Tag: Irish

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Brennan on the moor

This Youtube video of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem brings tears to my eyes. I’m proud to be of Irish descent. My Mom raised me that way. Mom’s Irish aunts actually thought that Jesus was Irish. How’s that for ethnocentrism? Today, where I work, dozens of children and most of my co-workers are wearing some green for the day. Many are not Irish, but wear the green because it is St. Patrick’s Day. But it wasn’t always like that. When the Irish first emigrated in droves to the United States, they were not welcome. In fact signs hung in cities that proclaimed, “Irish need not apply.” It’s okay to be Irish today in the United States of America. Only recently we elected our first African-American President. It took African-Americans a bit longer to be accepted and that no doubt had to do with the color of their skin. Americans aren’t alone when it comes to rejecting and persecuting the foreigner or the outsider.

All of this gives me hope that one day we’ll accept everybody that God created and just the way they were created and not how we’d like them to be. That’s my wish and along with that I’d like to share this wonderful Youtube video of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem singing “Brennan on the Moor.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aiKUIm8q_c]

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St. Patrick’s Day

Today’s St. Patrick’s Day and true to form I went to work sporting green trousers, a green sweater and a white bow-tie with shamrocks on it. My Mom is as Irish as McGinty’s goat and she raised us to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. I often reflect on my heritage and a good part of it came from the Emerald Isle to America. Mom’s family, comprised of Hand’s and Crowley’s came from southern Ireland. Irish and Catholic to the bone. One of my great-aunts thought that Christ himself was Irish. She was shocked to learn that he was actually Jewish. One of the ancestors is on his way to sainthood. One of the great aunts worked for the Queen of England. Mom told me we’re related to Mary Queen of Scots. These are just some of the stories I got from Mom and Grandma. Continue reading “St. Patrick’s Day”