Unionist Takes Shot at McAleese; 'Bloody Sunday'; Oscar Nods for Braddock Film

IRISH PRESIDENT STIRS NEW CONTROVERSY

Irish President Mary McAleese drew a sharp rebuke from at least one commentator on the Irish political scene for her remarks Friday praising the men and women of the '16 Rising.

"Mrs. McAleese has taken risks for peace but now plays with fire," Irish News columnist Roy Garland wrote in the Belfast-based newspaper's Monday edition. "Coming in the wake of her comments -– subsequently retracted –- that Protestants raised children to hate Catholics as Nazis hated Jews, her words are disturbing. She would be wise to meditate upon fascist elements within early republicanism."

Belfast native McAleese, seen right in a government handout, spoke on the Rising to help launch a conference, titled "The Long Revolution: The 1916 Rising in Context" at University College Cork. She offered a lengthy and thoughtful reflection on the Rising's significance, stating in part, "In the hearts of those who took part in the Rising, in what was then an undivided Ireland, was an unshakeable belief that, whatever our personal political or religious perspectives, there was huge potential for an Ireland in which loyalist, republican, unionist, nationalist, Catholic, Protestant, atheist, agnostic pulled together to build a shared future, owned by one and all."

Earlier, she stated, "Paradoxically in the longer run, 1916 arguably set in motion a calming of old conflicts with new concepts and confidence which, as they mature and take shape, stand us in good stead today. Our relationship with Britain, despite the huge toll of the Troubles, has changed utterly. In this, the year of the 90th anniversary of the Rising, the Irish and British governments, co-equal sovereign colleagues in Europe, are now working side by side as mutually respectful partners, helping to develop a stable and peaceful future in Northern Ireland based on the Good Friday Agreement.

"That agreement asserts equal rights and equal opportunities for all Northern Ireland’s citizens. It ends forever one of the Rising’s most difficult legacies, the question of how the people of this island look at partition."

Garland, though, sees danger in McAleese's raising of the specter of "the terrorism of the small physical force minority of 1916."

"Mrs McAleese says of 1916 'heroes' that 'their deaths rise above the clamour –- their voices insistent still.' Thankfully, their lust for blood is at the moment only a whisper and the dogs of war are silent.

"But their legacy is the utter decimation of the southern unionist community, the cowering of many 26-county Protestants, partition and fratricidal strife in the north.

Garland, seen above, concludes: "Dismal ancestral voices have gained electoral success and Fianna Fail tries to restrain the spirit of 1916 by patronising its ghosts. But wiser and quieter voices urge us to reject blood and sacrificial nationalism in favour of a more peaceful and prosperous world that can accommodate increasingly diverse and free human beings.

We have found this a thought-provoking exchange, one that suggests the divide between nationalists and unionists remains vast. Please share your views on the issue here on the blog, and vote in our poll, as well. We also urge you to share your thoughts with President McAleese and Mr. Garland, as well.

OSCAR NODS AT 'CINDERELLA MAN': The nominations are in, and while it appears there are no Irish-born benefactors, the Oscar nods announced this morning do invite us to again consider two notable Irish figures. "Cinderella Man," as WGT's contributing editor Bobby Cassidy explains, is the cinematic version of the inspiring story of Irish-American boxing champ James J. Braddock. The film, directed by Ron Howard and starring Russell Crowe, drew three nominations, one for Best Supporting Actor for Paul Giamatti, and others for film editing and makeup. Meanwhile, Aussie Heath Ledger, 26, seen left with Orlando Bloom, was nominated for Best Lead Actor for his performance in "Brokeback Mountain." Ledger portrayed Australian legend Ned Kelly in the 2003 film "Ned Kelly," co-starring with Bloom, Oscar-nominated Naomi Watts and past Oscar winner and fellow Australian Geoffrey Rush. (You can buy DVD copies of both films here and support WGT in the process.)

'BLOODY SUNDAY' RITES DRAW THOUSANDS: UTV's website reports that several thousand took to the streets of Derry on Sunday to mark the 34th anniversary of the killing of 13 innocent civilians by members of the Parachute Regiment on Jan. 30, 1972. The network notes that the march was likely the final one before the Bloody Sunday inquiry, headed by Lord Saville, reports the findings of its £150 million hearing, "the longest inquiry in British legal history."

