St Brigid

St Brigid, whose feast day falls tomorrow, was a negotiator, peacemaker and early community activist. Just the kind of person we need now, writes MARY CONDREN. Irish Times, 31January 2011 

‘BRIGID, WITH her white wand, is said to breathe life into the mouth of the dead Winter and to bring him to open his eyes to the tears and the smiles, the sighs and the laughter of Spring,” wrote Alexander Carmichael. This weekend marks a turning point in the Celtic year. February 1st is the festival of Imbolc, announcing the arrival of new life: never more needed, and never more welcome. The whole month of February is also called Mí na Féile Bríde (Month of the Festival of Brigid). In Celtic myth, Brigid was goddess of poetry, healing and smithwork: in Christian history she was an abbess and saint. Her traditions are preserved today in ritual, story, artefacts and her Christian Lives stories.

However, one aspect of Brigid seldom receives attention: Brigid the Weaver. Her cross was made of newly plucked rushes; her crios (girdle or belt), of new straw; and her cloak was of woven material. Now the opening up of Eastern Europe expands our understanding of the importance of this connection Before mass media and travel, and great political rallies, societies were held together by fragile threads, and weaving tools signified a key responsibility: that of weaving the precious webs of life and tending the bonds of community.

Throughout European mythology and folklore, the wise women were spinners whose advice was ignored at one’s peril. Images abound of European women leaders holding distaffs, spindles, weaving swords or spears which were not used for war making but for practical and ritual purposes. Some of the few surviving relics of Saint Brigid are thought to be her weaving or embroidery tools, held in Glastonbury, England. During Brigid’s festival, on February 1st, weaving or turning wheels was strictly forbidden in an honouring of Brigit the Weaver’s holy day.

Brigd was also a “peace weaver”, the name given to distinguished women in Old European times. Peace weavers sometimes married into their enemy’s tribe, and their daughters carried gifts to weave peace. Such women had great negotiating skills and authority. As with such peace weavers, St Brigid caused mists to appear between opposing sides in order to prevent bloodshed. With her nuns she accompanied protesting warriors to the battlefield, rendering them unable to fight.

In historical times, the Abbesses of Kildare, who succeeded the historical 5th century Brigid, could pardon criminals encountered on their way to execution. They were revered figures of authority who were known as “Those Who Turned Back the Streams of War”. In the 12th century, however, ominous events took place. Two abbesses of Kildare were raped, symbolically rendering them unfit for office. Twelfth-century church reform councils restricted sacramental offices to male priesthoods. The offices of weaver would be entirely superseded by the offices of sacrifiers, with wide-ranging social and political implications. European grave excavations show that, whereas priestesses were buried with their spindles and distaffs, priests were buried with their knives. Subsequent European history, with its numerous wars, colonisations, and constant threat of violence, speaks loudly of the consequences.

Today, weavers and nurturers – community activists, parents, carers, and educators – continue to weave webs of empowerment. Their authority is fragile, rather than heroic. Their work is often unpaid, their views are unrepresented and their perspectives are silenced in the corridors of political or religious power. This weekend, those in search of a new Irish spring, will celebrate the festival of Brigid and Imbolc at their holy wells, in their homes and communities.

Like community activists and nurturers, Brigid wove the fragile threads of life into webs of community. She invented a shriek alarm for vulnerable women travelling alone, she secured women’s property rights when Sencha, the judge, threatened to abolish them and she freed a slave-trafficked woman. Above all, her bountiful nature (23 out of 32 stories in one of her Lives concern generosity) ensured that the neart (life force) was kept moving for the benefit of all and was not stagnated by greed. Today, the old religious and political structures have crashed all around us. In any new arrangements weavers and nurturers must be represented and their voices heard, loud and clear. No better woman than Brigit to inspire their efforts.

