Welcome to The Real Green Movement! Today (at least in America) everyone is Irish for a day. One of the biggest party days in the nation. Not so oddly, the second biggest is Cinco de Mayo, Mexican Independence Day. We’ve seen how the Irish thread reaches back to Iberia. We know how the Hispanics reach back to Iberia. Just about a thousand years ago, we were one people on the same spot of land. Yes, the Irish had a bit of Viking mixed in (and the British Celts got a bit of French, who are themselves a mix of Celts and Germanic Franks; along with their own share of Germanics and Vikings). While that was going on, the Iberian peninsula got a bit of Arab / Berber. Yet even the Berbers have had their share of Celts and Visigoths and Romans ‘blending in’.
So not that long ago, all these various folks started heading to The New World. Here we forgot many old barriers and just wanted to live our lives as we saw fit. Talk to someone today about the meaning of The Wear’n O’ The Green, they have no clue. Ask what Orange is to Green? Blank stares. Frankly, I think that’s a good thing. Reaching back to a bit before the Oranges and Greens, back to the Iberian root, folks are paying no attention to the time between and just going where their heart leads them.
One example?
There is a hostess on “The Five” on Fox news. She has a wonderful “look” about her. Not quite ‘exotic’, but still, strong facial features, sparkling eyes, vivacious full of life character. Dark hair, but with strikingly light skin.
On today’s St. Patrick’s day show, she was dressed in green. The “token left wing” commenter poked fun at her being “Irish” for a day. She shot right back “I’m the real deal!”. Mom was from Puerto Rico, Dad from Ireland, she’s “First generation!” Irish-American.
Typical story for the Irish in America. We come in many surprising packages – but always with a certain spark… that shows at it’s strongest on St. Patties day.
So, with that, enjoy the day. I’m off to the movies and perhaps a party later ;-)
Oh, and here’s a link to a Fox show about how the youngest generation isn’t “going green” in the environmental sense as much as their parents. This fad, too, shall pass:
So, time for me to do the Wear’n O’ The Green (despite my Mum being more an Orange… though she converted to Catholic before she died.) Enjoy your day, it’s the one day that those of you who are not really children of the Emerald Isle can share in the experience ;-)
Musings from the Chiefio 
I usually wear one green and one orange sock in honor for my ancestors on St. Patrick’s Day. My better half has been tracing my ancestors of late and low and behold it looks like I may need to modify my socks a bit. A bit more orange is required it seems. One line of the family tree is from Scotland not Ireland. I had no idea some of the family got here in the late 1600’s directly from Scotland to get away from some religious persecution……. I am enjoying a nice red wine in honor of my long lost relatives from Scotland and those that were based in Ireland.
@E.M.: Enjoy your Irish Day!, those Greens who invented the faked Green Movement, were green indeed, but of envy of the intelligence of the real ones. Some say those ALIEN pseudo-greens owe its name to the color of its reptile ancestors´ scales!! :-)
My grandmother was from here:
http://www.ballinamore.ie/
So with St. Patrick’s Day upon us, I will add this Irish toast:
“May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you
In the palm of his hand.”
A wee bit of Ireland for my musing friends…
http://www.andiesisle.com/ThisBlessingIsForYou.html
(well worth the click)
and of course a fun cinema to boot… http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+quiet+man&view=detail&mid=78D8A9D89DA98D9FAA0878D8A9D89DA98D9FAA08&first=0&FORM=LKVR5
Wales is my homeland so I am proud to say that St. Patrick was from Wales.
For ten years starting in 1966 I lived in Belfast, a city beyond excellent. World class high schools such as Inst (RBAI), Methody, Campbell College and many many more.
The Queen’s University of Belfast, another world class organization.
Fantastic hospitals such as the Royal Victoria and Belfast City Hospital.
An awesome road system.
Unbelievable scenery although I don’t think much of the “Giant’s Causeway”.
Some of the best golf courses on planet Earth including Royal County Down (Newcastle) and Portrush.
Wonderful, hard working, friendly people.
I would be there still but for the “troubles”.
Now for the dark side. In 1982 I arrived in New York City and decided to participate in the St. Patrick’s day celebrations. The parade around the cathedral was fantastic so I migrated to 2nd avenue to enjoy some Guinness at the “Green Derby” and similar establishments.
Everywhere I went collections were being made for organizations that I was all too familiar with. Terrorists were openly collecting donations to fund bombs and guns destined for the streets of Belfast. This sick phenomenon extended to Boston and beyond thanks to senator Edward Kennedy and his clueless supporters.
While I deplore 9/11 it had at least one beneficial effect. It ended the US sources for funding terrorism in Northern Ireland.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a land far, far away, God created a wonderful, beautiful Garden and then He created beautiful, happy People to live in it. They were the First People. As time went by the People fought and sang and fought and drank and fought and danced and made many, many beautiful, happy children. One day God noticed that there were less of the People in the Garden. For some unknown reason the People were leaving in drips and drabs, going hither and yon… wherever the hell that is. One day, many, many years later, everyone of the People were gone from the Garden. It was empty! God thought about what had happened. He thought and thought, long and hard. One day, as He was thinking and walking through the empty Garden, He suddenly stopped and spat upon the ground, He made some mud, and started all over again. “This time”, He said to Himself, “I’m not going to make them so happy!”
Daughter has an Irish passport. She got it by having a grandfather born in Belfast. (This program might still be available) It’s useful in situations where your stay might be limited to a period shorter than you had in mind and they watch for turnarounds. She leaves with US passport and returns with Irish.