158-Year-Old Irish Boyfriend

A hundred and fifty-eight year-old drummer boy of the famous Irish Brigade may soon come back to life on the silver screen as the boyfriend of a present day teenage girl. Of course, he was only fifteen when he died at the Battle of Antietam, so the match isn’t so bad. That’s the plot of a contest winning screen play by a New Yorker now living in West Virginia. Robert Savage’s script is a modern day horror story, set in Sharpsburg, MD, site of the September 17, 1862 battle. His story won the Anything But Hollywood screenplay contest.That the fictional drummer boy would have died that day is not surprising. It was the single bloodiest day in US military history, and Savage placed him in the 69th NY Volunteer regiment of the Irish Brigade, who attacked the infamous “Bloody Lane” that day.You can read more about the screen play HERE.

This week in the history of the Irish

On January 30, 1879, Edme Patrice de MacMahon retired as president of France. MacMahon's ancestors had immigrated to France from Torrodile, County Limerick, in 1691, after the family's support of King James. His father, Maurice Francis, was a soldier in the French army. In 1790 Maurice's royalist politics nearly caused his head to become separated from his body, but he managed to survive until the Bourbon restoration. Read more about him HERE.

Sligo Mummers to Bulgaria; Happy Birthday, Sean MacBride; Gaelic Storm in Dixie

Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, the official blog of TheWildGeese.com website, or WGT, as we affectionately call it. Everyday (or nearly so) we chronicle "The Epic History and Heritage of the Irish." On January 26, 1904, Séan MacBride, revolutionary, statesman was born in Paris, fruit of the tempestuous union of Major John MacBride and Maude Gonne, a real Irish power couple, if ever there was one. You can read more about this week's key dates and Maud Gonne, where else, but on WGT. For more on Séan MacBride, check out the African National Congress' tribute and Pittsburgh AOH Division 32's summary of his life.

Gaelic Storm ("Titanic") is touring in the late Confederacy, where it will be performing at 9 p.m. Thursday at Knoxville, Tennessee, at World Grotto, 16 Market Square. Find more venues for Irish culture throughout the Irish world on WGT's Events page.

With the sun riding ever higher in the sky here in New York, the days are longer, if not necessarily warmer. Joe McGowan, WGT's Connacht correspondent, sent us the following post about Imbolc, and how the lengthening days have inspired this weekend's remarkable gathering of folklore groups in Bulgaria. (We recommend a visit to Joe's website, at http://www.SligoHeritage.com, to learn more about folkways, and other cultural highlights, found in the northwestern corner of Ireland.)

MUMMERS, KUKERI AND WRENBOYS

Mullaghmore, County Sligo As the days grew shorter approaching the winter solstice, our forefathers feared the disappearance of the sun. Thousands of years ago, human and animal sacrifice were offered to propitiate the gods. The gods accepted the offering, the sun revived, and gradually the days grew longer again.

In medieval times, the winter struggle between dark and light was represented in plays. In Ireland these plays, which are believed to have their origins in the second millennium B.C., have come down to us in the form of Mummers and Wren Boys. Taking their name from the 'Fairy Whirlwind' of Irish folklore, our Sligo 'Sidhe Gaoithe' Mummers is part of that unbroken living tradition.

Below, Sligo mummers portray Brian Boru and Finn Mc Cumhail in mock combat. (Joe McGowan photo)

Similar customs exist in other European countries, and our group has been invited to attend the Surva International Festival of the Masquerade Games held in Pernik, Bulgaria. It showcases a still vital tradition, which can be traced for centuries, back to ancient pagan times. Because of its competitive nature, the festival is both a contest and a gathering of the people who keep the tradition alive.

‘Surva’, as it is known, is a two-day parade of masquerade groups from Bulgaria and abroad. On average more than 5, 000 people from as many as 90 folklore groups take part in the carnival each year. These are people from Europe, Asia and Africa as well as representatives from every folklore region in Bulgaria who all come to Pernik to celebrate. They come here for the thrill of the competition and the pride of presenting the traditions of their ancestors. The festival is an illustration of the most vital and deep-rooted traditions of masquerading rites dating from the remote past and preserved for us to present times.

