It’s never too late for 2025 resolutions Hibernian-style
PDX HIBERNIAN INDEPENDENT Volume Two Number Forty-Two 2 January 2025
More than an email. Less than a newspaper. In your email box the first and third Thursday morning of every month. Published by The Portland Hibernian Society.
Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise.
NEXT MEETING - Thursday January 16, 2025 - Six P.M. - Kells Restaurant - Topic: The Troubles
Gerard McAleese, co-owner of Kells with his wife Lucille, grew up in the north of Ireland. The book and the new series SAY NOTHING are an eye opener for many, but for Gerard the events portrayed were part of life as he knew it; until his family left for the Pacific Northwest. Gerard has agreed to share some stories.
SAVE THE DATE – March 8, 2025. Portland Hibernian Society Saint Patrick’s Day Banquet @ Kells
CELEBRATE THE DATE – January 6,2025 - Nollaig na mBan. Women’s Christmas. “It is a day when women would head to the pub and “inhabit this man’s domain without shame” according to Irish actress and writer Sheila Flitton. In the modern day where more men are becoming involved in housework, the tradition is celebrated by acknowledging the role and accomplishments of women in our society. Irish people now often associate January 6 with the end of the Christmas season, and the tree and decorations are taken down for another year.” Irish Independent.
HIBERNIAN RESOLUTIONS FOR 2025
Learn some Irish. And what better place to start than wishing someone a Happy New Year. (“Happy New Year” has a much longer shelf life than “Merry Christmas” - it’s an appropriate greeting for at least a fortnight.) And here’s how to say it. If you want to wish someone a happy new year in Irish, you say Athbhliain faoi mhaise dhuit, which is pronounced as ath leen fui washa ditch.
Secure Irish citizenship. Join the crowd. The number of Irish passports issued in 2024 passed the one million mark for just the second time ever. Have you applied yet?
IRISH CITIZENSHIP ALERT
The Irish Consulate in SF is putting together a mass swearing-in ceremony somewhere in The City for residents of the western United States who hold Irish citizenship. Hibernian Tim Hennessy was told by the Consul staff that the tentative date for the SF event is February 7, 2025. It's possible that such a gathering could be scheduled for later this year here in Portland. WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING AN IRISH CITIZEN SWEARING-IN CEREMONY HERE? Please let us know by filling out a form.
Listen to an Irish podcast. There's a ton of them out there, but if you’ve only got the bandwidth for one, you’ll not go wrong with Fin Dwyer’s Irish History Podcast. It’s been on since 2010 so you’ll never run out of episodes. Dwyer’s all over the map when it comes to subject matter, covering major and minor people and events that made Ireland what it is today.
Learn some Irish history. How deep and how far back do you want to go? Ireland: A Short History by Joseph Coohill covers in a couple of hundred pages everything worth knowing about Ireland going back thousands of years. But it doesn’t get bogged down in the weeds of ancient Irish history. The latest edition came out ten years ago, but in the immenseness of the centuries covered, a decade is insignificant.
Follow Irish politics. The PDX HI tries to avoid using links to websites that require subscriptions. It’s pretty frustrating to click on a story that piques your interest only to find it’s not free. A wise person once noted that the problem with news on the internet is that the quality journalism costs you while the less reliable news is free (in most cases). We try to find those sites that are the exception to that rule. Politico/Ireland is an exceptional exception. Check out this piece on Verona Murphy. "Her election (Speaker of the Dail) makes Murphy the first woman to gain the speaker’s chair following 20 men dating back to the first sitting of the rebel Dáil in 1919" writes Shawn Pogatchnik, Politico’s reporter covering all of Ireland. Though it's an English newspaper, The Guardian has decent coverage as well.
Visit Ireland. If you fly to Ireland on Aer Lingus, you can take advantage of a flyer-friendly feature offered by no other airline: the fleet has been blessed by a Catholic priest in a ceremony that dates back to the very first flight from Dublin 77 years ago. The tarmac anointing of a jet representing the entire fleet went off as planned the other day despite concerns that new security precautions would consign it to Ireland’s unique ecclesiastical history. "Earlier concerns about new aviation security protocols threatening the ceremony’s future were resolved in April when the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) confirmed its continuation. The DAA emphasized the inclusive nature of this year’s ceremony by inviting representatives from various faiths."
Watch an Irish Movie. What a way to celebrate Women’s Christmas this year. John Huston’s THE DEAD is set on January 6, Feast of the Epiphany or Twelfth Night, the end of the Christmas season. Think you might try to read Ulysses this year? Start with this movie. Starring his daughter Angelica Huston, THE DEAD is closely based on the short story of the same name from DUBLINERS. That book and this movie are gateway drugs to Joyce’s writing. (Good luck with Ulysses.) The women of THE DEAD are the real heroes here; managing the meal and entertainment while modeling the kind of Irish hospitality one might find among the lower upper class in Victorian Ireland. Tony Huston, son of John, earned an Oscar nomination for adapting the short story for the big screen. THE DEAD was the last movie ever directed by John Huston.
John Huston (right) and Angelica Huston (center) with a family friend.
Attend a meeting of the Portland Hibernian Society – We meet on the Third Thursday of the month at Kells Restaurant – 212 SW Second Ave. Portland. A no-host sit down dinner at Six P.M. is followed by our version of a meeting which will feature guests and presentations on topics Irish. All are welcome.