At one of the southeast Asian border posts, the immigration people think its funny; they know her – tall, red hair, residual cupcake face.
Only problem is that it is one of those countries whose visas cover an entire page.
I should add that she also has a US passport, gotten the old fashioned way, by being born here.
J Ferg,
it used to be said that the Irish would give a passport to anyone odd enough to ask for one. :) Eminently sensible people on many things. I believe the grandfather or similar clauses are still valid there for citizenship, but I haven’t checked for probably 3-10 years. Dual nationality is an extremely useful commodity, particularly when travelling to places where one of the nationalities is not highly esteemed. Like your daughter I’ve done some discreet ‘passport flipping’ at times.
‘By birth’ is always the best way to acquire it as well, as otherwise one has to pick the countries fairly carefully. Many are very anti their ‘subjects’ holding or acquiring the citizenship or particularly the passport of another country.
On the St. Pats day side, I think the most surreal St. Patricks day celebration I ever had was at an Irish Pub. In Hannover in Germany. A glaring anachronism, to say the least. It was during the Cebit computer fair, so Hannover was packed to the gills with foreigners, and a friend and I stopped off to have a celebratory pint or two on our way back to our lodgings. SHortly after we got there a number of Irish show visitors arrived, clearly delighted with their find, and proceded to be irish, and celebrate in suitable vocal style.
The management were aghast. ‘Ve cannot have such lascivious behaviour, mein Gott, zey are singing!’ The stopped all service, closed the pub, and booted us all out. AH well, next time I’ll try Bavaria :)
@Kakatoa:
Since the Scots originated from Ireland you could always declare the difference moot, for purposes of sockage ;-)
@Adolfo:
Well, there’s green as in ‘slime green’ and then there’s green as in “Irish Green”… very different ;-)
@John F. Hultquist:
Mine are from County Mayo..
@David:
Nice, very nice. Love her voice… and the green hills…
@GallopingCamel:
Well, of course they have good golf courses, as the Scots derive from Ireland “we taught them all the know” ;-)
BTW, Welsh is a kind of Celt, so almost Irish… close enough for today!…
Thankfully, in America there is only one Ireland… the one remembered long away and far ago…
@Pascvaks:
And these happy people are moving still! Pretty much all of the Americas has population from the Celtic lands of the before times. Many can claim a direct line to Ireland. Others the indirect line through Scots. Some (many? In some countries most?) from Iberia where the Irish left so long ago. And even more our Celtic Cousins from France and Northern Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Bavaria and bits of the Czech Republic.
We’ve made a very nice new world. Now all we need to do is hang onto the traditions and toss off those who covet our happiness… (Yes, we carry some of those sorrows too, but not so you’d notice on a casual look ;-)
@J. Furguson:
The spouse got an Irish passport that way just a couple of years back. On my ‘to do’ list is to get one as her spouse. Unfortunately, my Irish Grandparent was born about a year after the Great Grandparents both landed from Ireland…
So she is US by birth, Irish by choice. Eventually I’ll finish that set myself…
@Chuckles:
Bavaria, for sure! After all, they found evidence there for the making of beer during the time that Celts were in the area. Only later did the Germans show up to the party and the Czechs…. So while I’m glad we could teach them how to make beer, and they do throw a good party, be careful who you invite into your beer making October party lest they think it’s their idea! ;-)
Well, this is odd… I did a web search trying to find the citation for the Celts in Bavaria making beer based on a tag I thought would restrict it to my site. And found a citation, but not at my site, that includes a picture from the wiki media site, that is my picture and giving me photo credit ;-)
The least I can do is link to the paper:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-brewery-bc-reveals-secrets.html
Maybe I need to go back and redo the picture. It was very difficult to do as the light level is quite dim (to preserve the artifacts from light bleaching) and flash is forbidden. It was hand held, but the depth of field is so shallow (very fast lens) that not all of it can be in focus at the same time. As it was, I was below nominal hand held shutter speed. ( IIRC, something like 1/8 or 1/16 second). I think I could re-do it with a mini-tripod / monopod on a slow day and nobody would notice me…)
The fellow at the far right with a book under his arm is the tax collector… yes, the Egyptians had a liquor tax…
As to those earlier Middle East beer makers (earliest I know is northern Mesopotamia) I think they picked it up from the Hittites… that were an Indo-European speaking people… that I suspect were the root people from whom the Thracians and Celts derived… but I can’t prove it (yet!). The Biblical story of Edam tells of his red hair, they run off to south Jordan, some get incorporated into Israel later, and then the Edomites disappear from history but IMHO show up from time to time causing trouble and wandering north. I suspect they ran into the Indo-Aryans and from that we get the Redheads Of Europe… showing up as those Thracians and Celts… but a few thousand years is a wide divide to bridge with little left in the mud… But they all made beer. Just saying…
“…drunk at room temperature.”
You know, that small stretch of words covers a lot of territory.
Finally found a link that connects the particular newscaster on Fox with both her Irish and Costa Rican ancestry:
http://www.tv.com/kimberly-guilfoyle/person/381782/biography.html
Kimberly Guilfoyle has an entry on an Irish-American’s page, but it omits her Mother’s background. The Fox bio didn’t mention heritage… At any rate, she’s the on I was talking about.
@Halfwise:
I resemble that remark!
Speaking of Welsh and Egyptians…I have been chipping away at a large book entitled “Moses in the Hieroglyphs”. It says there’s a connection….
@Power Grab:
Very Interesting …..
@E.M: OMG, You building a pyramid in California!,…..of meaningful words, for sure.