Not the Celtic Corner - July 2013

Not the Celtic Corner - July 2013

This is not the Celtic Corner.  This is just a mid-summer update from the web and blog administrator for the American Irish Association of Woodbridge NJ (www.amerirish.com).

So, as July comes to an end there was this compelling need to share a quick story about a trip to Upstate NY to the Great American Irish Festival in Frankfort, NY (Herkimer County), July 26 ~28, 2013.  My family history in Upstate NY is that of a visitor for well over 40 years.  A lot of camping, fishing, canoeing, and after my father purchased about 14 acres on the edge of the Adirondack State Park in Gray NY in 1970,  even more time in the Adirondacks would be in-store much vacationing and short trips.  For many years, I would head north with my wife and my daughters up to the “cabins” (as they are referred to by my family) for Columbus Day weekend.  Biking, running, hiking, fishing, some shopping, and definitely eating, along with closing and winterizing the cabins before the first heavy frosts hit the area.  We stopped the Columbus Day Weekend trips in 2003 and miss them deeply.  My dad still owns the property and we hope to be able to upgrade the two cabins and the utilities very soon, to make them (again) a great place to visit and relax.

Earlier in July, my father and I made a trip up to the property to check on things.  As many may know, a couple of years ago, Hurricane Irene pummeled the Northeast and NY State was hit very hard.  Now this year, significant flooding in Central (Upstate Region) NY area along the Erie Canal has occurred for much of this past June and July.  They are still having flash flood warnings almost daily from excessive rain.  During this quick trip with my dad, I noticed a poster for the “Great American Irish Festival” (www.gaif.us) the weekend of July 26 through the 28^th.  All I did was make a note of this and then suggested “offhandedly” to my wife that we should go to the festival.  She agreed, I was not terribly serious about heading back up, but when she became interested, I started some investigations.  It turns out that this year’s festival was the 10^th anniversary. 

Since I know the area well, it was now a simple process to figure out where to stay.  We picked Little Falls, NY and stayed at an awesome B&B in the Canal Place section of the city, right along the Erie Canal about 15 miles from Frankfort and the festival location - the Herkimer County Fairgrounds.  Canal Place is a great place to visit.  This is a very low-key location, with restaurants, shopping (mostly antiques), art galleries and two B&B Inns.  We stayed at the Stone Mill Inn (www.theinnatstonemill.com).  Very comfortable and unique building, and we highly recommend the location.  We brought up our mountain bikes, running shoes and hiking boots.  Great weather, no air conditioning, and we had lots to see and do.  The festival ran for three days, but we choose to go on Saturday only and spend that day at the Herkimer County Fairgrounds.  Our Saturday started off with a bang! A loud cannon start, in fact, for the Ranger Run 5K.  The race is directly part of the festival and is well worth the effort to participate.  Runners cruise around the neighborhood of Frankfort, NY starting and finishing in the middle of fairgrounds.  The best news is that our race registration gave us all day, come and go admission to the grounds.  The race finished about 1 hour before the festival began on Saturday.  Because we ran the race, we were able to stay within the fairgrounds as the festival volunteers readied the area for the day.  The Festival is camper friendly, so people arrived with campers, tents, and all the fixings to stay for the weekend.  This was an awesome sight to see, just off of Route 5s. 

