Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig!


It's St Patrick's day today. It doesn't mean much to me despite the ex-pat parade that we have on the Sunday before it. I know a few Irishmen who have Christened it their day of 'shame' because it does tend to progress into a drunken bash as tourists invade the Emerald Isle and behave badly. Although I hear there are family activities and parades and a general feeling of what it is to be Irish. I wouldn't know, because I'm not. The Irish are fiercely protective of their heritage and to my mind, unless you're born there . . .you can lay no claim.

I do owe many Irish people a debt of gratitude though and although I've only met two of my Irish bloggers, it was an Irishman in New Zealand who introduced me to the wonderful world of blogging and one thing led to another and lo and behold, I have a lot of Irish blogs on the roll and visit many more on the sly.

I've come to know them quite well through the phone line, Facebook, email and Skype. So thank you very much, I value you all . . to New Zealand Pubcast (who sadly are no more) English Mum, Grow Up, Maxi Cane, Jack McMad, Quickroute, Nickhereandnow, South Belfast Diary, Paddy Bloggit, Conortje, Jelly Monster, Grandad, For the Feinthearted, K8 the GR8, Stoney River Farm, Moo Dog, GrannyMar and The Biopsy Report . . . and my lovely little Nonny who no longer blogs but stays in touch and of course my fabulous Paduan who is no longer my virtual son but actually stayed with us this year and has become flesh . . Happy St Patrick's Day!

And in the spirit of good cross-cultural and international relations, I promise I won't ever impersonate an Irish Accent, tell an Irish joke (unless it's really funny) or disrespect Father Ted!

I may however steal your eupamisms because I'm particularly fond of 'boghopper' and 'knobgobbler' among many and of course I like the principle of good crack! (not craic!)


Go n-éirí an bóthar leat
Go raibh an ghaoth go brách ag do chúl
Go dtaitní an ghrian ar d'aghaidh
Agus go dtite an bháisteach go bog mín ar do ghoirt
Agus go mbuailimid le chéile arís
Go gcoinní Dia i mbos a láimhe thú

Alright, I managed to find an authentic translation of this Irish blessing - just don't ask me to say it . . .for the anglos among us, literally translated, it means:

May the road succeed with you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

24 comments:

Kath Lockett said...

Nice one Baino. We have a pub ironically called 'The Quiet Man' which was full of green-haired drunken uni students at 8:30am this morning, and I can still hear Irish-influenced music booming away now. Yes, it's an Irish-themed pub and I won't be surprised to see the road paved with splats of chunder come tomorrow morning. *sigh*

Anonymous said...

Tanks! Baino

It's a beautiful sunny Spring day here in Ireland, perfect for all the parades, street theatre etc. taking place around the country. And perfect for Grannymar's special invitation to sit on the Grandstand outside the GPO. My son, R, will be joining her at the Guinness Store House afterwards to celebrate 250 years of the black stuff!

Sláinte!

Anonymous said...

Great post, Baino. I seem to remember that blessing, tho' not sure from where. I've a bit of the Irish in me, but haven't bothered to research it.

As far as drunken bashes go....Mardi Gras comes to mind( which is about the same time as Fasching, in Germany ). Glad I don't drink, any-more!

Melissa said...

Happy St. Pat's to you, too, Baino! The girls went off to school in sparkly shamrock shirts and somehow our milk turned green last night ... must have been leprechauns. :) I got nice cards from cousins in Co. Cork and can't wait to get there someday. I'll wear my clan scarf today!

kj said...

baino, my friend ann inscribed that wonderful irish blessing in a book she gave me a year or so before she was killed by a drunk driver. she was 30 and it was a long time ago, but you've brought her to my memory this morning and i'm glad.

you really are a dear, you know. and clever.
xo

Brian Miller said...

great post. love the pic and the quote at the end! happy st. pat's! enjoy your day in the palm of the hand!

Anonymous said...

Lovely post - enjoy the day X

Anonymous said...

Beautiful afternoon here. Walked the beach at Brittas - everywhere further north was seized up.

Was in town last night (for a lecture at Trinity) and observed the great cultural tradition of drinking and recycling beer

Candie said...

Great :)
Happy St Patrick's day!Here they don't really celebrate it and I don't even have some beers,damn,but great memories about it.

Miladysa said...

Happy St. Paddy's Day Baino :D

Anonymous said...

@ Ian

We once had a Scotsman visit us following a 6-nations Scotland v Ireland match at Lansdowne Road (Ireland won of course!).

He left the following message in the visitors book in our loo...

"3 pints of Liffey water returned to base!"

Anonymous said...

Steph,

I wouldn't mind them returning their Liffey water to base in a bathroom - the floor of the DART is another matter :-(

Unknown said...

