With St. Patrick's Day parades and events cancelled worldwide, along with the closing of pubs, bars and other public places due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be a very different type of day. Still, the spirit, the wit, and the poetry of the Irish will always be with us, no matter the day's hardships.
Today is St. Patrick's Day, a day when anyone can be Irish if they want to be! And what could be more Irish than music and dance (let's be positive here!)? So, we're going to indulge ourselves with some of both.
We want to share: dancers from the McGahan Lees Irish Dance Academy performing to the reel "Cu Chullain's Despair" (with a little Aer Lingus promo); a lyrical reel, "The Morning Dew," performed by The Chieftains; and the stirring "Brennan on the Moor," performed by The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.
(The latter is about William "Willie" Brennan, a Robin Hood- type
highwayman in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in our ancestral
County Cork.) Of Irish descent or not, we wish you a Happy St. Patrick's
Day. Erin go Bragh!
Happy St. Patrick's Day to the full Irish, part Irish, and the honorary Irish (i.e. the rest of the world)! Be of good cheer and be safe in your celebrations and travels.
Here's the Irish quartet, The Corrs -- sisters Andrea, Sharon, Caroline and brother James -- playing the traditional Irish folk tune
"Toss The Feathers."
In a pre- St. Patrick's Day event Thursday with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, neo- fascist nitwit and Giant Toddler (h/t Quinn Cummings) Donald "O'Rump" Trump showed everyone his gift for blarney:
Standing alongside Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny at the Friends of Ireland luncheon in Washington, D.C., on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day on Thursday, Trump said that “as we stand together with our Irish friends” he was “reminded of that proverb” he’d heard “for many, many years and I love it.”
“Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue, but never forget to remember those that have stuck by you,” recited Trump. “We know that, politically speaking.”
Nice burn, O'Rump!
Small problem (but only if you care about truth and facts). It's a poem written (or not?) by a Nigerian named Albashir Adam Alhassan -- who happens to be Muslim, to boot:
With all due respect to the president's reputation for scrupulously checking his sources, I don't think this is an Irish proverb. https://t.co/1EvGGMsE9r
Today, we want to share two traditional Irish folk songs to mark St. Patrick's Day: a lyrical reel, "The Morning Dew," performed by The Chieftains, and the stirring "Brennan on the Moor," performed by The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. (The latter is about William "Willie" Brennan, a Robin Hood- type highwayman in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in our ancestral County Cork.) Of Irish descent or not, we wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day. Erin go Bragh!
Happy St. Patrick's Day. It's good to be Irish (even if only one-eighth)! Erin go bragh!
BONUS: And because we can't get enough Irish music on St. Patrick's Day, here's a traditional fiddle and pipe tune courtesy of the lovely Corrs ladies, with their brother on piano.
Erin go bragh! President O'Bama pounds a Guinness at the Dubliner in downtown D.C. today. P.S. - that's his eighth cousin Henry Healy from Moneygall, Ireland (center), and Ollie Hayes, pub owner in Moneygall, both of whom came over for St. Patrick's Day. (Top: AP Photo; Bottom: Getty Photo)
Thursday, March 17, 2011
The O'Hackwhackers say, "May the wind be at your back and the sunshine in your face on this St. Patrick's Day."
Happy St. Patrick's Day! As I wished for Brian and Chi:
"May you always have walls for the winds, A roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, Laughter to cheer you, those you love near you, And all your heart might desire."
