How Irish are ye?

[Stir Young]

So, will you be celebrating St Patrick's Day?  Are you Irish, or part Irish?  "Come sit down here with us, and tell us your story".*

As near as I can figure, I'm, at the most, 1/8 Irish....I had a great-grandpa named Burke, but I don't know if he was of full Irish extraction.

I might actually be Scotch.....I won't pay good money to eat cabbage in a restaurant.

About forty years ago, I drank so much green beer on St Pattie's Day that I did a high velocity hurl right on the table in the bar.  I haven't been back there since.

Erin go Bragh!  I don't even know if I spelled that right, and I don't know what it means.

I once had a boss, surnamed Duffy, who dubbed himself "a funloving Irishman".  He usually had several martinis for lunch, in the Mediteranian Room at the bar next to our office.

I learned from D.D. Olson that today is St Urho Day.  He's da patron saint a' Finland, eh?

 

*that's a line from a Willie Nelson song, 'Yesterday's Wine'.  Willie is known as "the red headed stranger".  Maybe he's Irish.

 

Regardless of what you is, I guess we all can be Irish tomorrow, if we want to be.

 

[P.A.]

My ancestors on my mother's side were Scots-Irish. I am not sure if that really counts.

[Stir Young]

I think you'd qualify OK, P.A.

[Quinn]

Well, Be gosh and be gorah Sy… loosely translated, Erin Go Braugh means “Ireland Forever”.

I am a freckle-faced Irish girl descended from the McHale’s [of County Cork] and the McCafferty’s [with a little Italian thrown in for good measure]
We were able to trace my Dad’s side of the family to the mid 1800’s. More than likely they emigrated to the US during the Potato Famine of 1845. My Grandmother had an Irish brogue her entire life. She taught us Irish history and the Irish Jig. My family marched in the Philadelphia St Patrick’s Day parade for many years.

We don’t know much about my Mom’s side. They were a very closed-mouthed bunch which made them difficult to trace.

I host a party every year at my house. I serve Corned Beef and Cabbage, Irish stew, and soda bread. If I’m feeling generous I’ll even spring for a case of Killian’s Red.
Come join us

[P.A.]

Will you let a Scot-Irish whose ancestors were from what is now Northern Ireland in? My mother's family has been traced back to the 1770's when the Nesbitt brothers came over and fought in the Revolutionary War. As payment for their service they were given land grants in what is now Middle Tennessee. Robert Nesbitt is considered the founder of the county in which I live.

[Quinn]

Wow, cool history!

Since the war has ended, my party offer extends to all of the Irish :-)

 

[P.A.]

I certainly wish you were not so far away. I would surely come.

[Stir Young]

If I lived closer, I'd be there....and I'd bring the Killians.

[Jaylee53]

Oh Quinn...if I could I would.   My paternal GM was a Robinson.  I'm mostly mutt.  But I do have duel citizenship...not that the Irish want another Brit in their midst....oh well..;-]

[d's girl]

I don't have Irish ancestry in my heritage that I'm aware of, however, I was married to a lovely man for many years who was an immigrant from Dublin. We visited there many times, as his family is still there. 

St. Patrick's Day being a rowdy, partying day is an American custom, & is not Irish at all. In Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is the celebration of St. Patrick (not an Irishman, btw) bringing Christianity to Ireland. It's a religious holiday. People who practice it simply attend Mass & visit w/their family.

 

This excerpt is from www.catholic.org. The story I know is a little different... I was taught that he was likely English or Welsh, & that he tended a pig farm when he was enslaved & taken to Ireland. But the remainder of the story is about the same as I was told...

 

St. Patrick

"Feastday: March 17

Patron of Ireland
b. 387 d.461

St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world's most popular saints.

Apostle of Ireland, born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387; died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, 17 March, 461.

Along with St. Nicholas and St. Valentine, the secular world shares our love of these saints. This is also a day when everyone's Irish.

There are many legends and stories of St. Patrick, but this is his story.

Patrick was born around 385 in Scotland, probably Kilpatrick. His parents were Calpurnius and Conchessa, who were Romans living in Britian in charge of the colonies.

As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him.

During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer. He wrote

"The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayersand in the night, nearly the same." "I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain."

Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britian, where he reunited with his family.

He had another dream in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him "We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more."

He began his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years.

Later, Patrick was ordained a bishop, and was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. He arrived in IrelandMarch 25, 433, at Slane. One legend says that he met a chieftain of one of the tribes, who tried to kill Patrick. Patrick converted Dichu (the chieftain) after he was unable to move his arm until he became friendly to Patrick.

Patrick began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland, converting many. He and his disciples preached and converted thousands and began building churches all over the country. Kings, their families, and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity when hearing Patrick's message.

Patrick by now had many disciples, among them Beningnus, Auxilius, Iserninus, and Fiaac, (all later canonized as well).

Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461.

He died at Saul, where he had built the first church.

Why a shamrock?

Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity, and has been associated with him and the Irish since that time.

In His Footsteps:

Patrick was a humble, pious, gentle man, whose love and total devotion to and trust in God should be a shining example to each of us. He feared nothing, not even death, so complete was his trust in God, and of the importance of his mission."

[Faye Greener]

No Irish here, but that's not going to stop me from having a beer.

[Stir Young]

Atta girl!

[Stir Young]

I love this old Irish song....it makes my fractional amount of Irish ancestry jump up to about 5/8, at least.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI8bPVw3scA

 

I dunno why, but I can't seem to remember how to embed here on TBD/Ning.  I don't have any issues wit' it on FB.