for their children, this didn’t go entirely to plan. At her wedding feast, Grainne spotted the young, handsome Diarmuid, best warrior and best friend of her new husband, and it was love at first sight (in all fairness, Finn MacCool was older than her father.) In a desperate move, Grainne drugged the entire party and convinced Diarmuid to run away with her. His pride wounded, Finn MacCool immediately began his pursuit of the young lovers across all of Ireland and back again, with many an adventure in between (innumerable local legends claim that this spot or that is where the couple hid so many years ago.) The pair was eventually allowed to settle in what’s now County Sligo until Diarmuid was gored by a boar…but that wasn’t truly what killed him. Grainne begged MacCool (who had either still been pursuing the couple or had invited Diarmuid on the hunt knowing he was destined to die by boar—versions differ) to use his magical gift (water drunk from his cupped hands could cure any ailment) to save her love. But MacCool’s long-harbored pettiness led him to let the water slip through his fingers and Diarmuid ultimately passed away from his injuries. Legends agree upon one fact: Grainne died soon after of a broken heart. (We know what you’re thinking, this can’t be what all Irish love myths are like. Well, the details change, but the broad strokes are the same across the board.) Now where have you heard this before? This story is pretty similar to the better known (there is, after all, a beloved Wagner opera of the name, as well as a less beloved 2006 film starring James Franco,) Irish tale of Tristan and Isolde, as well as the tale of King Arthur, his wife, Guinevere, and his knight, Lancelot. It’s not much of a jump to move ahead 1,000 or so years (skipping many incarnations in between) and compare it to Othello or even Romeo and Juliet (“never was there a story of more woe,” as the Bard said.) Another 250 years brings us to Wuthering Heights, and only another 100 and we catch up to West Side Story (which is, very consciously, a modern Romeo and Juliet.) Turn on the TV today and you might catch a showing of The Notebook or Me Before You, or maybe an episode of This is Us. Even our what we consider real life, modern fairytales like Princess Diana, Grace Kelly, or different relationships within the Kennedy family all ended tragically. Sure, there are plenty of couples out there in the real world (and in stories!) that live happily ever after…but aren’t those usually the cleaned-up versions we tell to children?
While it’s not a straight shot from ancient Celtic lore to a TV show starring a former teen pop star, there’s an undeniable influence Irish mythology has had on Western society and our ideals of romantic love. It’s hard to say whether this is the healthier, more realistic view of love (mortality, after all, being a fact of life,) or a fatalistic and maybe even self-indulgent focus on the negative–that’s for each person to decide for themselves. You can love or hate to cry over a tragic love story, but I think Joseph Campbell would agree you have the Irish to thank! This is Volume III of a series. Read our last installment all about Samhain (Irish Halloween) here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram St. Valentine and Irish Romantic Traditions It’s common knowledge these days that, no matter how commercial it may seem, Valentine’s Day is a much older tradition then the invention of Conversation Hearts. (Remember last year’s shortage? They apparently take eleven months to make enough for the six-week period around the holiday!) Like much in the Western world, it’s a custom poached from the remains of the Roman Empire and though ancient history is a little fuzzy about the details (there may be two or three different St. Valentines,) we’ve landed on this (probably not entirely correct) story: a priest named Valentine was executed for marrying Christian couples and became a saint for his good works. Now we celebrate love in his honor on his feast day (the day he was martyred) in the liturgical calendar: February 14th. (Though the church did remove the celebration officially in 1969, making it wholly secular these days.) Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I know what you’re thinking: why are we writing about St. Valentine under Irish history? It’s true, St. Valentine wasn’t Irish by birth, but he’s now been in the country long enough to call himself an Irishman. In 1836, an Irish Carmelite priest named Friar John Spratt visited Rome and his sermons were so brilliant he was showered with gifts from the most influential religious figures in the city—including the Pope. The Pope’s gift went above and beyond a commemorative mug: he gave Friar Spratt relics from the body of St. Valentine to bring back to Ireland for the Irish people. St. Valentine was reinterred in a Carmelite church on Whitefriar Street in Dublin (it’s now Aungier Street, but the church kept the name.) Every February 14th, many Irishmen and women come to pay homage and pray for their romantic futures. (Last year Irish Central even interviewed a couple that met doing just that four years ago and now plans on getting married!) Despite the saint the day is named after being buried in their capital, Valentine’s Day isn’t a particularly Irish holiday. However, that doesn’t mean the Irish aren’t romantics at heart. One only has to look at their literary masters (W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde …to name a few) and their love poems to know romance isn’t dead on the Emerald Isle. Need a line or two to add to your partner’s card this year? The Irish have got you covered. Or when we can travel again, check out this list of romantic spots all throughout Ireland…but don’t forget the beautiful Howth’s Head just outside of Dublin (where one of the most romantic scenes in classic literature takes place: Leopold proposes to Molly there in Joyce’s tome Ulysses.) Your beloved isn’t much for poetry? That’s okay—try a claddagh ring! The claddagh has become a popular symbol on jewelry all over the world, but originates in County Galway where in the 18th century fishermen used them as identification. The design’s meaning—a heart for love, hands for friendship, and a crown for loyalty—has morphed into a common romantic gift, complete with its own coded language. On the right hand, the heart worn pointing toward your fingertips means you’re available, and towards your own heart means you’re taken. The left hand is reserved for more serious relationships: pointing away is engaged, pointing toward you is married. And ladies, if you feel like doing the proposing, Ireland has a tradition for that too! Every four years on a Leap Day (February 29th,) it’s tradition for women to take the initiative and propose to their male partners. This practice possibly originates as early the 5th century A.D.—which must be why it’s so (sweet but…) antiquated. Speaking of marriage, there’s an Irish romantic tradition even older than Leap Day proposals: handfasting. The tradition dates back to 7000 B.C. and is simple: couples would announce their intention to be married and tie their hands together with a braided length of rope or ribbon in front of a priest. After a year, they would return to the priest to be married or to decide to go their separate ways. Weddings these days often make symbolic use of the tradition (instead of as an engagement ceremony) to show their new unity. But how do you find someone to get handfasted with? Why not check out the 150-year-old Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival! Originally designed to help young people from rural farms meet mates, this sleepy town in Country Clare is transformed every September into the place to meet your match even today.
