Winter Solstice Edition
THE HIBERNIAN INDEPENDENT
Volume One. Number Seventeen. December 21, 2023.
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.
OVERHEARD AT THE ANNIVERSARY
Tri Color bearer Mike Holmes and former State Rep. Margaret Doherty were in the parking lot at Mount Calvary Cemetery. She noted the Rolling Stones bumper sticker on Daniel Curran’s car. “I’ve got my tickets to see them in Seattle, “she said. “So do I,” he said. “And you know who’s sponsoring them,” she asked. “AARP!” he said. The concert’s in May.
SE Portland poet Frank Holt said afterwards of Stew White’s singing of the Irish National Anthem – The Soldier’s Song- “That’s the first time I ever heard it sung in English.” Frank was born and raised in Dublin and read some of his poems at the PHS Irish Writers Night in November.
Fr. Jim Galluzzo composed a poem/blessing for the occasion. It’s worth a read.
SAVE THE DATE
January 18, 2024 – Thursday Evening – 6 p.m. - Kells Restaurant. The Portland Hibernian Society is hosting a Portland Irish Summit along with representatives of Irish Network Portland and the All-Ireland Cultural Society. We’ll be sharing and discussing plans to bring together the Irish diaspora in the Portland area in 2024.
Kevin Burke of Portland has been busy in County Mayo, where he now spends a considerable amount of time. He fixed up a cottage and turned it into the perfect setting for some sessions with local musicians. Viewing the results puts you right in the middle of the tunes and the talk. The HI checked out Session Four: “Kevin starts a story, ‘The first night I was ever in New York...’ Rosaleen Ward Stenson remembers how when she first played the concertina, ‘the tunes just came into my head, it was amazing.’ John Carty talks about how his father had to play his unamplified banjo mandolin HARD to ‘get across in those ceilidh bands.’ And there's a ton of fine music to accompany the conversation. Be sure to read the program notes beforehand.”
NUMBER ONE IN SOMETHING
2023 was another tough year for Ireland’s national soccer teams and the men's national rugby squad (representing all of Ireland) was thwarted in France. But in the cerebral arena, an Irish writer stood tall. Irish writer Paul Lynch won the Booker Prize for his novel The Prophet Song. (In the literary world it doesn't get more prestigious than the Booker Prize.) Hibernian Tim Birr has read it, “It’s best described as dark and dystopian. Very similar to It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis, which in 1935 described a populist, authoritarian takeover of the U.S.”
CHRISTMAS SHORT LIST
Here’s a really short list of books by Irish authors about Irish people published in 2023, or thereabouts. For last-minute gift shopping, year-end reading or just your consideration.
We Don’t Know Ourselves – A Personal History of Modern Ireland – Published in 2022, but since several Hibernians strongly recommended this one from Fintan O’Toole, it’s on the list.
There Will Be Fire – The Provisional IRA almost assassinated Margaret Thatcher at the Grand Hotel in Brighton on October 12,1984 with a bomb planted a month earlier. Rory Carroll’s rendering of the plot, the Provos, the politicians, the explosion and the investigation is really readable. More thriller than history even though it all really happened.
The Long Game – Inside Sinn Fein – Fans of Sinn Fein may have a hard time with the way Aoife Moore portrays the political party on the rise in Ireland. But it’s worth a careful read, making every effort to separate fact from fallacy.
Feherty – Here's something completely different. A book about David Feherty, a pretty good pro golfer from Northern Ireland, who has a side hustle as a broadcast analyst with a sense of humor. I didn’t know he had signed a massive contract with the Saudi-backed LIV Tour until the final chapter. John Feinstein does a lot with a few good stories. Feherty says some of his substance abuse issues stem from growing up near Belfast during The Troubles.
A POST CHRISTMAS IRISH TRADITION. WHO KNEW?
You or someone you know might need this after the wear and tear the holidays can put on a woman. From T.C. O’Leary’s - "Help us carry on the Irish tradition of Nollaig na mBan - Women's Christmas! To mark the end of the Christmas season, Irish women gather together to have their own celebration. This year, we're delighted to have the Two Rivers Ceílí Band play to make it especially festive! Saturday, January 6th 8-10pm." 2926 NE Alberta Street in Portland.
THE PRESIDENT’S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
In Galway in 2016 aboard one of those tourist buses that lets you hop on and off, the driver/guide pointed out the home of Michael Higgins, the President of the Republic of Ireland. You half expected President Higgins or his wife Sabina Coyne to wave from the front porch. He’s 82 and doesn't plan to run for another term. In his annual Christmas message, President Higgins thanked "in a special way" Irish Defence Forces members who are in Lebanon this Christmas and said, "We, as Irish people, are all too aware of how, for so many different reasons, people have had cause to move from their places of birth in search of a better life, of security itself."
HARD NEWS ON HOLIDAY
HAPPY CHRISTMAS (as they say in Ireland*) from the Hibernian Independent and the Portland Hibernian Society. Instead of the usual dose of serious news, here’s the story of a cherished local pub, an old smart phone and a shared pint. Enoy!
*HOW TO SAY HAPPY CHRISTMAS IN IRISH
To say it to one person, it’s ‘Nollaig Shona Duit’, which is pronounced ‘Null-eg hunna gheev’.
To say it to more than one person, it’s ‘Nollaig shona dhuit’, which is pronounced ‘Null-eg hunna ghwitch’.