In ancient times, the old Thracians held the Kukeri Ritual Games in honor of the God Dionysus ¾ especially known as a god of wine and ecstasy. Even today these games are also known as the Dionysus’ games. Among today’s dancers are many characters, including Dionysus and his satyrs as well as others from deep history such as the tsar, harachari, plyuvkachi, startzi, and pesyatzi. The masked participants are called kukeri, kukove, survakari, startsi, babugeri, dzhamailari, kamilari, etc.

During this international festival, Bulgarian and other folk groups march in procession through Pernik, displaying exuberant costumes and fantastic masks. They are performing the ancient rite of chasing away evil and celebrating the triumph of reborn life with the beginning of spring and the associated hopes of man for a better harvest and a better life.

It is hardly a coincidence that Surva is celebrated at the same time of year that we in Ireland celebrate the Celtic festival of Imbolc, the first day of spring, on February 1. It is now more popularly known as St. Brigid's feast day.

These are Brideogs at Maire Phaidíns kitchen on the Aran Islands. The dolls they carry are representations of St. Brigid. The poem they recite is below. (Joe McGowan photo)

Who was St. Brigid? Was she a pagan goddess or a Christian saint? Scholars hold that the saint was given the name of Brigit from a goddess in Celtic mythology, the name meaning Fiery Arrow. Ancient texts tell us that Brigit was daughter of the Dagda (the Celtic Zeus), who became a Christian. She is one of the Irish saints as to whose relationship with a pagan divinity there can be no doubt.

There are several indications that the pagan Brigid was goddess of fertility and agriculture. The suggestion is strengthened by the cult of St. Brigid who is, in folk culture, the patroness of farm animals and whose feast day is the first day of spring. The festival may have been originally connected with the pagan goddess, much of whose imagery was subsumed in that of the saint.

Like the ‘kukeri’ of the Balkans, mummers, wrenboys and brideogs still celebrate certain festivals in Ireland. Brideogs are not as common as formerly but in some places, such as the Aran Islands, they still go out at Imbolc chanting this verse:

“Crios, Crios, Brid mo chrios
Muire is amac
Brid is a brat
Mas feoir ata sibh anoct
Go mo seact fearr a bheidh sibh blian ó anoct.”

(Belt, belt, Brigid is my belt
Mary is out
Brigid’s is the cloak
No matter how well you are tonight
May you be seven times better a year from now)

-- Joe McGowan

Male model Irish bog men?

Apparently Irishmen have been taking care of their personal grooming for quite some time now. And neither Bono or Colin Farrell were the first Irishman to use hair gel. A couple of Irish “bog mummies” beat them to that by something on the order of 2,400 years. Researchers at the National Museum of Ireland have been studying these two mummies since they were discovered separately in 2003. It appears that both may have been executed and tortured, but until then they were “lookin’ GOOD.” In addition to the aforementioned hair gel, one had “very well-manicured nails, and his fingertips and hands were indicative of somebody who didn't carry out any manual labor.” These two ancient Irish dandies are something of a “Mutt and Jeff” duo, one being 6’ 6” (the tallest such ‘bog mummy’ ever discovered) while the other was only 5’2”. These two are the latest “bog mummies” to be found in the bogs of Ireland, whose cold, acidic, oxygen-free conditions are perfect environments for preserving human flesh. You can read more about these two dapper mummies HERE.

FROM "THIS WEEK IN THE HISTORY OF THE IRISH"

On January 25, 1925, Nellie Cashman "Frontier Angel" of miners in America's West, died in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Nellie was the daughter of Patrick Cashman and Frances "Fanny" Cronin of County Cork.

More on Nellie:

In Search of Silver and Gold
A Legend of the West
Women of Alaska

Events Around the Diaspora

In Pittsburgh on Sunday, the Gaelic Arts Society will sponsor Fr. McCool, CSSP, talking on ' The Druids in Ireland ' at Synod Hall in Oakland at 2:30 p.m., 125 North Craig Street.

Remembering Miles Byrne; Some Noteworthy New York Events

Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, the official blog of TheWildGeese.com website, or WGT, as we affectionately call it. Everyday (or nearly so) we chronicle "The Epic History and Heritage of the Irish." On Jan. 24, 1862, Miles Byrne, United Irishman and officer in Napoleon's Irish Legion, died in Paris. Byrne fought in the 1798 Rising, through the rebels' climactic defeat at Vinegar Hill. He escaped to the Wicklow Mountains and served with Michael Dwyer until the failure of the rising led by Robert Emmet, a close friend of Byrne's, in 1803. Byrne then traveled to France, like so many Irish revolutionaries, hoping to arrange for more French aid to Ireland. Failing, he joined the Irish Legion being formed in the French army. Byrne rose to command a regiment in that army, and was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor. After his retirement he wrote his Memoirs, which were published in 1863, a year after his death in Paris. You can read more about this week's key dates and about the '98 Rising, where else, but on WGT.

