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Here's your weekly dose of Irish for Friday, August 26th 2022...

Irish wisdom: May your heart be light and happy, may your smile be big and wide, and may your pockets always have a coin or two inside!

Latest updates:

• Not much to report this week! I have been working on an Irish calendar for 2023, which I will have more info on later.
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This week's posts:

🎞️ Top 10 Incredible Irish Inventions That Changed The World

Irish people have made some incredible Irish inventions over the years.

For such a tiny nation, we certainly have had quite a significant impact around the world.

The post Top 10 Incredible Irish Inventions That Changed The World appeared first on Irish Around The World.

Click here to read more.

🗒️ Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire By Eibhlin Dubh Ni Chonaill

This week, I chose number 27 on the top 100 Irish poems list for my poem choice—the tragic tale of the greatest poem ever composed in the Irish oral tradition.

The post Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire By Eibhlin Dubh Ni Chonaill appeared first on Irish Around The World.

Click here to read more.

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Today in Irish history, August 26th:

August 26

1725 - Five Dublin children receive the first recorded smallpox inoculations in Ireland

1798 - Humber leaves Ballina bound for Castlebar. He takes an indirect route through the mountains.

1904 - Lord Dunraven forms the Irish Reform Association to campaign for some devolution; the following December, unionists form a United Unionist Council to resist Dunraven's plan

1913 - Also known as "The Great Dublin Lockout", the Dublin Transport Strike, led by Jim Larkin and James Connolly, begins

1921 - Re-election of Éamon de Valera, President of Dáil Éireann. He is proposed and seconded by Commandant Sean MacEoin and General Richard Mulcahy — both of whom later line up against him in the Civil War

1940 - German aircraft bomb a creamery at Campile, Co. Wexford; three women are killed

1997 - U2 plays at the Botanical Gardens in Belfast. It is the band's first show in Belfast in 10 years

1998 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair meets with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Ashford Castle, Co. Mayo. They join forces to fight terrorism and discuss laws which will be introduced in the aftermath of the Omagh bombing

2002 - Roy Keane’s journey from unemployed potato picker in Cork to multi-millionaire player on the world stage is related in his book "Keane - The Autobiography", which is released on this date.

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Irish Joke:

An Irishman was driving down the road when his car broke down near a monastery. He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, "My car broke down. Do you think I could stay the night" The monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, and even fix his car. As the Irishman tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound. A sound, unlike anything he's ever heard before.

The Sirens that nearly seduced Odysseus into crashing his ship come to his mind. He doesn't sleep that night; he tosses and turns, trying to figure out what could possibly be making such a seductive sound. The next morning, he asks the monks what the sound is, but they say, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk."

Distraught, the man is forced to leave. Years later, after never being able to forget that sound, the man goes back to the monastery and pleads for the answer again. The monk replied, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk.”

The man says, "If the only way I can find out what is making that beautiful sound is to become a monk, then please, make me a monk." The monks reply, "You must travel the earth and tell us how many blades of grass there are and the exact number of grains of sand. When you find these answers, you will have become a monk."

The Irishman sets about his task. After years of searching, he returns as a grey-haired old man and knocks on the door of the monastery. A monk answers. He is taken before a gathering of all the monks." In my quest to find what makes that beautiful sound, I travelled the earth and have found what you asked for: By design, the world is in a state of perpetual change. Only God knows what you ask. All a man can know is himself, and only then if he is honest and reflective and willing to strip away self-deception."

The monks reply, "Congratulations. You have become a monk. We shall now show you the way to the mystery of the sacred sound." The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, "The sound is beyond that door."

The monks give him the key, and he opens the door. Behind the wooden door is another door made of stone. The man is given the key to the stone door, and he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby. And so it went that he needed keys to doors of emerald, pearl and diamond. Finally, they come to a door made of solid gold. The sound has become very clear and definite.

The monks say, "This is the last key to the last door." The man is apprehensive; his life's wish is behind that door! With trembling hands, he unlocks the door, turns the knob, and slowly pushes the door open. Falling to his knees, he is utterly amazed to discover the source of that haunting and seductive sound......But, of course, I can't tell you what it is because you're not a monk.

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So what is this week's top Irish poem?

Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire By Eibhlin Dubh Ni Chonaill

This week, I chose number 27 on the top 100 Irish poems list for my poem choice—the tragic tale of the greatest poem ever composed in the Irish oral tradition. Caoineadh Art Uí Laoghaire is a lament written by Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonail, the aunt of the Liberator, Daniel O’Connell, which outlines the life and murder of the great love of her life, Art O’Laoghaire, an Irish Catholic who fought with the Hungarian Hussars and returned home to stand up to the Protestant Penal Laws in Ireland.

As this poem is very long, and I am sure most of you reading this will not be fluent in Irish, I have put the first half of it below. The poem is quite grim, so brace yourselves. And Eibhlin was one of 22 children! 

The Lament [Keen] For Art Ó Laoghaire

translation by Thomas Kinsella

I

The extracts in this section appear to have been uttered by EibhIín over her husband’s body in Carriginima.

My steadfast love!

When I saw you one day

by the market-house gable

my eye gave a look

my heart shone out

I fled with you far

from friends and home.

And never was sorry:

you had parlours painted

rooms decked out

the oven reddened

and loaves made up

roasts on spits

and cattle slaughtered;

I slept in duck-down

till noontime came

or later if I liked.

My steadfast friend!

it comes to my mind

that fine Spring day

how well your hat looked

with the drawn gold band,

the sword silver-hilted

your fine brave hand

and menacing prance,

and the fearful tremble

of treacherous enemies.

You were set to ride

your slim white-faced steed

and Saxons saluted

down to the ground,

not from good will

but by dint of fear

– though you died at their hands,

my soul’s beloved….

My steadfast friend!

And when they come home,

our little pet Conchúr

and baby Fear Ó Laoghaire,

they will ask at once

where I left their father.

I will tell them in woe

he is left in Cill na Martar,

and they’ll call for their father

and get no answer….

My steadfast friend!

I didn’t credit your death

till your horse came home

and her reins on the ground,

your heart’s blood on her back

to the polished saddle

where you sat – where you stood….

I gave a leap to the door,

a second leap to the gate

and a third on your horse.

I clapped my hands quickly

and started mad running

as hard as I could,

to find you there dead

by a low furze-bush

with no Pope or bishop

or clergy or priest

to read a psalm over you

but a spent old woman

who spread her cloak corner

where your blood streamed from you,

and I didn’t stop to clean it

but drank it from my palms.

My steadfast love!

Arise, stand up

and come with myself

and I’ll have cattle slaughtered

and call fine company

and hurry up the music

and make you up a bed

with bright sheets upon it

and fine speckled quilts

to bring you out in a sweat

where the cold has caught you.

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Or maybe you don't care, haha. 

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