Mary Condren ThD teaches at the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies, Trinity College Dublin, and is director of the Institute for Feminism and Religion: instituteforfeminismandreligion.org

Steelers for Dublin? Croke Park looking into American football plan:

The prospect has emerged of staging a competitive American football match at Croke Park. Emphasising that the idea is still at the “concept” stage, stadium director Peter McKenna said that a proposal had yet to go to the NFL. 
 Pittsburgh Steelers, who take on the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl and who are owned by the family of US Ambassador to Ireland Dan Rooney, might be one of the teams involved. The NFL has staged regulation matches overseas in recent years, with Wembley in London the venue for the past four seasons. “We have discussed the potential of hosting a seasonal game in Ireland and at Croke Park in particular,” McKenna told The Irish Times . We’ve spoken to Ambassador Rooney, who has also given generously of his time. We still have to pitch our case to the NFL and even then it would be a difficult task. We would be competing with Wembley, Frankfurt, Mexico and Canada, but we would be selling the idea of a country, a city and Croke Park as the stadium.”

The Irish Echo newspaper in New York, which reported that the match could take place as early as next autumn, contacted the Department of Sport, who said: “There would be a great welcome for visiting fans travelling with the teams to Ireland as well as huge interest locally and a knock-on boost for Ireland from a tourism perspective.”

The idea originated in Croke Park, as the stadium faces into the future without the lucrative prospect of rugby and soccer internationals now that the new stadium in Lansdowne Road has been completed. McKenna is cautious. “There was speculation that the game could take place this autumn, but that’s ambitious as things stand. It’s a concept at the moment and there’s work to be done. It would establish Ireland as a destination for global international sports events. We’ve already had the Tall Ships, the Ryder Cup, the Volvo Ocean Race and the Tour de France. Staging an NFL game would be another feather in our cap.”

Already a college match between Notre Dame and the Navy is planned for Dublin’s Aviva Stadium in 2012.. Irish Times 28 January 2011

A Little Crash Course in Ireland

by Chris Kratschmer

Galway Getaway

Since we're still pretty new here, and most of us have a knowledge of Irish geography wavering somewhere between "slim" and "none", se've been relying on guide books and our Irish roommates to fill us in on places to go. When we first heard about Galway, our Irish fellows informed us it was "good craic" and "brilliant". When we asked what there was to see in the town they looked slightly confused; they thought their answer was self-explanatory.

"Pubs" they said. "Lots of pubs."

A query for more infor brought more puzzled looks and shaking heads. "You Americans... You just want to ride around and look at [stuff]..."

But regardless, everyone we talked to gave Galway good reviews (I'm not quite sure which is a more rousing endorsement: good craic, or 3 triangles ...

All our sources turned out to be well-informed, and Galway had the makings of a great first weekend away. Plenty of scenery, plenty of pubs, and a 20 Euro round trip train made it pretty ideal.

The first 7 of our group of 11 took the early train on Friday, arriving on what our street-performing co-passenger informed us was "a cold day" Indeed, he wasnt lying through his tooth; it may actually have been "the coldest day in 60 years" as he suggested.

Our small pack checked into our hostel (run by a man that looked like an odd take on a modern-day Jesus... that is, if Jesus were overweight and a probable DeadHead.) Next we took a lap of the city to get the lay of the land, and stopped at McDonnagh's for some fish and chips; it was my first of the trip, and as good as advertised. After stuffing ourselves we quickly realized why pubs are so popular in Ireland; it's the perfect way to take refuge from thet weather...

The rest of the day was pretty low key, and once the rest of our crew arrived, included a little shopping and some traditional Irish music at another pub.

The next day we hopped on a tour bus to take us down the coast; we stopped at a few castles, ancient burial sites (you know, the usual), a tourist trap "pub" and a cave that most likely would have left Mark Twain uninspired. Most importantly, though, we made it to the cliffs of Moher.

Everyone talks about the cliffs, and I always took it with a grain of salt, assuming it was blown way out of proportion. Turns out I've been acquiring too much sodium, because the cliffs were as unblievably proportioned as people said.

After some photo sessions, we loaded up and headed home. The night included some fish and chips (fileted, breaded, fried right in front of us.. and may have surpassed McDonnaghs... whoops... sorry, Eimear), stops at a few more pubs, one of which (The Kingshead) has been around since the 1600s. An 80s rock cover band had us rocking out, and an encounter with a young ND alum got us free drinks [Thank you to my Notre Dame sweatshirt].
The next morning we wasted a little time before loading the trains back home to Dublin.

All in all it was a [thankfully] uneventful weekend, the cold weather and a large hostel-roommate with much-too-small- underwear couldn't dampen our trip, even if much of it only involved riding around and looking at stuff...

