Your weekly dose of Irish ☘️ 🎆 - New Years Edition
Dec 31, 2021 1:09 pm
Hi there,
Here's your weekly dose of Irish for Friday, December 31st 2021...
First of all, before we get to anything, I want to wish you the best for 2022 and thank you for following for all these days, weeks or years!
Happy New Year! “Here’s to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girl and an honest one. A cold beer–and another one!” - Irish New Year's Blessing
What happened on the blog this year?
What a year it has been! I decided to share some exciting stats about Irish Around The World with you.
- This year I have published 164 blog posts.
- Those articles and older articles were viewed 3.3 million times in 2021
- The following are the top 10 countries that visited my blog. Hello to everyone in India! I did not know I was so popular there.
- Of course, my most shared and viewed article was about the Irish skater on ice. Which now has had over 1.1 million shares alone! Wow.
- The blog is now over six years old! So welcome old and new subscribers.
This week's posts:
☘️ Old Irish Videos – The Pint Balancing King Of 1986 In Ireland 🍺
As part of my weekly Irish history videos this week, I found a great clip from 1986, thanks to CR’s video vault on YouTube.
Some people have the strangest skills.
The post Old Irish Videos – The Pint Balancing King Of 1986 In Ireland 🍺 appeared first on Irish Around The World.
☘️ The Best Irish New Year’s Traditions And Irish New Year’s Blessings
You may or may not know that there are a lot of Irish New Year’s traditions.
Additionally, there is a whole host of Irish New Year’s Blessings over centuries, even …
The post The Best Irish New Year’s Traditions And Irish New Year’s Blessings appeared first on Irish Around The World.
☘️ Irish Poem – Requiem For The Croppies, By Seamus Heaney
Where did 2021 go?
During this year, if you have been following, I have been publishing a summary on the top 100 Irish poems list every week.
The post Irish Poem – Requiem For The Croppies, By Seamus Heaney appeared first on Irish Around The World.
☘️ Incredible Four-year-old Cork Girl Singing ‘Danny Boy’ Goes Viral
Being from Cork myself, I always enjoy it when someone makes a splash on social media.
Just like the video of Cork girl who played Irish music to these cows.
The post Incredible Four-year-old Cork Girl Singing ‘Danny Boy’ Goes Viral appeared first on Irish Around The World.
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This week's Irish joke
On New Year's Eve, Paddy was in no shape to drive, so he sensibly left his van in the car park and walked home. As he was wobbling along, he was stopped by a policeman. 'What are you doing out here at four o'clock in the morning?' asked the police officer. 'I'm on my way to a lecture,' answered Paddy.
'And who on earth, in their right mind, is going to give a lecture at this time on New Year's day?' enquired the constable sarcastically.
'My wife,' slurred Paddy grimly.
So what is this week's top Irish poem?
Requiem for the Croppies by Seamus Heaney
Where did 2021 go? During this year, if you have been following, I have been publishing a summary on the top 100 Irish poems list every week. This week it is number 61 on the list. My good friend Seamus Heaney makes yet another appearance on the list.
I always enjoy his poems as he tends to always find just the right imagery without being too dramatic. I also like his poetry because they pack a punch, even though some are short.
What is the poem Requiem for the Croppies all about?
Heaney’s poem “Requiem for the Croppies” is a tribute to Irish rebels of the late eighteenth century who resisted English domination of their country. Seamus shows the struggle of Irishmen during the rebellion.
You might also wonder about the poem's title as it does not give the context unless you know the term Croppies and Requiem.
Croppies referenced the rebels, which were marked by their very short hair. They were Catholic peasants from rural communities that organized themselves into an army to rebel against their Protestant suppressor.
And Requiem was used to describe a token of remembrance, or more particularly, a type of Catholic liturgy for the souls of the departed.
Back then, the British were far more equipped for battle. The term “Vinegar Hill” in the poem relates to the Battle of Vinegar Hill on 21 June 1798.
You should also note that the poem opens and closes with the word “Barley”. Barley was not only used for food because there were no kitchens available.
But it also was a symbol of the rebel spirit. As Heaney says in the last line/stanza, “And in August the barley grew up out of the grave.”
The barley was a symbol of the rebel spirit that could not be killed, unlike the mortal bodies of the rebels themselves.
Deep stuff indeed. I hope you enjoy this deep and emotional top Irish poem.
Requiem for the Croppies
by Seamus Heaney
The pockets of our greatcoats full of barley –
No kitchens on the run, no striking camp –
We moved quick and sudden in our own country.
The priest lay behind ditches with the tramp.
A people, hardly marching – on the hike –
We found new tactics happening each day:
We’d cut through reins and rider with the pike
And stampede cattle into infantry,
Then retreat through hedges where cavalry must be
thrown.
Until, on Vinegar Hill, the final conclave.
Terraced thousands died, shaking scythes at cannon.
The hillside blushed, soaked in our broken wave.
They buried us without shroud or coffin
And in August the barley grew up out of the grave.
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About the founder of Irish Around The World:
Okay, some of you might be wondering.
Just who runs this Irish Around The World website??
Or maybe you don't care, haha.
My name is Stephen Palmer from Co. Cork and I have been involved in many Irish related projects over the years.
While it may seem this website is run by a whole team of highly skilled Irishmen, it is just run by myself.
So I want to thank you again for taking the time to subscribe and being a part of the community.
So how did you start a website about Irish people around the world Stephen?
Where it all began:
I created a website in 2013 to help Irish people who are moving to Australia and recently a new group to help Irish ex-pats who are returning to Ireland.
I have always enjoyed reading about Irish heritage and how connected Irish people are around the world.
But I felt that the websites out there did not connect the people to the information. Instead, they just published daily articles regardless if people cared about them or not.
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Have a great day!
All the best,
Stephen Palmer
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