Last, but not least, one can’t argue that the Irish Gaelic language doesn’t have its touch of romance. Need a new pet name for someone you love? Ireland has a wealth of them and here’s a few to leave you with: A stór (uh STORE): my treasure A ghrá (uh GRAWH): my love A mhuirnín (uh WUR-neen): my darling A chuisle (uh KHUSH-leh): my pulse Mo shíorghrá (muh HEER-ggrawh): my eternal love/soul mate Is ceol mo chroí thú (Is cyoal mu khree who): you’re the music of my heart Happy Valentine’s Day! This post is part of a series. Read more about Ireland's history by reading about the story of Dr. James Barry here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. Dr. James Barry In 1809, a short, slight man named James Barry boarded a boat in his hometown of Cork and set sail to Edinburgh where he planned on enrolling in medical college. Barry’s previously affluent family had fallen on hard times—his father had been let go from his position due to rampant anti-Catholic sentiments and eventually landed in a debtor’s prison. At nineteen, Barry had been well-educated by his tutors with the intention of becoming a tutor himself—but with no work experience and a disgraced family name, there was no work to be had. Barry’s height, soft voice, and delicate features (hard to see in the not particularly skilled portrait that’s our only image of Barry from the time period, featured here) led many to believe that Barry was lying about his age once he reached Edinburgh. While the faculty there had let Barry in to study, they were reluctant to let him take his final exams to become a doctor. Luckily, a friend of the family, the Earl of Buchan, vouched for the young man, and in 1913 Barry went to London (where his family now lived) to pass his exams and become Dr. James Barry at the age of 22. And it’s a good thing he did: Dr. James Barry’s fifty-plus year long career as a military doctor proved to be an illustrious one. He entered the service as an officer and quickly rose in the ranks to eventually become Inspector General in charge of all military hospitals—a role equivalent to Brigadier General. While his personality left much to be desired—there’s the complaints about him Florence Nightingale made in her diary (she thought him “a brute,”) as well as his court-martials and duels—Barry was a surgeon of unprecedented skill. Most notably, while stationed in Cape Town, South Africa in 1820s, he performed the first successful caesarian section where the mother and child both survived in modern history. His legacy also includes his tireless efforts in sanitation reform, as well as better medical practices and care for soldiers, military families, prisoners, lepers, and all other underserved communities before his death in 1859. Many are still benefitting because of his efforts till this day. And that would be the end of Dr. James Barry’s story, if it wasn’t for a charwoman who didn’t follow instructions. Barry left some specific last wishes: to be buried in the clothes he died in, with his body unwashed. But when the woman tasked with laying out the dead reached Barry, she stripped the body to prepare him for burial and found something shocking: Dr. James Barry not only had female anatomy, but stretch marks that implied she had once carried a child. While Barry’s colleagues and friends were perfectly happy to keep this fact to themselves, (Barry’s doctor, Major D.R. McKinnon, said in a letter that it was “none of [his] business” if Barry was actually female,) the revelation was leaked to the press and became a sensation. Many people claimed to have known the whole time, but it’s equally possible no one did: when Barry entered the military in his twenties, he entered as an officer, which requires no medical exam. Of course, we have accounts of Barry’s effeminate nature, but that brash personality seemed to have swayed a lot of people away from the truth.
However, the entire story above does stand as truth except for one thing: Barry’s name. Barry was actually born Margaret Ann Bulkley and only became James Barry when a number of liberal-minded family friends and mentors (including the Earl of Buchan, from earlier!) decided Margaret’s intelligence would be wasted as only a wife and hatched a plan that fooled the world for 56 years. Dr. James Barry remains one of the most accomplished humanitarians and surgeons of the 1800s, no matter their gender—we can just add the first female doctor in the UK and Ireland to their long list of accolades! This post is part of a series. Read more about Ireland's history by reading about ancient Irish Yule traditions here, here, and here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. Check out our first ten fun facts here! 1. The Wild Atlantic Way is the longest, uninterrupted coastal driving route in the world. Officially opened in 2014 by the Irish tourism board, the route covers the entire west coast of the country, from the border of Northern Ireland all the way to (almost!) Cork. Passing through three provinces and nine counties, the route displays some of Ireland’s most beautiful scenery. 2. As Dracula is set largely in England, most people don’t realize its author, Bram Stoker, is an Irishman. In fact, the character of Dracula and this concept of vampires that became our standard was based on the Irish legend of the Abhartach. 3. The Titanic was built in Ireland—in Belfast at the Harland and Wolff shipyard, specifically. Pre-COVID, there was even a large, interactive, narrative monument and museum dedicated to Belfast’s shipbuilding called “Titanic Belfast.” (Miss Courtney's been!) 4. While we tend to think of it as an “Irish accent,” there’s really hundreds of Irish accents, all specific to different areas, education levels, and classes, with a variety of complex, social histories behind them. (Though phonologists tend to divide all these varieties into 3-5 larger groupings.) 5. The Croaghaun Cliffs on Achill Island in County Mayo are the third highest sea cliffs in all of Europe at 752 meters (that’s about half a mile!) Only Hornelen in Norway (860 meters) and Cape Enniberg on the Faroe Islands (754 meters) has them beat! (Barely.) 6. There’s evidence that people have populated Ireland for over 10,000 years. It’s a little later than much of Europe due to the climate (and the fact it’s an island,) but impressive nonetheless! The oldest artefacts have been found in the North of the country. 7. Ireland once had its own version of the Olympics! They were called the Tailteann Games (or the Lughnasa games after the Irish hero of legend, Lugh.) They took place in 1924, 1928, and 1932 and were a celebration of traditional Irish sporting events. Unfortunately, the event didn’t take off worldwide, but smaller versions still exist to this day! 8. Speaking of sport (as they’d say in Ireland,) Ireland has one of the oldest consistent sporting traditions in the world (at least 3,000 years old!): hurling. It’s considered the fastest game played on grass and bears a vague resemblance in equipment to field hockey or even lacrosse (though definitely not in play.) P.S. The women’s version of hurling is almost identical, but called camogie.
9. The hollow, hypodermic needle was invented by an Irishman and surgeon named Dr. Francis Rynd in 1844. The world’s first subcutaneous injection was even performed at the Meath Hospital in Dublin! Even if you hate needles, this was a revolutionary advancement that has allowed to save and better billions of people’s lives. 10. In 1970s Ireland (and still today at English boarding schools and some places in India) there was a tradition known as “bumps.” Essentially, if it was your birthday, you’d be grabbed by your classmates and thrown repeatedly into the air to be “bumped” on the floor, often upside down—once for every year of your life. It would often end in a big finale throw where you might or might not be caught on the way down. (You can see why it’s not often practiced these days!) This post is part of a series, read Volume I here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram Volume V Middle Grade, Part 1 If the term “middle grade” isn’t familiar to you in terms of books, the name is relatively revealing: it just means books written for children around the ages 8-12. You know: out of the picture book stage, but perhaps not ready for either the level or themes of Young Adult fiction. A lot of SRL’s dancers fall right into this category, so we wanted to give them a way of learning about Ireland that will capture their imaginations in that magical way only books can do! (Unsure if a book is too advanced for your dancer? While you know your child’s reading levels best, just remember that kids like to read up—i.e. an 8 or 10-year-old generally wants to read about a 12-year-old, and so on!) 1. Kathleen: The Celtic Knot, Siobhán Parkinson Illustrated by Troy Howell This story of Irish dance and life in Ireland during the Great Depression is part of the “Girls of Many Lands” series by American Girl. (And yes, there used to be a doll! Unfortunately, she seems to be discontinued, but pops up on eBay. She was so beloved there’s even fan pages for her character.) Kathleen Murphy is a curious 12-year-old girl growing up in Dublin in 1937, who loves to Irish dance and is a clever dancer. Unfortunately, Kathleen’s family doesn’t have the money for the lessons or a costume for her. The book follows Kathleen on her journey to being able to compete, teaching us lessons about compassion, honesty, and Irish life during a time of political, religious, and financial strife with a light hand. American Girl’s books always strike that fine balance between history and story that make the past’s realities accessible for younger readers. 2. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer This 8-book series may sound familiar: the film version, directed by Kenneth Branagh, was released this past summer on Disney+ to widely negative reviews. The main complaint? Too many changes from the acclaimed source material—we’d recommend just getting the first book instead! (There’s a graphic novel version, as well.) Artemis Fowl is the name of the series protagonist, a 12-year-old criminal mastermind and millionaire from Ireland. The first book concentrates on a modernization of classic, Celtic fey mythology, with Artemis kidnapping a tough, pint-sized faerie named Holly Short for a king’s ransom: the faerie’s pot of gold. If you’re unsure about letting your kid read about a child racketeer, don’t worry: this series has been a parent favorite since its debut in 2001 for the main character’s gradual redemption. Focusing on themes of greed and entitlement, this book is for the kid who loves Percy Jackson and adventure. (It may be about Greek mythology, but we highly recommend those as well! 3. Granualie: Pirate Queen, Morgan Llewelyn Morgan Llewelyn is an award-winning writer of historical and mythological fiction (and some non-fiction!) and has several more middle grade Irish book offerings, but this tale based on the real life story of female pirate, queen, chieftain, and rebel, Grace “Granuaile” O’Malley is sure to excite! Considered now to be a woman ahead of her time, Granuaile was a fearless leader of her clan and an untiring defender of Ireland and its culture. Llewelyn tells her story largely through letters to Granuaile’s son, Tibbot, but also weaves through the historical and political realities of the rise of Elizabeth I and the resulting oppression of the Irish way of life. With many cameos by great figures in Ireland’s history, this story has the hook of adventure, but lessons about girl power, acceptance, and the importance of family, tradition, and standing up for what you believe is right. 4. Scholastic Classics: Irish Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends, Kieran Fanning While we covered some Irish mythology picture book anthologies in our previous installment, Fanning’s book promises a slightly more elevated version of these classic tales. It’s not fully illustrated, but rather its beautiful cover’s drawings represent different stories in the collection as a reminder of the contents inside. This book covers the first three cycles of Irish mythology: Mythological, Ulster, and Fenian—from the miraculous Tuatha Dé Dannan and Children of Lir, to stories of famed heroes like Cuchulainn and Fionn Mac Cumhaill. While mythology and fairy tales always have a bit of a dark side, reader reviews promise that all the more difficult subject matter is dealt with matter-of-factly, but delicately. This version is perfect for the middle grade age range, letting them feel more adult, while at the right level for them in both content and difficulty. 5. A Slip of a Girl, Patricia Reilly Giff Patricia Reilly Giff has won two Newbury Honors for her work, which concentrates on strong, brave young women in trying times in history (there’s plenty more where this comes from. Lily’s Crossing is about WWII in America, but is a personal favorite from childhood.) A Slip of a Girl depicts life in rural Ireland through narrative free verse in the wake of the Great Famine. Told through the eyes of Anna—whose siblings have gone off to the New World and whose mother has passed, leaving Anna to care for her younger sister with special needs–and in her lyric voice, the story is one of resilience in the face of deprivation. A much quieter, contemplative read than the others on our list, this family tale is a poignant depiction of the tensions of a feudal, agrarian community and the self-determination adversity can teach. This post is part of a series—take a look at our recommendations for Adult Contemporary Fiction and Children’s Books. And check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram.
Ancient Irish Yuletide Traditions, Part 3 Are you cold? Grab another blanket and settle in with a nice mug of tea (this is Ireland, forget the coffee) to read about a few more Irish Yuletide traditions. This installment has some that might really surprise you! While American Christmas decorations are, well, often very American (take this 8-foot, LED lit Gingerbread Man, for instance,) the ancient Irish actually started one of our more understated looks. Who doesn’t love passing an old colonial with just one candle in each window? It always looks like a Christmas card come to life—those little flickers of light in all the darkness of 4 pm. The Irish called this custom “Coinneal Mór na Nollaig” (literal translation: the Great Christmas Candle, as they usually just had the one) and it was a sign that anyone cold, weary, or in need would find hospitality inside. It was tradition to have the youngest member of the family light the new candle with the stub of last year’s candle—a way of passing on the good fortune of your year to the next. Eventually, as Paganism gave way to Christianity, these candles came to signify something less warm. When Catholicism was being oppressed through British, Protestant rule, the candle was lit and the doors left unlocked as a sign to any priests that they were welcome in that home to say a Christmas mass. When suspicious British soldiers asked about the candles, families had a plan ready: they simply said it represented a light for Mary and Joseph, to tell them they would have been welcome in their home. The British soldiers bought it, and some families, even today, hold on to the false explanation—it’s closer, after all, to the original intent. On a lighter note: if you had to speculate, you’d probably hazard a guess that “Black Friday” was something cooked up by corporations to help boost their fourth quarter sales, right? And, in its modern iteration, you’d probably be right…but the ancient Irish did do it first! Since they obviously didn’t have Thanksgiving to mark the beginning of the holiday season, they chose December 8th for the “Margadh Mór” aka The Big Market! When Ireland was almost all rural, people would gather (generally at a crossroad, where they also gathered to dance!) to sell their wares and buy special items and gifts for the holidays to “bring home the Christmas.” Now, these items and gifts generally weren’t the new iPhone or even new socks, but more closely in line with the Pagan tradition of feasting and giving. While the farmers went to sell their eggs, meat, and produce, they went to buy imported items that were special treats often reserved for the holiday for everyone but the wealthiest. Tobacco, tea, wines and beers, dried fruits and spices not native to Ireland, and even, simply: sugar. Sellers would often give gifts to their customers (kind of like our Black Friday discounts today,) and, much like Toys for Tots or the myriad of other Yuletide charities we have, the most prosperous farmers would make sure their less fortunate neighbors had a fresh Yule meal! Lastly, while the UK and Canada have Boxing Day (and Americans have “lie around in your pajamas if you don’t work in retail”) the day after Christmas, the Irish originally had “Wren Day.” We mentioned “The 12 Days of Christmas” in our first installment of this series, but have you ever wondered what’s so special about a partridge in a pear tree? Many think it’s actually a reference to Saint Stephen’s Day, or as it was known before the church got involved: Wren Day. This tradition goes back to the Celtic myth (similar to that of the Holly King and Oak King in our previous post) that the robin of the New Year killed the wren of the old during the midwinter celebrations. Thus, there were “Wren Boys” who would wear disguises, chase and kill a wren, and sing as they placed it in its tree.