Irish soda bread

For centuries people around Ireland have been baking the finest Irish soda bread in the world. For many Irish people the thought of soda bread conjures up images of their grandmother baking in a floury apron for the evening tea. The quick healthy recipe which includes flour, bread soda, salt, egg and buttermilk or for variation you can add raisins or caraway seeds. In contrast to American bread, Irish soda bread is not sweet and rather dry. It doesn't contain an abundance of salt as soda bread is usually loaded with rich Irish butter or cheese. Soda bread is so easy to bake and the end result will prove delicious. Many stockists of Irish products around the world carry Irish bread products such as soda bread, brown bread (a variation of soda bread) and scones.

 
Soda Bread Recipe
 
Ingredients
 
100% Wholemeal Flour ­ 3 cups
Plain White Flour ­ 1/2 cup
Bread Soda ­ 1 level teaspoon
Baking Powder ­ 1 level teaspoon
Pinch of Salt
1 Egg
Pint of Buttermilk
Greased Baking Tin
 
To make traditional Irish brown soda bread place all the dry ingredients in
a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly with your fingers allowing the air to
pass through the mixture.
 
Mix for a couple of minutes and make a well in the middle of the mixture.
Break egg into bowl, add buttermilk and whisk. Then pour mixture into well
of dry ingredients, holding back a small amount. Mix until all combines,
(the mixture should be quite wet).
 
Pour mixture or dough into a greased baking tin and if you like sprinkle
with some sesame seeds or poppy seeds, which brings a lovely appearance to
the loaf when cooked. Place in a pre-heated oven, 150/160 for 55-60 minutes.
 
Check if loaf is cooked by inserting a skewer into the loaf, if the skewer
is completely dry when removed the bread is cooked. Remove loaf from tin,
(should sound hollow when tapped), and allow to cool.
 
Top Tips:
A little drop of Guinness can be added to the buttermilk/egg mixture, which
darkens the bread and introduces a yeast flavour, a small bit of brown sugar
can also be added. Try sultanas and walnuts, try pumpkin seeds, sunflower
seeds or any seeds. Try some chopped apricots or your own favourite dried
fruits. The combinations are endless...but most importantly, enjoy and have
fun baking.

Kevin Whelan's best (and worst) movies of all time

BEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)

Battle of Algiers (1966)

The Birds (1963)

Chinatown (1974)

The Godfather I, II, (1972, 1974)

The Lord of the Rings (2001)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Cinema Paradiso (1988)

Jean de Florette (1986)

WORST MOVIES OF ALL TIME

Titanic (1997)

King Kong (2005)

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Angela’s Ashes (1999)

Sex and the City (2008)

BEST IRISH MOVIES

Man of Aran (1934)

The Dead (1987)

The Commitments (1991)

The Crying Game (1992)

Michael Collins (1996)

Intermission (2003)

Once (2006)

ND Professor leads study into Beaver Island's Irish heritage

A ND Professor is leading a team of research students in a quest to unearth the historical links between the Donegal Island of Arranmore and Beaver Island in Michigan. If you really want to understand Irish America, you should look at Beaver Island according to archaeology Professor, Deb Rotman. She first learnt about the significance of the island four years ago and she carried out her first dig there this past summer. Beaver Island, situated 30 miles off the Michigan coast, was twinned with Arranmore Island, off the coast of Donegal, in 2000. Arranmore is home to a beaver monument, which represents the link between the two.


During the 19th century, several Donegal emigrants made Beaver Island their home, transforming it into a stateside Donegal at the turn of the 20th century. Charlie O’Donnell and his family were the first emigrants to travel to Beaver Island after they were evicted in 1851. Several families followed and by 1880, there were more than 250 families with connections to the Donegal Island. After conducting research on Beaver Island, the ND professor decided to travel to Donegal to investigate the links. "When I was there in May it was very quiet, but it was just starkly beautiful". Initially she imagined that the Donegal island would have similar aesthetics to Beaver Island, so that for the emigrants it "would be like being home". The emigrants were drawn to the island by the remoteness and because the coastline of Beaver Island provides excellent fishing, a draw for the Irish newcomers.