'IRISH MUSIC ON FILM': See The Dubliners' Luke Kelly, The Pogue's Shane McGowan (right), trad musician Micho Russell, and fiddler Martin Hayes on film over the course of three days. The venue: Hell's Kitchen's own Irish Arts Center. The Center, for more than 30 years a hub of Irish culture in metro New York, brings the lives of these musicians to the silver screen Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings. See these films for a song, too (ahem), at $8 for nonmembers or $5 for members. For tickets and reservations, call 212-757-3318, x203. The center is located 553 West 51st St. @ 11th Avenue. Say WGT sent you!

'WRAP THE GREEN FLAG': The National Irish Freedom Committee (Cumann Na Saoirse Náisiúnta) will honor Gaeilge activist and former New York Parade Grand Marshal Mary Holt Moore, Black 47 founder and leader Larry Kirwan (seen left, Black47.com), and political activist Karen Ingenthron Lewis at its 11th annual Michael Flannery Testimonial Awards Dinner on Friday evening. The venue is Astoria World Manor, 25-22 Astoria Boulevard, Astoria, Queens, New York City, 7 pm to midnight. According to the committee's site, Mary’s granduncle, John Kevin O'Reilly, author of ‘Wrap The Green Flag Round Me Boys,’ fought in the GPO in Dublin in 1916. Read about that action here.

LAST CALL: Talk about our favorite Sons of Granuaile! See Gabriel Byrne as Major Con Melody in Eugene O'Neill's "Touch of the Poet" in Manhattan's Studio 54. The production closes after Sunday's matinee. WGT's drama critic Patricia Jameson-Sammartano writes "Touch" is "for lovers of O'Neill and Irish-American theatre."

THE PIPES, THE PIPES: The Eastchester Irish American Social Club is sponsoring Eastchester’s 2nd Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday, March 12 at 2:30 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.eastchesterirish.org/.

New York Irish History CD For Sale

The New York Irish History Roundtable was founded in 1984 to promote interest in and research on the 300-year history of people of Irish heritage in New York City. Its journal is called "New York Irish History" .

New York Irish History is devoted to the rich history and everyday life of the Irish and Irish-Americans in the New York City metropolitan area. The Roundtable has now made the first 17 voumes of their journal available on CD. This two-CD package contains the volumes published from 1986 to 2003. You can buy them HERE.

Real, and Reel, Life in 'Hell's Kitchen'

Would you quietly accept a sentence of 20 to 40 years in state prison for an armed robbery committed by your brother?

"Fuh-ged-about-it," I can hear my fellow New Yorkers say.

But Tommy Irwin, one of my late grandmother's first cousins apparently did, and served at least several years before his brother John alerted authorities that he, not Tom, was the perpetrator. Why did John, a longshoreman with the nickname "Yerkie," hesitate? Why did Tom remain silent? Was Tom truly innocent? What was the cost of their silence to themselves, their wives and three young children.

Before Tom's 1927 arrest, according to a July 30, 1931 article in The New York Times, the two married brothers shared a cold-water flat at 511 West 43^rd Street, in Manhattan's once hardscrabble, largely Irish neighborhood known as "Hell's Kitchen."

I thought of this affair, as I do from time to time, as my Dad and I recently screened the DVD version of Michael Curtiz' drama "Angels With Dirty Faces," featuring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien as "Rocky" Sullivan and Jerry Connolly, two once close friends who, like Tommy and John Irwin, grew up in "Hell's Kitchen" nearly 100 years ago. After dabbling in petty crimes such as stealing coal, young Rocky and Jerry, at Rocky's prompting, tried a more profitable racket, stealing fountain pens from a locked boxcar in a local rail yard.

Interrupted by two cops, the teens fled. Jerry made it over a fence that stopped Rocky. A patrolman pulled Sullivan down. A short while later, Jerry visited Rocky in the lockup, and told his pal he wanted to surrender in the crime, suggesting things might go easier for Rocky if his accomplice stepped forward. Rocky told his chum, though, not to be "a sucker" and just walk away, that Rocky would do the same thing if the situation was reversed.