The tradition of chasing and tying a dead bird to the top of a holly bush or pole becomes a little more palatable when you learn that wrens in ancient legend often represented a betrayer (first to the Celts for betraying them to invaders, and later to the Christians as St. Stephen was also betrayed by the distinctive song of the wren.) Don’t worry, these days wrens are no longer harmed the day after Christmas, but certain areas of Ireland have turned this grisly concept into something more in line with Pagan celebrations of togetherness. For example, in Dingle, one can attend a Wren Day parade where money is collected for charities by a new version of Wren Boys. Though, a bit of the tradition does live on—it’s possible you’ll play the part of the wren and get chased! Ultimately, the ancient Irish’s Yuletide traditions are a precursor to our own, because humans, at their core, need to be reminded that, eventually, the darkness will end. There’s no year better to remind ourselves of this fundamental truth: that to be human—no matter your religion, ethnicity, or even time in history—is to look for hope. So from us here at SRL, to you at home celebrating the return of the sun however you like, leathanta saoire sona agus athbhliain faoi mhaise duit! This post is part of a series, read about more Irish Yuletide traditions here and here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram Ancient Irish Yuletide Traditions, Part 2 If you caught Part 1, you already know that ancient Ireland is the direct ancestor of many Christmas traditions, with the Catholic church adopting and adapting many Pagan practices into their own religion. But we were only just getting started! Ireland (like many other European countries with similar festivities in midwinter,) has contributed to many more modern traditions than you might think. First off: the Yule log. Here in the U.S., you might immediately equate that to that warm, crackling, flickering fireplace you can leave playing on your TV (Netflix apparently has had four versions in the past, and Hulu even had one with puppies—go big or go home, America!) There’s also a traditional Christmas dessert with the same name in a different language: “Bûche de Nöel.” This rolled, flourless chocolate cake is filled with cream and often decorated with festive additions and powdered sugar to resemble snow, though it’s more popular in the UK and France than America. However, both these quintessential Christmas traditions come from an older concept: bringing the warmth of the communal fire into the home and hearth during the darkest time of the year. The ancient Irish version of the Yule log (or “Bloc na Nollaig”) tradition took a more literal form: it was originally an entire tree chopped down, trimmed into a log, and brought into the house. But these weren’t what we think of as Christmas trees! Though fireplaces were much larger in those days, as they had to be used for cooking as well as heating the whole house, the idea was for the tree to be too big—it would stick out into the living space and be slowly fed into the fire throughout the 12 days of the midwinter celebration, or longer, depending on the log. The log itself had to be either from the household’s land, or a gift—people would gift their elderly or ill neighbors Yule logs so no one was cold on the darkest nights of the year. A small part of the log would be kept to start next year’s fire. But what did the Irish do with all the branches they trimmed off their Yule log? They decorated, of course! The evergreen boughs, holly, and mistletoe we still think of as Christmas décor today were all common in ancient Ireland and used the same way we use them now—to remind us of warmer, greener times while we gather with family and friends. The Irish also added the belief that holly offered a place of rest for any good fey fleeing the cold, and protection from any evil afoot in the dark. There’s even an old Irish myth that midwinter marked the battle between the “Holly King” and the “Oak King,” with the solstice crowning the Oak King’s victory—kind of like an ancient Groundhog’s Day…you finally know spring is coming. (This is also the seed of the tradition of sometimes crowning Celtic Chieftains in holly.) While we can deduce the modern Christmas tree came from a combination of the two traditions above, the early Irish’s reverence of the natural world attached more significance to this flora than we perhaps do today. All evergreen plants were considered sacred, a symbol of eternal life through the natural world as the great wheel of the sun continues to turn ever onward. Holly grows all over Ireland, even today, and was a way for even the least fortunate family to celebrate in their homes (just don’t forget the gloves if you go picking!) After the 12-day celebration, families would return their holly boughs and wreaths to the natural world by leaving them to fertilize other plants or burning them. Mistletoe was even more revered than holly—the Pagans believed it represented the divine in the natural world and that it had miraculous properties. We now know that mistletoe is actually a hemiparasitic plant—meaning it can’t grow on its own, but needs access to a host plant’s water and nutrients—making it uncommon. All the early Irish knew was that it was rare, and therefore extraordinary, with Druidic priests making special trips into the woods to gather it. In fact, it was considered so sacred that it was once Celtic law that if two battling enemies encountered mistletoe, they were required to stop and call a truce until Yuletide was over. This fact, plus the belief that it was also an aphrodisiac and fertility blessing, is how we ended up with the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe today!
Visit the blog next week for our final installment of ancient Irish Yuletide traditions, or catch up on last week here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. Ancient Irish Yuletide Traditions, Part 1 It’s dark at 4 pm, it’s cold, and this year we’re home in that early, freezing dark all the time…that’s right, I’m talking about winter. It’s no surprise that winter celebrations have been a long-standing practice all across Europe, with ancient Ireland being no exception. In fact, many of our Christmas traditions (just like Halloween—learn more here) are rooted in Irish Pagan traditions. They just called it “Mean Geimhreadh” (Midwinter in Gaelic) or “Alban Arthan” (Yule) instead, and there’s evidence to suggest the Irish have been celebrating it for at least 5,000 years. But how do we know the ancient Irish celebrated midwinter? Their tombs, of course! The word Yule is posited to have come from an ancient word for wheel (“thoul,”) denoting the Druidic practice of celebrating the cyclical nature of the seasons (the wheel turning is why the days get shorter, of course,) as well as their worship of the sun (the wheel itself.) For an agrarian society like Ireland, the sun was the ruling factor of their lives—they would live or die by its light. Thus, there are several ancient tombs and monuments across Ireland that are placed to be alighted by the sun on the winter solstice, December 21st. The “Síd in Broga” cairn at Newgrange in County Meath—where the ancient Irish buried their dead royals—is the most common example of a solstice tomb, as modern Pagans and history buffs still go to celebrate Yule there to this day (there’s so much interest there’s a lottery for tickets—like Hamilton! If you win a lucky ticket it’s recommended to dress warmly in reds and yellows to honor the sun and bring along a drum or rattle.) Solstice originally meant “standstill,” and for 17 full minutes on the solstice, the sun seems to linger over Newgrange as if (if you’re going by ancient beliefs) the sun is returning to breathe life into the land again. As the midwinter solstice marks the shortest day of the year, they were, for all intents and purposes, right! But don’t think the Yule celebrations in ancient Ireland only lasted for 17 minutes…instead, there were 12 full days of fires and feasts. These celebrations often ran all through the night to stave off the cold and darkness, as the celebrants toasted the arrival of longer days and more sunlight and ate through fresh stores (and their remaining livestock) that otherwise wouldn’t last the winter. Just like now, there was at least a month of preparation and a number of traditions that overlap our modern ones…tune in next week to hear about a few more! To the more devout, a 12-day celebration might ring a bell: as a way of easing conversion to Christianity. By the 8th century the Catholic Church had co-opted this Pagan celebration into the “Mass of Christ” which eventually morphed into Christmas. No one has ever been certain what time of year Jesus Christ was born, so it was easier for the missionaries in Pagan Ireland (and many other countries with similar midwinter festivals--including ancient Rome) to stick with what the people already knew. It was as simple for the Church of Rome to switch the worship of the “sun” for the worship of the “son”—even more so because of their similar metaphoric significance, as both are believed to come to earth to banish darkness.
