PDX HIBERNIAN INDEPENDENT Volume Two. Number Thirty-Five 19 September 2024

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.

TONIGHT AT KELLS: PIONEER IRISH NUNS IN PORTLAND

Nicholas Kristof, who almost ran for governor of Oregon, wrote in his New York Times column ten years ago, “In an age of villainy, war and inequality, it makes sense that we need superheroes. And after trying Superman, Batman and Spider-Man, we may have found the best superheroes yet: Nuns.” Marvel apparently hasn't gotten the word. But we have. “Nobody is telling the real story about nuns, which is all the good these women are doing,” said author Jo Piazza (If Nuns Ruled the World). Join the Portland Hibernian Society tonight for one of many real stories: From Erin’s Green Isle: Irish Holy Names Sisters presented by Sarah Cantor director of archives and heritage center for the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in Lake Oswego. Kells Restaurant – 212 SW Second Ave. - Seven P.M. - No host dinner at Six P.M.

SHOULD YOU HAVE TO LIVE IN IRELAND TO VOTE IN IRELAND?

Your Irish passport, if you’ve got one, may someday allow you to vote in Ireland’s presidential election. But not next year. Michal Higgins is about to begin the final year of his presidency. November 12, 2025 is the date of the election to replace him. It would take a referendum of all the voters INSIDE Ireland to grant the vote for President to Irish citizens who live OUTSIDE Ireland. That is not going to happen. Yet. So, the soonest passport holders could possibly win the right to vote for President of Ireland is November, 2032. May we all live so long. “Encouraging Irish people to reconnect with their country not only makes emotional sense; it makes good business sense for Ireland in having a large, English-speaking, successful Diaspora invested in Irish affairs,” writes Gerry Molumby in the Irish Post. He claims the political parties in Ireland are great for discussing this idea and then doing nothing about it. In the 17 October edition of the PDX HI: An early look at who might run for President of Ireland.

IRISH CITIZENSHIP FOR THOUSANDS

Bundee Aki (above), a rugby player with the Irish National Team who calls Galway home, was one of more than 3,600 people granted Irish citizenship on Monday, September 16. Earlier this year he was voted men’s rugby player of the year in Ireland. Aki and the other brand-new Irish citizens come from 143 countries and live in all 32 counties. When Aki was named to the national rugby squad in 2017, there was a kerfuffle about his being Samoan rather than Irish. Distant memories. “I have nothing to complain about here. Love the people, love the culture, I get along with a lot of them around here in Ireland,” he said.

APPLE AND IRELAND: WHAT’S AT THE CORE?

European has won a huge lawsuit against Apple. The size of the penalty – 14.2 billion euros or 15.9 billion dollars – might have caught your eye. That’s how much the top European court ordered Apple to pay Ireland, where Apple employs 6,000 workers. After an eight-year legal battle, Apple lost. But did Ireland win? Not necessarily. In fact, Ireland has joined with Apple for a Hail Mary appeal to this ruling. Why doesn’t Dublin just take the money? Because that would mean admitting that Apple got tax breaks over the years that other multinationals didn’t. Not a good look. If you’re interested, here’s an old story from the Irish Examiner on Apple setting up shop near Cork in 1980. That was a mere four years after Steve Jobs took his idea for Apple from his parents’ garage in Los Altos to the world.

ANOTHER IRISH EXPORT: HALLOWEEN

At our meeting on 17 October, there will be talk of how our ancient Irish ancestors created the biggest unofficial holiday in America: Halloween. The shenanigans on the night before All Souls/Saints Day were about as welcome in America in the mid 1800s as the Famine Irish who brought them here from the old country. Through the ages, the Irish celebration of superstition on October 31 has had as much to do with the Celtic feast called Samhain as with the Catholic feast day on Nov. 1. Combining the two is a classic example of the alchemy of the Christian and the pagan. Halloween didn’t take hold in America until after the surge of Irish Catholic immigration in the 1850s. Its Celtic origin story is mostly forgotten; Halloween has become one of Ireland’s many significant contributions to American culture. Come join the discussion on October 17. NO COSTUMES!

Long before The Legend of Sleepy Hollow there was this Celtic character.

HAIL! A HEADLESS HORSEMAN

Before the headless horseman we all read about in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, there was The Dullahan (or Dulachan in Irish). Another case of cultural appropriation? Or cultural appreciation? Whatever. There’s a fine Irish establishment in Lake Oswego called The Dullahan and it’s hosting an Irish Network Portland Social on Saturday, September 28 from 5 to 7 P.M.

IRELAND’S GOT TALENT

Viewers of America’s Got Talent have been lucky enough to catch Cillian O’Connor’s amazing magic act. The 14-year old from Mornington, County Meath is something of a sensation since his debut on Britain’s Got Talent. He’s on the autism scale and has dyspraxia (a developmental coordination disorder). Those facts are part of his act, which you’ve got to see to believe. Cillian is the youngest person ever inducted into the Society of Irish Magicians. He’ll be included in the 2025 Guiness Book of World Records for performing 28 magic tricks in under a minute, a record for under-16 magicians.

NOT YOUR GRANDPA’S PINT

“A pint of the black custard, Irish Champagne, ebony nectar or simply Guinny: is any other iconic beverage known by quite so many nicknames as Guinness?” That’s the question posed in The Mirror, a top British tabloid*, atop a story about how Guinness is not only setting new sales records worldwide but is increasingly the gargle of choice for members of Generation Z (born 1997 to 2012). “Gone are the days of Guinness being silently downed by pot-bellied old men in pubs,” we’re told, and “more women are ordering Guinness because there’s “a rebelliousness in drinking pints.” (*In 1959 Liberace sued the Mirror for libel. A column suggested the flamboyant pianist was homosexual. The court ordered the Mirror to pay Liberace 8,000 pounds in damages. The Mirror invented the word “Beatlemania” in 1963.)

WHAT’S A PINT OF PLAIN?

On of the great Irish poems of the Twentieth Century is The Workman's Friend by Flann O’Brien. (“A pint of plain is your only man.”) I always thought “pint of plain” was a strange name for a pint of Guinness. Turns out “plain” simply means porter, which was first brewed in England. Asking the bartender for a “pint of plain” would be asking for the porter that wasn't the stronger stuff. Kind of like ordering a light beer today. Here’s the entire poem.

The Workman’s Friend, by Flann O’Brien

When things go wrong and will not come right,
Though you do the best you can,
When life looks black as the hour of night –
A pint of plain is your only man.

When money’s tight and hard to get
And your horse has also ran,
When all you have is a heap of debt –
A pint of plain is your only man.

When health is bad and your heart feels strange,
And your face is pale and wan,
When doctors say you need a change,
A pint of plain is your only man.

When food is scarce and your larder bare
And no rashers grease your pan,
When hunger grows as your meals are rare –
A pint of plain is your only man.

In time of trouble and lousy strife,
You have still got a darlin’ plan
You still can turn to a brighter life –
A pint of plain is your only man.

Hope to see you at tonight's meeting. Please share the PDX HI with anyone interested in Ireland.

Go raibh maith agat.

Meeting Tonight and News From Ireland

How 12 “devoted nuns” made history here.