The GAIF is an incredibly well attended event that was impressively well managed, with thousands and thousands of visitors.  The weather cooperated for the most part, just a light shower on Saturday evening.  We suspect Sunday may not have been as dry, but the festival had quite a bit of cover with large shelters.  This festival is all about the music and the Irish/Scottish crafts that were for sale.  Shopping was a lot of fun and expensive, but worth it.  Now back to the music.  They had a pipe band competition, with a few different categories judged, 17 bands in total.  When the competition ended, many of the bands assembled in a “Massed March”, through the fairgrounds.  This was a great sight.  Music everywhere, the festival organizers assembled an incredible line-up of bands and individual musicians.  They had three stages – Contemporary, Traditional and a Regional Stage for local artists.  You could easily move from venue to venue within a few yards, and see some amazing bands.  Not just random bands and musicians, but bands that you know or have heard of already.  A local band called 1916 from Rochester was the first band we listened to, and they mixed traditional and contemporary tunes with incredible ease, they are very talented.  Their version of “The Foggy Dew” is exceptional.   Later on, the Young Dubliners, who sing traditional Irish music to their own musical rhythms.  They played three different sets at the festival one Friday, then Saturday and another on Sunday.  We watched the Young Dubliners mid-afternoon on Saturday with a very large and rowdy crowd, their music was terrific.  Up next for us was Makem and Spain who sing traditional music also, they are very talented and very funny.  We then listened to Girsa, a band of young girls from Pearl River (NY) that were very traditional and their music was mostly instrumental, with an occasional great voice in the mix.  We all will be hearing more from this band, no doubt.  We then watched the High Kings.  They started with “Rocky Road to Dublin”, then sang some of their new music (being released later this year) and finished their set with a rowdy version of “Whiskey in the Jar”.

As mentioned, an incredible band lineup.  If you wanted to see all the musicians, you have to go for three days.  When we were watching one band, we were wondering what we were missing at the other venues.  Although not the case with the High Kings, we knew what we were doing and we were staying until they were finished.

I have assembled a small picture gallery and also scanned pages of the festival’s pocket program that you can review here.

Slideshow

Also, there is a video gallery that includes a couple of short videos of the pipe bands et al, and the 1916 Band (please forgive the video shakes which had nothing to do with my beer consumption as far as you know) <videos link> .  You can review the artist list on the festival website and in this gallery.  This was a great short trip and we may very well attend the 11^th Great American Irish Festival in 2014.

Sincerely,

Ben Campbell

Celtic Corner - June 2013

CELTIC CORNER

Tribute to Father

Fathers are the biggest source of strength for a child. The innocent eyes of a child perceive father as the all-powerful, most knowledgeable, truly affectionate and the most important person in the family. For daughters, fathers are the first men they adore and fall in love with. While for sons their fathers are the strongest person they know and someone whom they look up to for the most experienced and honest advice that is always in the best of their interest. For this great figure in our life that we know as father-it becomes our utmost duty to pay our humblest tribute on the occasion of Father’s Day.

Say Thanks to Dad on Father’s Day

Children blessed with a loving father should consider themselves fortunate. For, they have someone to take care of their needs and interests. Someone to stop them when they are diverting to a wrong path and guide them on a road to success and virtue. For many of us, fathers have always been there to solve our innumerous mathematics and science problems and explain the same formula a hundredth times or more until it is understood by us. Fathers would never ever give a smallest of hint to let us know how hard they work to take care of our needs and fulfill even the most whimsical of demands. For all their adorable scolding and affectionate punishments we all owe a big thanks to our Dads.

Apologize to Dad on Father’s Day

Father’s Day also brings with it the wonderful opportunity to apologize for all our rude and insensitive behavior. We as children often take the love and affection of our parents for granted and treat them with outright contempt. We need to apologize. We must feel great to have the presence of a loving father in our lives and do not disrespect him. On Father’s Day we must say “SORRY” to our Dad and seek his forgiveness for our wrong behavior.

Celebrate Father’s Day with Dad

We must make all efforts to celebrate Father’s Day with our Dad. Children staying away from father must especially strive to spend the day with father and show gratitude for all their support and love. We must pamper father by spending the day in a manner he likes most. It could be going out for a picnic or indulging him with a gourmet meal. We can also express love with thoughtful gifts accompanied by a bouquet of his favorite flowers. The idea is to show our affection and tell Daddy how much he is loved and appreciated not just on Father’s Day but every single day of our lives.