If you’ve ever wondered about why a song writer decided on the “12 Days of Christmas,” you finally have your answer: the Celtic Pagans being slowly converted to Christianity. The holiday began on “Nollag Mór” (Big Christmas: December 25th) and lasted until “Nollag Beag” (Little Christmas: January 6th) with a New Year celebration in the middle. While the ancient Irish had their own fun with bonfires and storytelling, these newer Christmas celebrations were essentially long bank holidays with the only people allowed to work being those who baked, brewed, or danced—generally anyone who contributed to the merrymaking. The Germanic tradition of “carolling” become so popular that it’s even considered one of the ways Irish dance has been preserved in often turbulent times—after a while, no one wanted to touch anyone’s midwinter celebrations! But this is only the beginning! Tune in next week for more Irish Yule traditions. This post is part of a series. Learn more about Irish history here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. Sometimes, in researching blog posts, we come upon information that, while it isn’t necessarily enough to write a whole page on (at least not an interesting one,) is too surprising not to share. So we present our first installment of our Fun Facts series, where we collect little details we’ve learned about Ireland and Irish dance into a quick read for you to enjoy. Let’s start with some truly unexpected ones: 1. More Irish people live abroad than in Ireland! There are approximately 50-80 million people of Irish descent in other countries (after about 10 million have emigrated over the years,) and only a couple million currently in Ireland. 2. The submarine was invented in Ireland by John Phillip Holland who sold his invention to the U.S. Navy in 1895 after coming to America in 1872—though the first successful launch wasn’t until 1900: the U.S.S. Holland. 3. Only around 10% of Irish people have red hair (compared to 13% of Scottish people, the highest concentration in the world.) Though, maybe this can be considered a good thing: redheads are often more sensitive to pain and can require more than a normal amount of anesthesia in surgery! (Also, bees are more attracted to them!) 4. The U.S. President’s home, The White House, was designed by an Irishman named James Hoban. He emigrated just after the Revolutionary War and based the design on Leinster House in Dublin, where the Irish Parliament meets. George Washington himself suggested Hoban enter the contest for the commission to design the new seat of the executive branch. 5. Ireland is home to the oldest known bar in the world! Sean’s Bar opened for business in 900 AD. Located in Athlone, it was originally an inn near a location where people came to ford the River Shannon. And if there’s any doubt: a renovation of the building in the 1970s revealed 9th century building materials still in the walls! 6. Ireland has had two female presidents (or “Uachtarán na hÉireann,”) more than the majority of the countries in the world. The first was Mary Robinson and the second Mary McAleese—both elected in the 1990s. Upon her election, Mary Robinson said: “I was elected by the women of Ireland, who instead of rocking the cradle, rocked the system.” 7. Ireland, as a country, has higher than average birthrates. This has changed its population’s makeup considerably with approximately a third of their population under 25—the youngest population in all of Europe. Estimates say that this will increase Ireland’s population from 4 million people to almost 6 million people by as early as 2040. 8. Despite so many young people, Ireland has one of the most highly educated workforces in the world! Not only is it in the top ten educated countries with its number of college educated citizens doubling in the last decade, it’s been reported that 53.5% of Irish people between 30-34 have a tertiary degree. 9. Despite being considered the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick was Welsh. He was born in Wales in 386 AD and was kidnapped by pirates at the age of 16. The pirates sold Saint Patrick as a slave, and he escaped after being forced to work six years as a sheep herder. His escape was treacherous, and after wandering for 28 days in France he made it home—only to return to France to become a priest and then to Ireland as a missionary.
10. There’s actually a little more to debunk about the Saint Patrick legend: though the Welshman’s most legendary act is thought to have been driving all the snakes out of Ireland, there’s actually no evidence that there’s ever been snakes in Ireland. It’s simply a bad climate for cold-blooded animals! This post is the first in a series. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. The Harp If you asked the average person on the street the national symbol of Ireland, 99% of people are probably going to guess the shamrock. It’s for good reason—when Saint Patrick came over from Wales (that’s right--Saint Patrick isn’t Irish!) to bring Christianity to the largely Pagan population of Ireland, he used a three-leaf shamrock to explain to holy trinity. And it’s not called the Emerald Isle for nothing--Ireland is more than 67% grasslands, making it the country with the highest proportion of natural vegetation in all of Europe. But the true national symbol of Ireland is something closer to the spirit of the Irish than the land: the harp. The Celtic/Gaelic Harp or “Cláirseach” (having its own origins differing from those of European/Diatonic Harp or older, less complex harps in ancient Egypt) is believed to be approximately 1,000 years old. Even though the unpredictability of Ireland’s tradition of oral history means it could be even older, there’s less than a dozen Irish harps remaining from before the 1700s, so our knowledge of the harp before this time is a bit light. What we do know is harpists were celebrated in ancient Ireland, and legend tells us that the last high king of Ireland, Brian Boru (who died in 1014,) loved the harp so much that his son is said to have presented his father’s beloved instrument to the Pope as a sign of respect. With the Irish love of music (that’s so closely tied to the love of dance,) it’s no surprise that the harp makes an appearance all over Irish historical annuals. A document dating from 12th century Ireland implies that the harp was the only music played during the Crusades, and we know the harp was so revered all over Europe that most monarchs and lords had a resident “Master Harper/Harpist.” As Christianity made its way to Ireland, the harp came to represent biblical King David and the symbol can be found all over early stone crosses, reflecting the status of musicians at the time. Harpists can be found all over art from these earlier time periods as well, from courtly and pastoral scenes to battlefield depictions. The harp was so recognized as a part of Irish culture that the 1700s saw the British begin to oppress the use and production of the instrument, as well as travel for musicians. As there’s nothing more quintessentially Irish than rebelling against a controlling faction, we have this oppression to thank for what surviving Celtic harp music we have today. By the end of the 18th century, the ancient Gaelic harp was nearly extinct, and if not for the efforts of a musician named Edward Bunting, it may have been lost forever. In 1792 Bunting lured as many harpists as possible to Belfast, where he recorded their terminology and as much of their traditional music as possible—without him there’d likely be nothing left! But even while the harp might not be as common as it once was in Ireland, the symbol remains. The image of the Irish harp are featured on numerous items all over Ireland, including: the presidential seal, the royal coat of arms (which Henry VIII chose for Ireland himself when he declared himself King of Ireland in 1531,) Irish Euro coins, countless official documents, and as a logos for many prominent state-supported groups. Before 1922, when the Irish Free State officially adopted the current tri-color flag we all know, the Irish flag was a gold harp on a green background (as early as 1642!) It’s also a symbol that many a business chooses to denotes their essential Irishness: Guinness is, of course, the first one that comes to mind (though their harp is backward,) but there’s also innumerable pubs across the world and budget Irish airline Ryan Air!