In which language is it? I have never heard about St Patrick's Day.

Anonymous said...

Bit of a contrast here in Belfast. There was a very peaceful cross-community parade in the city centre, with everyone having a good time. But a street near the university was taken over by drunken yobs, a car was set on fire and it took the riot police quite a while to clear the street.

Unfortunately there are always some for whom St Patrick's Day means nothing except an excuse to get legless and cause havoc.

Happy St Pat's to you too!

Ronda Laveen said...

Fantastic picture of the green fireworks! Slainte to you and your clan!

Megan said...

I'm ignoring my non-irish blood today.

I just wish the guinness over here tasted anything like the real thing.

Because it really doesn't...

Susan at Stony River said...

Lovely green fireworks! We spent the day in the parade in our town, enjoying a day off and the first St. Patrick's day in donkey's that had good weather. Last year was bitterly cold, the year before was washed out...this one was PERFECT.

So your good wishes must have worked!!
Thanks Baino!

laughingwolf said...

if what you say about not laying claim to the the emerald isle when not born there, how does a welsh slave get to be the patron saint of ireland, and not even named patrick/padraig?

Baino said...

Kath I think our "Mean Fiddler" is probably suffering the same fate although the kids didn't even mention it yesterday.

Glad you had good weather Steph! Looking forward to Grannymar's pics actually. I had to giggle at photos of Aboriginal digeridoo players in the city daubed with green hand prints!

I used it as part of my father's eulogy as well actually. It's very sweet indeed.

Mel I saw the greenness but your page was taking too long to build, I'll be back there later!

It is a very popular one for sure kj

Brian, we don't really do much here. A parade on Sunday but mostly full of Irish Expats . .they're fanatics. We still have a huge contingent of Irish immigrants each year.

Nothing special for me Conor, I guess you're a bit out on a limb as well?

Thanks Miladysa, just another day at the office (hmm a good thing these days!)

Steph Eeeuuuw . .Ian, 'Hear! Hear!' lets raise our standards I say!

Megan, Guinness tastes like Rusty Poo but it makes nice meat pie gravy.

Excellent Suze, glad the sun was at your back!

Ah Wuffa . .*deep breath* I expected a 'bite' from you. Point taken . . .Maewyn Succat indeed but Patricus was his Roman name so technically . . .

I'm having a little dig here at more modern times! Those who adopt the Irish culture and heritage in all it's tacky and stereotypical glory because their great granny or second cousin once removed married a leprechaun. The Irish (well those that I know) are feircly proud of being so and not very keen on interlopers or umpteenth generation emigrants claiming to know and understand what Ireland is like without living there and experiencing it first hand, any more than I appreciate someone trying to impersonate my accent, call me 'Sheila' and throw a 'shrimp'on my barbie . . they are NOT SHRIMPS THEY ARE PRAWNS . . .

Of course, there are Irish genes in my blood somewhere (probably in everyone thanks to their extreme fleeing throughout the world during famine and gold rush times) but I'm no more Irish than the next immigrant.

I love Gaelic and Celtic culture and emblems (can do without the diddly dee music), legends and stories .. much as I love ancient Greek and Roman culture etc. But I don't lay claim to being a Greek/Australian or an Italian/Australian.

Actually being English by birth, I come from arguably one of the most mongrel bloodlines in the world. One of the most invaded countries with possibly one of the most homogenised cultures ever! I am a citizen of the world w00t!

No offence intended . . just a little bugbear of my Irish pal and mine . . .oh and I don't think anyone in Ireland actually actually says, Póg mo thóin! But I'm happy to stand corrected!

Ces Adorio said...

That is a lot of Irish bloggers! I only know one and she one fine gardener, maybe because she has a green thumb?!

Baino said...

Ces - he he he!

English Mum said...

Wondrous - here in Cavan we do it the old fashioned way, which means everyone on tractors in green and orange curly wigs and a big piss up. I declined, not being Irish - and ironically Hubby, the only Irish born one in the family - went to England for the day. Go figure! x

Mrsupole said...

With only one great, great-grandparent being Irish, I for some reason look Irish. Everyone thinks I am Irish and I am only a little, but it is nice that one ancestors looks were passed down. The funny thing is that my ancestors were mostly Filipino, Norweigan, and Mexican. That is where those grandparents come from. The one who is part Irish, is also American Indian and German.

So I know that I am an American. Just not sure what kind. So I just let people think what they want.

I really liked the Irish poem. The Irish are like all people, just wonderful.

God bless.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Baino.

I was nowhere near the blogs on St Patrick's Day, busy taking part in the fun. I am only home this evening (Friday) and don't have the photos uploaded yet.