"Lá na n-Aithreacha Sona"

Happy Fathers Day

 

Your Corres Secretary                                                              President

Frank Darcy                                                                              Ken Egan

 

 

Celtic Corner - May 2013

CELTIC CORNER

Tribute To An Irish Mother
By Joseph R. Biden

My mother Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden is the soul, spirit, and essence of what it means to be an Irish American. She honors tradition and understands the thickest of all substances is blood.
She has taught her children, and all children who flocked to her hearth in my neighborhood, that you are defined by your sense of honor and you are redeemed by your loyalty. She is the quintessential combination of pragmatism and optimism. She also understands as my friend Pat Moynihan once said, there is no “point in being Irish if you don't know that the world is going to break your heart eventually.”
But she is more. She measures success in how quickly you get up after you have been knocked down. She believes bravery lives in every heart, and her expectation is that it will be summoned. Failure at some point in everyone’s life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable. As long as you are alive you have an obligation to strive. And you are not dead until you’ve seen the face of God.

My mother, I believe, is a living portrait of what it means to be Irish –- proud on the edge of defiance. Generous to a fault; committed to the end. She not only made me believe in myself, but scores of my friends and acquaintances believe in themselves. As a child I stuttered, and she said it was because I was so bright I couldn’t get the thoughts out quickly enough. When my face was dirty, and I was not as well dressed as others, she told me how handsome I was. When my wife and daughter were killed, she told me God sends no cross a man is not able to bear.

And when I triumphed, she reminded me it was because of others.

I remember her watching through the kitchen window as I got knocked down by two bigger guys behind my grandfather’s house, and she sent me back out and demanded that I, to use their phrase, bloody their nose, so I could walk down that alley the next day.

When my father quit his job on the spot because his abusive boss threw a bucket full of silver dollars on the floor of a car dealership to make a point about his employees, she told him how proud she was.
No one is better than you. You are every man’s equal and everyone is equal to you. You must be a man of your words, for without your words you’re not a man. Her pragmatism showed up when I was in eighth grade, a lieutenant on the safety patrol. My job was to keep order on the bus. My sister and best friend Valerie acted up. At dinner that night I told my mother and father I had a dilemma. I had to turn my sister in as a matter of honor. My parents said that was not my only option. The next day I turned my badge in.

I believe the traits that make my mother a remarkable woman mirror the traits that make the Irish a remarkable people. Bent, but never bowed. Economically deprived, but spiritually enriched. Denied an education, but a land of scholars and poets.

Irish Proverb

A man loves his Sweetheart the most

His Wife the best
But his Mother the longest

 

Happy Mother’s Day
Lá an Mháthair faoi shona dhuit

Your Corres Secretary                                                              President

Frank Darcy                                                                              Ken Egan

 

Celtic Corner - April 2013

CELTIC CORNER

March is always for St. Patrick. April is for the Rising. On Easter Sunday in Newark, a group of men & women commemorate the 1916 Easter Rebellion with a march from Military Park to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  Frank & Kathie Darcy are honored to carry the banner in the march. A mass is celebrated in Irish Traditions and the Proclamation is read.  Below is that proclamation.

         

           POBLACHT NA H-EIREANN

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE

               IRISH REPUBLIC

          TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND

             

IRISHMAN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old traditions of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.

Having organized and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organization, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organizations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes the moment, and supported by her exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory.

We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundred years they have asserted it in arms. Standing on the fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we herby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State. And we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades in arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations.

The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irish woman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities of all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government which have divided a minority in the past.

Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent National Government, representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and woman, the Provision Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people.

We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by cowardice, inhumanity or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.

   

      Signed on behalf of the Provisional Government,

           THOMAS J. CLARKE

SEAN MAC DIERMADA    THOMAS MAC DONAGH

P.H. PEARSE                         EAMONN CEANNT

JAMES CONNOLLY            JOSEPH PLUNKETT

 

 

Remember there would not be an independent Ireland except for the brave actions of these men.

Your Corres Secretary                                                              President

Frank Darcy                                                                              Ken Egan

                  

 

Celtic Corner - March 2013

CELTIC CORNER

 March is for the Irish and we should think about all the contributions that the Celtic people have made to world culture throughout history. For such a small island, Ireland has made an enormously large contribution to the world of literature, art and music, in both the Irish and English language.