But besides Ireland’s love of music, what has the harp come to symbolize? While it’s use on the Irish royal coat of arms means the harp is often associated with royalty, it is more closely associated with the Irish fight for a free state that goes back hundreds of years. Notably, The Society of United Irishmen, a political organization aimed at achieving Irish independence, even took on the harp as their flag with the motto: “Equality: It is now strung and shall be heard.” Many versions of the harp flag appeared over time before the uniting nature of the tri-color (the green representing Roman Catholics, the gold Protestants, and the white between them the hope for lasting peace.) While it might not be as emerald as a shamrock, the harp as Ireland’s national symbol seems more fitting—it’s come to represent the rebellious and proud spirit we still associate with Ireland to this day. This is Volume II of a series. Read Volume I, about the history of Irish Halloween, here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. The Form If you had to ask someone who’s only seen competitive Irish dance once or twice in their life to describe it, the first things they mention are always going to be the same: 1) the footwork, 2) the distinctly rigid upper body, and 3) no arm movements. For the layman (or woman,) this is what makes Irish dance so clearly Irish dance when they compare it to other styles they’re familiar with. It’s not quite ballet or jazz or tap, but something unique and artful on its own terms…and it’s the lack of movement in the upper body that seem to distinguish it most clearly. This brings us to the question that people have been asking for at least the last 100 years: how did Irish dance end up with such a disparate and distinguishing form? What swirls around out there are plenty of rumors and hearsay—myths and stories. But what can we know for sure? The first issue with determining the form’s origins is that of Ireland’s oral tradition. Until the 1800s, we have very few recorded texts or notations of any dances that were performed. If you read the first three volumes (I, II, III) of this series, you know we only have the vaguest outline of Irish dance’s history, and what we do have speaks of bans, restrictions, and a variety of foreign influences over the years. The rumors that abound can’t be confirmed or denied and largely concentrate on the English suppression of the Irish and the constant religious upheavals that have plagued Ireland for centuries. One story tells of the Irish dancers who were brought to England to perform for Queen Elizabeth I: they refused to raise their arms to the foreign queen and the concept caught on. Another tale tells us that the Irish would dance behind bars and hedges to hide their practice of Irish culture from the Anglican church in the 18th and 19th centuries—the only part the authorities could see was their torsos, so they learned to keep them still. This one seems even more unlikely (maybe they wouldn’t have seen their feet, but I think I’d notice a bartender hopping up and down,) but the time of hedge schools and religious oppression were very real. The speculation doesn’t stop there, but it all revolves around a similar theme: oppression and defiance. It could be English soldiers tied the Irish up and made them dance, or that the Catholic church restricted the arm movements to make the dancing less provocative. Or maybe it’s just that Irish pubs are so crowded, you can’t move your arms! All these ideas seem to tell us more about the Irish love of storytelling than their dance traditions. What seems more likely from a historical standpoint is a combination of two factors: the influence of French court etiquette and decisions made as Irish dance became a competitive and international art form. The Dance Masters of the 18th and 19th centuries were also known for their concentration on decorum, having been trained by the (supposedly) more refined French. In hopes of taming the “wild Irish,” arm movements were removed to help civilize them. But this could still just be gossip. What we know for sure is that when the Gaelic League (“Conradh na Gaeilge”) was formed in 1893, and then the Irish Dancing Commission (“An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha”) in 1927, the two organizations decided on specific criteria for Irish dance that has mostly remained till this day. Though there’s some controversy in modern circles about the Irish Dancing Commission’s decisions to standardize Irish dance, it was considered helpful from the perspective of judging to have the arms uninvolved so there’s no distractions from the feet. In any case, this is the only real, recorded evidence we have available to us for a specific reason Irish dance developed such a unique form.
While competitive Irish dance still adheres to this rigid posture, there’s of course traditions and performances that break from this standard (most notably Sean Nós, céilí dancing, and modern interpretations of step dancing like Riverdance—something we’ll cover in another post!) However it came to be, the form that was once a symbol of oppression is now one of defiant skill. After all, Irish dance’s form has added another difficult element to a dance style already known for its rapid and complex footwork—no other dance style expects perfect balance without the help of the arms! This is Volume IV of a series. Read Volume III about Dance Masters and Gaelic Clubs here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. Volume IV Children’s Books, Part 1 So, your child is interested in Ireland. While an appreciation for Ireland’s art of music and dance can be obtained by taking some Irish dance classes at SRL (of course,) what about the rest of the country’s culture? We’ve gathered together a few picture books that may intrigue them and will definitely teach them more about Ireland’s rich history and traditions: 1. Fiona’s Luck, Teresa Bateman Illustrations by Kelly Murphy This story is an original, but pulls from the ancient legend of one of Ireland’s most beloved myths: the leprechaun. Fiona and her people are newly arrived to the Irish shore, and the Leprechaun King is fed up—these “big folk” are hogging all the luck! When the King locks all the luck on the island away, Fiona and her village face many hardships before Fiona, with intelligence, ingenuity, and a dash of cunning, comes up with a plan to get it back. While both Bateman and Murphy are Americans, the reviews agree that the soft, delicate illustrations really bring Ireland to life. Take a break and let a librarian read this tale to your little one, with Storytime Now!’s YouTube channel (a great resource for many a reading!) 2. This is Ireland, Miroslav Sasek If your kid is looking for facts instead of flights of fancy, this is the book for you! Part of a series that travels all over the world, Sasek’s history of Ireland for children was originally written and illustrated in the 1960s but has lost none of its charm (don’t worry—anything that needs to has been updated for this century!) This is Ireland is recommended all over as what to read your child before you take a trip to Ireland (one day again, maybe…) as it spans the entire Emerald Isle: from Trinity College to the Blarney stone, from bustling Dublin to peaceful fields of shamrocks. Sasek, primarily a painter, gives an accurate depiction of Ireland while keeping a sense of whimsy with his vibrant, stylized illustrations. 3. Brave Margaret: An Irish Adventure, Robert D. San Souci Illustrated by Sally Wern Comport Does your child love Disney’s Brave? This is a similar story set in old Ireland instead of Scotland! Margaret is a farmer’s daughter in County Donegal when a ship arrives in the harbor with a young Prince who promises adventure. But when a sea serpent attacks and Margaret is separated from the ship, she finds that she has the strength inside her to defeat monsters all on her own. Truly in the spirit of “girl power,” the author cites his source as a West Irish tale dating back to the 1800s and its timelessness is a must read for children of all ages. A fifth grade teacher recorded a wonderful bedtime reading of this story (in her pajamas,) which you can access here. 4.Tales from Old Ireland, Malachy Doyle Illustrated by Niamh Sharkey and narrated by Maura O’Connell Written by a Northern Irish native, this collection of seven fairytales comes with a bonus: the included audiobook was recorded by legendary Irish folk singer, Maura O’Connell. Though this is a picture book, it is a very traditional book of fairytales—make sure to check over the stories for content before your littlest ones start reading or listening (some details of the stories: here.) Complimented by rich, muted borders and a full-size painting for each story, Doyle even includes a pronunciation guide for unfamiliar Irish words and names. Think of Tales from old Ireland as an Irish version of Mother Goose (or maybe, more accurately, the Brothers’ Grimm.) 5. Brigid’s Cloak: An Ancient Irish Story, Bryce Milligan Illustrated by Helen Cann Brigid’s Cloak is another tale that harkens back to the ancient days of Ireland, but this one is a classic retold for children’s ears. St. Brigid (along with St. Patrick) is both a historical figure and the patron saint of Ireland in the Catholic tradition, but this story concentrates on one aspect of her legend: her cloak. The fable goes that Brigid was given a beautiful, blue cloak when she was born by a mysterious, Druidic figure. As she grew older and became a kind, charitable young woman, the cloak grows more tattered, but it still harnesses a very special power that allows her to perform a miracle that reflects her generous heart. Reviews all praise the book’s lyric prose and its ability to truly represent the conflicting aspects of Ireland (pastoral, but representing the Pagans, Christianity, and a belief in magic) in a child-friendly way that doesn’t take sides. So, while there are some religious aspects to the story (Brigid meeting the baby Jesus in Bethlehem, for instance,) it concentrates more on Brigid’s famed generosity than her beliefs. This is Volume IV of a series, read about some Irish Adult Contemporary book recommendations here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. Dance Masters and Gaelic Leagues The next chapter in the saga of Irish dance through the ages will look a little more familiar to our SRL families: the Dance Master. A precursor to the TCRG (like Miss Courtney,) Dance Masters were a flamboyant fixture in 1700s Ireland known for their itinerant lifestyle, brightly colored clothing, and the staffs they carried. Dance Masters traveled Irish districts in search of a pleasing town to stop in, and more importantly: students to teach. It was considered a great honor to have a Dance Master stop in your town, and a greater honor to house and feed them when they came to teach. The dances they taught were heavily influenced by the set quadrilles popular in the French upper classes, and the Dance Masters were considered extremely cultured and civilized due to the emphasis they placed on proper manners and deportment. This clashes directly with the setting: most of these classes occurred in barns and many students didn’t know their right from left. To combat this issue, Dance Masters would tie hay or straw to one of each student’s feet and ask them to “lift hay foot” or “lift straw foot”! While the Dance Masters were all about French etiquette and dancing (precursors to the sets students still learn today,) they also had some adventures along the way. Sometimes Dance Masters were kidnapped (playfully, we assume) by neighboring towns who wanted lessons. Dance Masters also often competed against Dance Masters from neighboring districts at céilís or feiseanna—large gatherings celebrating Irish culture and traditions usually held at a crossroads at the time--reportedly until one of them dropped! Since the Statute of Kilkenny (check out Volume II for more details,) Irish culture had been contained to the Irish (in law if not in practice,) and still felt somewhat oppressed by their English neighbors. The forming of Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League) in 1893 changed everything by establishing an organization specifically dedicated to preserving Irish language, literature, folklore, music, dress, and, to a lesser extent, dance. While the League originally outlawed certain dances that weren’t considered completely Irish (like the set quadrilles so heavily influenced by the French,) they eventually rescinded their stance. In 1930, An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (The Irish Dancing Commission) was formed to preserve and promote all forms of Irish dance and still exists to this day.