The summer archaeological dig on Beaver Island unearthed several items such as glassware, toys, and buckles. "We are finding everything you would expect in terms of the kind of household items that people would use. We are still processing the artifacts". The items the dig uncovered are clearly stratified: "as you dig deeper into the ground, the further back in time you go”. ND students are planning a trip to Arranmore island, to continue their research. They will interact with locals and older residents to learn more about the history of the island. They will also examine derelict cottages on the island and conduct research in the National Archives and National Library in Dublin. Deb, who heads the undergraduate archaeology study program at Notre Dame, said that while many of her students are Irish-American, the project has also drawn students from a diverse range of backgrounds.

"If there is a story they want to tell, if they want to contribute to the project in terms of their knowledge and history, we would love for them to be involved. We would like this to be a community endeavour, both Beaver Island and Árainn Mór." The Beaver Island Historical Society is an official partner of the ND project.
"There are so many interesting variables and chapters in this story that really anyone could find something that piques their interest".

Missing the Dining Hall already? Try this!

Chicken Fried Rice 

by Becky Sees

(A lot of this was guesswork on my part so there are no specific measurements. You can add as much of each ingredient as you want.)

What you need: rice (white or brown), chicken, vegetable oil, onions, carrots, peas, eggs, pepper, soy sauce

1) Cook some rice the night before. (To cook the rice, follow the directions on the package.) Put the rice in the fridge overnight to let it dry.

2) The next day, get a large frying pan or a wok if you have one. Put some oil in the bottom to keep the rice from sticking and dump the rice in. Keep the hob at about medium heat and stir occasionally.

3) Cut up some chicken into small pieces and fry it in a separate frying pan (after oiling to keep it from sticking). Season with pepper as desired.

4) Cut up the onion and throw it in the frying pan with the chicken. Stir occasionally.

5) Heat up some peas and dump them in with the rice. Stir it up.

6) Cut up some carrots and throw them in with the rice too. Stir that up.

7) Once the chicken and onion mix has browned, throw it in with the rice. Stir it to mix it in.

8) In the frying pan you just emptied of chicken and onions, scramble a few eggs. Once they're cooked, mix them in with the rice.

9) Keep stirring the whole rice concoction until everything is slightly browned.

10) Add some soy sauce as desired: it can be mixed in with everything else or it can be added after serving.

Which is the most Irish town in America?

Scituate 30 miles from Boston is home to the highest population density of Irish Americans in the U.S.  In the latest census data almost 50 percent of residents there are of Irish decent. It is one of a cluster of towns on Boston’s South Shore that Irish have colonized. 


At least 44 percent of the population in Braintree, Hull, Marshfield, Avon, Pembroke, and Milton claim Irish ancestry also, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Breezy Point, New York and Spring Lake, New Jersey begged to differ -- both claiming the title. 


Breezy Point has the highest numbers of Irish according to the census, at 60.3. But the problem is the beautiful area on the outskirts of Rockaway in Queens is not a proper incorporated town. It is actually a massive co-operative combining three smaller areas. In 1962 the residents purchased 500 acres of land from the government at below value cost and the community became a co-operative. The Census Bureau says only that it has the highest number of Irish per zip code, not that it is the largest town with Irish population. 


Spring Lake New Jersey is also claiming the prize. Spring Lake is an ocean community that swells with vacationers during the summer. It is famous for the shark attacks in 1916 that killed four victims and inspired Jaws. The census in 2000 said that 39 per cent of the population was of Irish extraction. 


Scituate, a much larger town, at 17,000 residents as against 3,500, has almost 50 per cent. So Scituate keeps its title as most Irish town in America. New York and New Jersey six other towns in Massachusetts have a larger Irish population. 

Getting on a flight to Paris that ends up landing in Belgium isn’t exactly what I’d call a promising start to a trip.

Getting on a flight to Paris that ends up landing in Belgium isn’t exactly what I’d call a promising start to a trip.

Little did Lauren and I know that the 17 hours of traveling it took to get to Paris was nothing in comparison to the adventure that awaited us when we tried to get home. 

We were supposed to fly out of Beauvais on Tuesday night, but started to worry when Kolin’s afternoon flight was cancelled due to snow in Dublin. We hoped for the best (and that Dublin might have purchased another snow plow in the few days we’d been in France) and headed to the metro stop where the Ryanair shuttle left for Beauvais airport. 