After serving a stint in reform school, Rocky embarked on a life of easy money, serving a 3-year term in prison -- the cost of doing "business" -- while entrusting his profits to his lawyer and partner-in-crime Jim Frazier (Humphrey Bogart). Upon release, Rocky returns to his old neighborhood, as he muscles his way back into Prohibition's speakeasy scene. In the process, he becomes a dubious role model for a local gang of impressionable kids, portrayed by the irrepressible Dead End Kids. These kids have taken over the hideout of the preceding generation of local toughs, which included Rocky and Jerry. As Rocky grew hardened in various penal settings, his friend Jerry joined the priesthood and now serves the local parish as pastor and counselor for the local kids, striving to save them from the kind of life epitomized by Sullivan's. We'll have more to say on the film, and its many Irish facets, in future postings.

In 1931, meanwhile, in real life (as distinct from reel life), in a court room in White Plains, N.Y., John Irwin stood in front of a judge and asked that he replace his brother Tom in the stir, confessing that it was he, and not his older brother, who committed the hold-up that garnered his brother a 20-40-year sentence in New York's Sing Sing Prison. The Times article headlined the story: "Brother Pleads Guilt to Free Jailed 'Twin'." The newspaper reported that State Supreme Court Justice Graham Witschief noted he had no jurisdiction to act on John's request that his brother go free, but urged Tom's lawyer, Moses W. Sachs, to move to set aside Tom's conviction on the basis of newly discovered evidence.

The Irwin brothers were grandchildren of Irish immigrants Bill and Margaret Dinnin Irwin, as was my grandmother, Susan Condon Regan, seen left, about 1920. My father related to me what he knew of their story decades earlier. His father, Raymond V. Regan, had brought my Dad, then a boy, to a wake in Hell's Kitchen for an Irwin relative. My father recalled seeing a man, in shackles and an ill-fitting suit, with a burly detective on each arm, brought in to pay his respects. Inquiring, my Dad was told the man was Tommy Irwin. My Dad thought he later overheard snippets of conversation between the adults in their modest Richmond Hill home that Tommy was serving a sentence for a "rape," though his brother John had done the crime. The extended family, including my grandparents, were not pleased at Yerkie's apparent reticence to free his brother.

My Dad's father encountered Yerkie working in a newsstand near Penn Station. Was this sighting before Yerkie's appeal to the courts? We don't know. The trail is cold, for now.

Please share your stories of searching for the "black sheep" in your family trees, either here in the blog or in the WGT Forum. And stay tuned for more developments in the search for the why's and wherefores of this decades-old family drama. -- Ger

EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE: The New York Irish History Round Table will be hosting presenting author Barnet Schecter ("The Battle for New York : The City at the Heart of the American Revolution") for an April 1 presentation on New York City's Draft Riots. The venue: McNally Amphitheatre, in Fordham University Law School, 140 West 62nd St., Manhattan. Schecter's book, "The Devil's Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America" (Walker & Co., 2005) was published Dec. 27, and has already garnered some high praise from Amazon visitors. … New York-based tin whistle maestro Bill Ochs is hosting a workshop Saturday, led by Cathal McConnell, the renowned whistle and flute player from Boys of the Lough, for intermediate and advanced musicians. Venue: Marymount Manhattan College, 221 East 71st St., 3p-6p, The fee is $35. Contact Ochs to reserve a place, at billochs@pennywhistle.com. You can read an announcement from Ochs in the Chiff & Fipple blog.

'COCK AND BULL': "Tristram Shandy," Tipperary-born novelist and Anglican clergyman Laurence Sterne's most famous work, will be coming to screens in the UK on Friday, and to US theaters in limited release Jan. 27. Well, sort of. The 2005 film, titled "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story," takes off on Sterne's bawdy, comic, multistructured novel, which made him famous throughout Europe. The pic is helmed by Lancashire native Michael Winterbottom, and stars Manchester (UK)-born actor Steve Coogan as Shandy. Sterne, by the way, was born in Clonmel in 1713, the son of a British army ensign, and died in London in 1768, sez Wikipedia.org. Check out IMDB.com's info on 'Tristram Shandy': The Movie, along with BritFilms.com entry.