It might come as a shock to expecting mothers, when searching the web for baby names, to come across the voice of the well-known writer, Frank McCourt. The website Baby Names of Ireland features McCourt’s voice pronuncing and defining hundreds of Irish names–each in his musical accent. McCourt’s first memoir, Angela’s Ashes reflects on the harsh conditions of his childhood in Limerick, […]
Read More… from Frank McCourt: the Voice of the Future is in the Past
Cork, the southernmost county in Ireland, is separate from the others not only in region. The “rebel” in its name seems to indicate an anti-authoritarian spirit that puts opposition against a higher power. Cork, the incubator for the gritty, hard-stanced Irish that would soon take no comment lightly, also becomes the homeland of those most proud […]
For the rural Irish immigrating to New York for the first time, it’s hard to imagine what mighty impact the big city left on them or what they noticed first. It could have been The Statue of Liberty, of course; or Ellis Island; the amass of lights, or the fast pace of the people. Onlookers, later to become […]
In leaving Ireland, I remember a song I heard on RTÉ radio a few days before returning to the United States. Its lyrics went: I left my heart in Athlon, my heart is an empty stone.” Still, I think of those lyrics today and envision the images of the place that captivated me as a stranger to the land. There is a […]
Read More… from Near the heart of Ireland–Athlone and Beyond
To some, Saint Patrick and the myth of riding Ireland of snakes is an allegory where the snake represents evil and Christianity is the cure—the eradicator—to that evil. Yet, others trust the geography of the island in answering the no snake question. Before the Emerald Island was an island, it was covered by ice. According […]
The Leprechaun is an exaggerated symbol the world associates with Ireland. For instance, it might be just as welcoming for a stranger to spot a leprechaun as it would be a spot of tea, on arrival to the Emerald Isle. Yet, the stories of “little people” are diverse in their origins, not associated only with […]
Read More… from The Leprechaun and its Untold Connection with the Sea
The Beara Peninsula off the south west coast of Ireland is one of the most fascinating for its history of coal mining. When the Allihies mines shut down in the late 1880s many of the men working in the mines migrated to Butte, Montana, which was named the “the richest hill on earth” by Marcus Daly (Stevens, Kevin). […]
Cú Chulainn is one of the fiercest, most infamous warriors of Irish mythology. He is an Ulstermen and a hero, who fought fearlessly defending his land and himself against the threat of invasion, the threat of change. That being said, he was said to transform wildly during battle, so that his face would distort into what is known […]
Read More… from The Best Women for the Job, Emain Macha and the Debility of the Ulstermen
Letter to the London Times from an Irish Immigrant in America, 1850 I am exceedingly well pleased at coming to this land of plenty. On arrival I purchased 120 acres of land at $5 an acre. You must bear in mind that I have purchased the land out, and it is to me and mine […]