Our flight was in fact cancelled, which is shocking because of the dependability and quality of service Ryanair is renowned for. We headed back to our hostel to stay there another night, although unfortunately the only room that still had openings seemed to lack any kind of heating unit.

The next morning, we were up at 6:00am to catch our 8:30am bus to London, the best option that over three hours of frantic searching on the Internet and strategizing with Joe and our parents had produced. We ordered croissants at a bakery on our way to the Metro station and the woman behind the counter glared at us, presumably for ordering in English, and then literally threw the croissants at us over the counter. I just can’t understand why the French are stereotyped as snobby…

We arrived at the bus station just after 8:00am but unfortunately the line to check in didn’t seem to be moving, and as 8:30 got closer and closer, we begged the two remaining people in front of us to let us go ahead of them. The English girl agreed, and the French man in front of her nodded his consent, and then proceeded to step in front of his when the window opened up. If I’d still had my croissant I would have thrown it at him.

We finally checked in and got our boarding pass for the bus, then sprinted to the bus with only a few minutes to spare. The eight-hour bus ride went fairly quickly, despite my battery-dead Ipod and inability to fall asleep on any kind of transportation. 

Once our bus arrived in London, we made our way to the Notre Dame Center, stopping to take pictures of Buckingham Palace along the way (not exactly something I expected to see on my trip to France). The directors of the Notre Dame Center were expecting us, thanks to Joe, and gave us pound sterling to get dinner. 

While we were there, we also crashed a reception for the ND kids stuck in London. The people we knew from the London program were a little confused to see us there, but they’d had enough of their own crazy travel experiences that nothing would have fazed them at that point. I debated trying to convince someone that I’d actually been in London all semester. 

Lauren and I took a taxi to the train station, where we waited for our 7:10 train to Holyhead, which, I’d found out only moments before we left the Notre Dame Center, is actually in Wales. We arrived at the train station only to find out that the earlier train to Holyhead was delayed. We immediately sent a panicked text to Joe, probably around the 43^rd panicked text we’d sent to him that day. Luckily, however, we boarded our train and it left right on time. 

“Train left!” I texted Joe.

Seconds later, Joe was on the phone. “Please tell me you’re on the train that left…” In my three months in Dublin I still hadn’t quite adjusted to my Irish phone and tried to use words sparingly. 

Our train landed in Holyhead just before midnight, so we sat around the ferry station before boarding the boat around 1:00am. I was expected a smallish vessel similar to the one we took to Inis Oirr, but the Ulysses was more like a cruise ship, complete with its own movie theatre, restaurant and bar (the Leopold Bloom).

Our ferry left Holyhead at 2:40am, and Lauren and I mostly slept during the three-hour tour. Joe was there to meet us when we arrived at the Dublin port just after 6:00, and we were so glad to see him and to be back in Dublin that even our abrasive cab driver who took us to the O’Connell House (who called us brats and told me I was a bum for being an English major) didn’t get to us.

We met the rest of the ND students on the bus heading to the airport. I wish I could say our adventure ended there, but our flight to O’Hare was delayed by three hours and for awhile seemed like it might not leave at all. I’d joked to Lauren that her seat would definitely be late (39A), to which she responded that meant the whole plane would be late. Touché. 

So we sat on the plane as snow swirled outside the window, praying for it to take off as workers repeatedly de-iced the wings, and finally it did. I think the worst moment of the whole long journey came during our descent into Chicago, when the pilot actually reversed direction and went back up into the clouds. We finally landed, thank goodness, but he never did explain what had happened (“O’Hare?! Funny, someone told me Midway. Whoops.”)

I’d complained before about the long layover that I had in Chicago, but that layover was my saving grace since our plane arrived so late into Chicago. I waited anxiously for my luggage before taking off running, shouting goodbyes as I sprinted. I threw my bags at the American Airlines worker and stood in the slowest-moving security line I’d ever seen before making it to the gate for my flight home to San Diego. Which, of course, was delayed. 

It took forty-nine hours, five countries, and five modes of transportation, but I finally made it home. Thanks to the hard work of everyone at the O’Connell house, the new Jodi Picoult book and a whole lot of caffeine, I had survived this crazy adventure and lived to tell the tale. If anyone asks me to go to Paris anytime soon, and by soon I mean as in the next fifty years, I think I’m going to have to pass…