Céiliúradh Gaelach
Céiliúradh Gaelach
Celebrating Our Irishness
What It Means to be Irish
As part of “Céiliúradh Gaelach”, and event organised by Transition Year students, on Wednesday , March 16th, Lucy Collins shared with her peers what being Irish means to her. Well done Lucy on a great piece which certainly set the tone for further celebrations on St Patrick’s Day.
Just below green hills, in front of a glistening blue sea, caught between a field full of sheep and a shed packed with cows, in a village where everyone is either related or about to marry into the family, sits my home.The session in the pub, the sing song on the way home, the stereotypical “craic agus ceol’” can only be found in Ireland and are appreciated by every generation and nationality who are fortunate enough to experience them first hand. Every family has that one member who can always be counted on to regale all in attendance with their go to song, usually “Rattling Bog”, or the Gran Aunt who sits by the fire, just waiting to recite “Oh to have a little house…”. Some will need a few drinks up their sleeves, before they launch into a murderous rendition of Ellis Isle, but others, from years of childhood cajoling, know they have a talent and are all too eager to remind everyone of that. The trick is finding the balance between the good, the bad, and the American cousin.These party pieces are uniquely Irish and no family gathering is complete without them.Weddings can often carry on until 5am and funerals literally last daysThe Irish wake is one of the best ways to deal with the loss of a loved one. The whole family gathers and grieves together.
As St Patricks Day looms, and seachtain na gaeilge ends, excitement of our first landmark festival in over three years builds. I was recently asked the question “What Does It Mean To Be Irish” ?Irish people, it can be agreed, have one thing in common… We all love to talk about being Irish. We enjoy discussing what makes us different and saying 'That's so Irish' to a plethora of actions of varying cultural significance.
As a nation, we have this fantastic collective sense of humour.The Irish sense of humour is the most important and unique aspect of our culture.
Ireland's growing YouTube community has perfected the online homage to their own culture and heritage, racking up hundreds of thousands of views for videos such as 'How To Speak In An Irish Accent' and even millions for videos like 'Shite Irish Girls Say'.
Traditional media has jumped on the bandwagon, with clips such as 'Every Irish Wedding Ever' from RTE's Republic of Telly.
For this year's St Patrick's Day, Independent.ie questioned Ireland's young people about what it means to them to be Irish in today's world, and asked them to share their responses online as 'What It Means To Be Irish'.
In this way, the campaign has spread around the country as YouTube's Irish community has 'tagged' friends across the globe to participate.
The campaign uses the hashtag #WhatItMeansToBeIrish on Twitter, where users have taken to sharing anecdotes and short summaries of what being Irish means to them.
Its aim was to spark a global conversation on what makes Ireland and to explore why 'being Irish' is so desirable around the world, to list the best - and worst - things about being Irish.
The responses flooded in - I have selected some of our favourites here.
There's nothing more Irish than an Irish Mammy'
Being Irish means you're probably Catholic… but you never go to Mass'
#beingirishmeans having an Aunt Mary –
#beingirishmeans the only Irish you can speak is "an bhfuil cead agam dul go dti an leithreas?
#beingirishmeans having freckles
#beingirishmeans enjoying a traditional Irish breakfast at any time of the day or night
#BeingIrishmeans never having to say you're sorry . . . oh wait no, that's just the Government
#beingirishmeans not actually living in Ireland
#beingirishmeans Knowing, within two minutes of meeting someone, where they are from, where they are going, who they went to school with and at least one person you have in common
Being irish means you've been greeted with "D'ya know who's dead?" by your mother
I have recently been reading the book ‘Medium Sized Town, fairly big story’ by Ronan Casey talking about the stories that made the headlines in Ireland’s local newspapers and nowhere else. Headlines including ‘ The man with 100 family members’, ‘Daneil o Donnels mother knits socks for the pope’, ‘Library gets overdue book back 58 years later,
We drink too much, swear too much, shout at the telly (especially when there’s sport on), love Taytos,especially in the sandwich format, have at least nine cups of tea a day, talk about the weather all the time (but none of us own a rain jacket!), squirm whenever someone pays us a compliment (“this jacket? I got it in Penneys for a tenner“), the local pub quizzes, enjoy the chipper in the signature curry sauce, know every Fr. Ted and Mrs Browns Boys episodes off by heart,our farmers tan in the summer( an actual bright red burn but we refuse to wear sunscreen) secretly wish we could win the Eurovision just one more time, think RTE is shite (but still watch it), think the Rose of Tralee is shite (but still watch it – but only because our parents have it on), think Winning Streak is shite (it is – but still watch it when one of the neighbours is on!). The bye byes that never seem to end at the near end of a phone call.Saying a prayer to St Anthony when a belonging goes missing, that's if your mother doesn't find it first.We don’t like boastin’ though so I can’t tell you that we’re great craic, political, give heaps of money to charity and wouldn’t see ya stuck if you were having a rough time of it. ‘Cause if I said all that you might think I was gettin’ up “meself like!”
I am filled with pride when I speak about my country and even though I am eager to experience other cultures and live in other countries, Ireland will always be home. Ireland is where I learned that everyone can sing, even if you can’t. Ireland is where I was taught the value of hard work. Nobody takes anything too seriously in Ireland because everything is eventually “grand”. Ireland is just one large village and although it feels stifling now, I know this is one of its secret charms. Ireland is where my family and my heart will always be.