Ireland has produced many poets & authors. James Joyce is one of the Twentieth Century’s greatest authors producing the novels Ulysses, and Finnegan’s Wake. Oscar Wilde wrote the famous Portrait of Dorian Grey, while Poets William Butler Yeats and Samuel Beckett are influential to this day. Eighteenth Century fiction work derived by Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver Travels and Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield were known world wide. Irish writers have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature numerous times. Irish Literature can be traced back to the 5^th Century.

Irish Theatre began in the 1600 but became of age with emergence of George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and the establishment in Dublin in 1899 of the Irish Literary Theater later to become the famous Abbey Theater, performing plays by W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, John Millington Synge and Sean O’Casey. In the Twentieth Century, Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, Brian Friel, Frank McGuiness and many more came into prominence.

Irish dance dates back to the Twelfth Century. The Irish Reels, Jigs and Hornpipes noted to be danced in Galway in the 16^th Century with different styles all across the country. All of this brought Michael Flatly & Jean Butler into international acclaim. Riverdance and Lord of the Dance had world wide success.

When we talk about Irish in Music, we cannot forget George M. Cohen, Bing Crosby, Dennis Day, Carmel Quinn and Rosemary Clooney. There are so many, that I cannot begin to write them all down.

In Literature, Eugene O’Neill, F.Scott Fitzgerald, William Kennedy, Frank McCourt, Tom Clancy and so many more.

In the Media, there are Ed Sullivan, Phil Donahue, Chris Matthews, Bill O’Reilly just to name a very few.

And of course I have to include one of my favorites, Paul McCartney. Paul was with his new Band Wings when he released ”Give Ireland Back to The Irish”. The song was written in response to Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland on Jan 30, 1972. Paul was told not to release it, that it would be banned and not good for his image. Paul felt so strongly about what had happened that he forced its release. The song which was banned from the United Kingdom, The BBC, Radio Luxembourg and Independent Television Authority, still made it to the public. It was #1 in the Republic of Ireland. Also, one of the band members was badly beaten by a group of Protestants in Belfast. Paul McCartney who was born in Liverpool, England was one Hell of an Irishman.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Duit
La ale-lah paw-rig son-ah ditch

Correspondence Secretary & Irish Man of the Year 2013
-- Frank Darcy                                                       

Celtic Corner - February 2013

CELTIC CORNER:

St.Patrick’s Day is just ahead of us, so who is St.Patrick and what is all the hype about?

St.Patrick’s Day (La Fheile Padraig) is first a religious holiday celebrated on March 17^th. He is also the most commonly recognized saint in Ireland. This day is also celebrated all over the world.

Historians say Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the 4^th century into a wealthy Romano British Family. Patrick’s father & grandfather were Deacons in the church. Patrick was kidnapped at the age of 16 by Irish Raiders. He was held captive in Northern Ireland as a slave. Pat escaped fleeing to the coast, boarding a ship, he returned to Britain. Patrick felt that God wanted him to return to Ireland, so he studied to be a priest then became a bishop and in the year 432 he returned to Ireland. His mission was to Christianize the Irish from their native Polytheism. Patrick used many props in his teaching methods such as; to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity he used the shamrock. After 40 years of teaching, he died on March 17^th in the year 470. There were many other missions from Rome to Ireland but Patrick endured as the principle champion of Irish Christianity.

Shortly before his death in Ireland in about 461 A.D. Patrick climbed to the peak of one of Ireland’s highest mountains from where he blessed all the people of the country. Today he is Ireland’s patron saint, and the mountain he climbed (Croaghpatrick) is named after him. Saint Patrick was buried in Downpatrick, which was a great European shrine until its destruction by the English government in 1539.