In 1897, the first public céilí was held in London (perhaps not so ironically, when you consider the goal of preserving Irish culture for all Irish people—there was a fair amount living there.) After the Commission was established only a few decades later, it only took a few years for their work to spread to wherever Irish people lived—which by then was everywhere! Now, there are Gaelic Leagues and Clubs all over the world and feiseanna are held wherever they are. Irish dance comes from a tradition that resembles the American dream as much as anything Irish: a melting pot (doing my best to refrain from a pot o’ gold pun) of traditions and cultures. While it honors a specific heritage wherever it’s performed, that heritage was created over millennia through a distinct and unique combination of different people and civilizations. At SRL, as we’re proud to continue that tradition by keeping to the heart of it: honoring Irish culture, while always remembering you don’t need to be Irish to do Irish dance! This is Volume II of a series. Catch up with Volume I here and Volume II here. And check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. Spooky Samhain Tales Did you know this year is the first full moon on Samhain in more than 20 years? Not only that, it’s a blue moon—the last blue moon on Halloween was in 1955 and the next won’t be until 2039! In fact, there’s only six full moons on October 31st this century. All I’m saying is, if we were ancient Druids, it would a particularly spooky and significant celebration this year. The ancient Irish never steered themselves away from the frightening in their mythology, and this impulse was only heightened around Samhain (Irish Halloween)—the time they believed the veil between the living and the dead, our world and the faerie world, was at its thinnest. While we briefly covered a few myths in our review of the history of Irish Halloween, there are plenty more where that came from. More than I think anyone would be comfortable with—especially at a foggy Irish crossroads on Halloween night with a full blue moon above them. Perhaps one of the best known of all Irish cryptozoological creatures is a Banshee (or “Bean Sídhe.”) Ironically, the banshee isn’t particularly dangerous for the average person—she only haunts those of noble Irish heritage. She never hurts anyone, though some believe she’s foretelling a death within the house she haunts her keening wail (or “caoine”) as she tears her hair, just as ancient mourners were wont to do. She often considered to be the counterpoint of the Leanan Sídhe—a faerie woman so beautiful she's inspired poets, artists and musicians to fall in love and create great art, only to leave them to die without their muse. Similarly, but perhaps more alarmingly, are tales of a creature called a Fetch (sometime “Taisé” or “Fáith”)—it’s said these apparitions predict accidents and deaths by taking the form of the person about to be hurt as a warning. Not surprisingly, the word “fáith” can also mean seer. Imagine seeing yourself in front of you, clutching at your chest or wet as if you fell in a river? Terrifying! Speaking of water, there’s plenty the Irish believe hide there as well. Just like there’s an underground faerie realm, there’s believed to be a concurrent “Land Beneath the Waves” (“Tír fo Thuinn.”) The best known escapees of this land are Merrows and Selkies—and no, the name doesn’t deceive—both myths are akin to our tales of mermaids. Merrows are human women from the waist up with fish tails and have a piece of clothing that allows them to breathe underwater, while Selkies are part-seal and only appear as beautiful women when they shed their skin. One can capture either as a bride if you steal their magic hat or seal skin, but Merrow or Selkie, they’ll always be longing and trying to return to the sea. But for all these tales that can’t necessarily hurt you, the Irish always have plenty of myths and monsters that can. Another sea monster is the Kelpie, a “water horse” (literally) that lures people to climb on its back so it can drown and eat them (for others they can appear as beautiful man or woman.) The Gray Man (or “Fear Liath”) personifies fog and confuses travelers so they stumble over cliffs to their deaths. Then there’s the Questing Beast, a bizarre, barking combination of animals (head of snake, torso of a leopard, back legs of a lion, but the hooves of a deer) that wreaks havoc and appears in Arthurian legends. And we can’t forget the Dark Man (“Fear Doirich”) and the Demon Bride…but those names are pretty self-explanatory and terror-inducing without the details.
Of course, this list of mythological beasts goes on and on—keep checking the blog for more stories! Just because October’s over doesn’t mean we don’t love a good tall tale. Or twenty. And don’t worry, the Irish have lots of protection beliefs as well—ones that have crept into our modern tales of ghosts, vampires, and monsters. Iron has always been believed to protect against the fey, as well as passing over running water or running into a graveyard. It’s also the origin of jack-o’-lanterns—originally turnips hollowed, carved with a terrifying face, hung from a stick, and filled with a glowing coal to scare away anything that had slipped away from the Otherworld. Once Christianity arrived in Ireland, holy water became the go to form of protection for people traveling on a dark Samhain night—carried by dipping pieces of straw in consecrated waters and holding it in front of them. Though there is still a definite faction in Irish culture that has a healthy respect for these mythological tales, the average person dismisses them as fantasy. So why create such scary creatures in the first place? It’s one of the most baffling things about humanity…why do we (well, some of us) love to be scared? The answer is surprisingly simple: it’s a safe and controlled way of confronting all those unknowns out there in the world. We can feel the rush of fear without the danger—our brain knows we’re safe. I mean…as long as the Gray Man doesn’t appear as we walk home at night. Then, all bets are off. This is Volume II of a series. Read our first installment about the Tuatha Dé Danann here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday (and the occasional Saturday) for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. Samhain It’s spooky season! Love or hate Halloween, October is undeniably the denizen of all things creepy, crawly, and sugar-filled all over the world. From the Día de los Muertos in Mexico and Latin America (on that note—if you and your kids haven’t watched Coco, there’s no better time than now!) to Guy Fawkes Night (or Bonfire Night) in England, it’s not just America that feels a need to celebrate as the days keep getting shorter, darker, and colder. But have you ever wondered where our Halloween traditions come from? Since you’re on an Irish dance blog, I bet you have a guess! The modern tradition of Halloween as we celebrate it in the United States stems from an ancient Celtic Pagan religious holiday called Samhain. Samhain (pronounced ‘sow’inn’) is a tradition as old as we can know—definitively dating back two millennia (and possibly a few more.) Celebrated from October 31st to November 1st, the festival marks the beginning of the “dark half of the year.” Samhain was believed to be the night where the barrier between the Otherworld (Tír na nÓg) was at its thinnest. As people finished up the last of their harvest work, they allowed their hearth fires to burn out before attending the communal celebrations. There, the Druid priests would use a wheel (something they utilized in their worship of the sun) to spark flames and light a community bonfire. Together, everyone would burn sacrificial bones (from the feast they were soon to consume) and tokens for their personal prayers for the colder seasons. After, every family would bring a flame from the big conflagration to relight their own hearth fires–perhaps a reminder of the constant support of their community before the darkest nights of the year. Samhain wasn’t just an excuse to gather together and ward away the cold. It was also a feast holiday before the difficulties of winter, and a way to honor deceased loved ones. Many houses would leave candles burning in their windows to light the way for spirits, and specific treats were blessed and left to appease them (it was considered extremely bad luck to eat any of that food before the night passed, though it was often given to the less fortunate the next day.) Some traditional treats include barmbrack—a sweet cake with tokens baked inside to tell your fortune—and “soul cakes” (essentially a precursor to cookies) left near the door for both the living and dead guests. But where good spirits can get through, so can bad. That’s where costumes come in! The tradition of dressing up (usually as an animal back then) is as old as the tradition of the bonfire, believing it was the best way for everyone to hide themselves from anything frightening that may have slipped through from the Faery world. Samhain was associated with a few scary creatures in particular, including: the Pooka (a shapeshifter—but watch out for the red eyes,) the Lady Gwyn (also known as the White Lady, who chases people out too late,) the Dullahan (something like our headless horseman,) and the Sluagh Sidhe (aka the “Wild Hunt,” a faery host who will try to make you join them in their eternal sport.) As times changed, so did traditions, especially as many Irish people settled in the New World. While we held on to the costumes, jack-o-lanterns replaced simple candles (though they were originally made from turnips!) and games and activities we’d recognize—like bobbing for apples, cider drinking, music, and all kinds of fortune-telling—became the norm. Even Mischief Night (a prank-filled tradition, mostly for teens, largely celebrated in Pennsylvania, Upstate New York, Michigan, and New Jersey) has its roots in Ireland—those who choose to wreak havoc the night before Halloween are simply taking the role of the mischievous faeries that have escaped from Tír na nÓg!
The connections of Halloween being particularly Irish doesn’t stop there--vampires as we know them in the 21st century are the product of two of Ireland’s finest. Bram Stoker was an Irishman and brought us almost all the lore we associate with vampires today with his book Dracula, taking his inspiration from the myth of the Dearg Due (a young, beautiful, blood-sucking woman.) Years later, another writer of Irish descent, Anne Rice, would bring vampires into the spotlight again with Interview with a Vampire and her many following books. So this Halloween, after the candy is hidden and the costumes in a pile on the floor, maybe take a moment to reflect on the forgotten reason we love to celebrate it: it’s one last moment of communal warmth before the cold settles in. While this Halloween may not look like others in the past, that feeling is the part that we can cherish and retain. And we have Samhain and the Celts to thank! This is Volume I of a series. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. The Statue of Kilkenny and English Monarchs Just as the history of Ireland is rife with conflict, so is the history of Irish dance. It might sound dramatic (or a little bit too much like Footloose,) but there was a time in Ireland when Irish dance was essentially banned. Well…not for everyone. In the 14th century, the English began to feel they were losing the foothold on Irish soil they had gained in 1177 through a pact with the Normans (for more about them, see Volume I!) Scrambling, they took action by enacting the Statute of Kilkenny in 1366—35 laws banning anyone except the native Irish from partaking in Irish traditions. Among the many banned activities within the Anglo-Norman settlement were: riding horses “Irish style” (i.e. without a saddle,) listening to Irish storytellers, wearing an “Irish beard” (whatever that means,) marrying an Irish person, utilizing any Irish names or dress, and even playing any Irish games or music. While these laws didn’t expressly forbid Irish dance in so many words, the intent was clear: Irish culture (including dance) was only for the native Irish. However, you can’t keep a dancer from dancing. The fears of the English—so close but so far away without modern air travel—had come true: their settlers had become “more Irish than the Irish themselves.” In fact, these laws were so loosely enforced that they weren’t technically repealed until 1983! Besides, it wasn’t long before those back in England began to change their tune once they saw all that impressive footwork in person. No less than Queen Elizabeth I herself became a fan of Irish dance when Sir Henry Sydney wrote to her of girls he saw dancing jigs in Galway in 1569: "They are very beautiful, magnificently dressed, and first class dancers." After receiving the letter, the Queen reportedly invited and hosted Irish dancers at court.
And Queen Elizabeth I wasn’t the only English royal who sang the praises of Irish dance. Historians have found evidence that one of her successors, James II, was greeted upon his arrival to Ireland in 1689 with Irish dancers (though the trip didn’t go so well for him after that welcome.) These were the first steps (pardon the pun) of acceptance for Irish dance that has let the tradition travel beyond Ireland’s borders to become the worldwide celebrated art form it is today. This is Volume II of a series. Read Volume I here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. The Druids and the Normans There are many things in this vast world we don’t know the truth of: the Easter Island moai, the Nazca Lines, and even eels (hard to believe, but it’s true!) With legends reporting the earliest feis to have taken place three millennia ago, the beginnings of Irish dance fall into a similar category: a cultural marvel whose origin has been lost to time. (Okay, maybe eels are in a different category.) While there’s no definitive answer for who the original practitioner of Irish dance really was, historians do have some educated guesses. The Druids—a learned class in early Celtic culture that was a mix of priest, teacher, doctor, judge, and even warrior—are most often credited with the earliest version of the dances we practice today. The Druidic class was highly respected in ancient Irish culture, with the word “druid” thought to have come from the Irish-Gaelic word “doire,” meaning oak tree or wisdom. The biggest difference between modern Irish dance and Druidic performances? The Druids are believed to have danced as a form of worship. It’s thought that as early as 1600 B.C. the Druids were performing circular dances (possibly among standing stones, the most famous of which you may have heard of…Stonehenge) for a variety of reasons: to worship the sun and their namesake oak trees, as preparation for war, as a prayer for prosperity, as a courtship ritual, and even something closer to modern feis—social gathering and recreation. But the Celts had some company knocking at the door. Ireland was invaded by the Normans in 1169 A.D., a group of Viking descendants previously settled in what is now Northern France. With their forces, the Normans brought a variety of traditions with them, including “carolling”—which is essentially a mix of Druidic circle dances (which were already similar to early French tradition,) and the singing we associate with modern caroling around the holidays.
“Carolling” led to one of the earliest known mentions of Irish dance in writing in 1413, when the Mayor of Waterford visited the Mayor of Baltimore (we've borrowed many a town name from the Irish!) and was presented with a procession of singing and dancing. While modern Irish dance is a little too athletic to expect anyone to sing while dancing, the custom of combining traditional dance and music is still carried out at most Irish dance academies. That includes us here at SRL! This is part I of a series. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. |
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