 St.Patrick created this great faith in the Irish people. I would guess God gave him insight into the struggles that this great Celtic Nation would have to endure. The Irish always managing to keep their faith, were persecuted, jailed, hung, starved, kicked off their land and out of their country. So goes the old Irish Saying “Keep the Faith”. Whether it was the Irish that stayed in their own Ireland or were forced to Immigrate to other countries, they were united & proud. The Irish first marched in Boston on March 18, 1737. This was the first Irish Parade in the world. New York’s Parade was March 17, 1762, Ireland’s first parade was 1931 in Dublin, and New Jersey’s first parade was 1936 in Newark. So why did we march? We did it not just for the religious aspect of the day or the fun of the day, but we also marched in remembrance of the tough days. The many Bloody Sundays gone by and the injustices still taking place in Ireland & the rest of the world today. In the early days, unity got us jobs, acceptance, Political & Labor positions and don’t forget the Irish were decorated with more U.S. Medals of honor than any other country in the world. In recent years our proud tradition of marching lost a little spark. .In these days of our diverse nation, let us show that this Celtic Nation is alive & well in Woodbridge. Let’s get back to the old tradition, March behind our Grand Marshall, Ed Mullen, Irishman of the year, Frank Darcy & Irish woman of the year, Claire Miloscia,

Correspondence Secretary                                                                                     Frank Darcy

 

Celtic Corner - January 2013

CELTIC CORNER:

    While other European Celts are subject to the governments of Britain and France, the Celts of the Republic of Ireland (officially Eire in Gaelic) constitute an independent state-the only truly free Celts left in Europe. In an eight-hundred year history of bitter rebellion and savage repression, the English have been less than successful in their attempt to subjugate Ireland. However, up to now the “Emerald Isle” is not yet entirely free of foreign rule. In Northern Ireland, the descendants of the English planted Protestant settlers still formed a politico-religious majority which, as originally planned by the English, continued to favor being ruled by London. From 1969 fighting between the Catholics who favor unification with the Republic of Ireland, and the Protestants, supported by armed British soldiers, has killed over three thousand people.

          In the Republic of Ireland, by contrast, Protestants and Catholics have lived harmoniously together since independence was achieved from the British in 1922. The south’s majority Catholics have been as friendly and religiously tolerant as any people in the world. Since independence, popular elections in the Republic of Ireland produced a Protestant president of Ireland, a Jewish mayor of Dublin, and a Catholic female president married to a Protestant. The English were permitted to continue enjoying the life of landed gentry in Ireland.

          The Celts have always been known as fierce in battle but gentle in friendship. Classical writers said of the Celts that they provided hospitality and food to strangers before inquiring who they were. Centuries later, in Ireland’s 1742 A.D. Dublin (a city then larger than Hamburg or Berlin), the German composer Handel gave the world’s first public performance of what would become his most famous and beloved work, his Messiah. Contrary to what he had been let to believe in London, Handel found the Irish generous and polite.

          A stranger in Ireland today is still assured of “Cead mile Failte” (a hundred thousand welcomes). Internationally, the Irish people were recently voted the most friendly to foreigners of all the people of the European Community-as polled by the European Commission and published in the French newspaper, Liberation. In its 1991 annual report, the United Nations Development Program ranked the world’s nations in various categories of human development. These included the findings that the Republic of Ireland and Japan have the lowest murder and rape rates among all industrial nations. Dubliners were the happiest of city residents as indicated by a UNESCO survey, published in 1995, of fifteen European cities, which found that only seven percent of Dubliners would be happy about living somewhere else. Close behind in the survey were Barcelona and Copenhagen.

 

The Durable Celts

For centuries the Celts have known their share of war and famine, yet they are still around. Their passion for personal freedom is at the very core of their nature. This respect for individuality may not have served them well in fighting Rome’s single-minded legions, but it represented an early consciousness of human rights that has only recently become fashionable in democratic nations of the modern world.

Like the warmth of the sun
And the light of the day,
May the luck of the Irish
shine bright on your way

 

Correspondence Secretary                                                                 President

Frank Darcy                                                                                        Ken Egan