Women Christmas Edition
THE HIBERNIAN INDEPENDENT
Volume One. Number Eighteen. January 4, 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.
QUEEN FOR ONE DAY
Nollaig na mBan means Women’s Christmas in Irish. It falls on January 6. It’s pronounced no leg nah mon. As with a lot of lost Irish traditions, there's renewed awareness due to social media spreading the word. On January 6, Irish women, who handled about 90% + of the Christmas tasks and traditions, would get the day off. One day off. This tradition, it is said, was mostly observed in West Cork and Southwest Kerry. To wit, “In West Kerry it was common for women to raise half a dozen turkeys and sell them at the Christmas market to pay for provisions, and if there was anything left over after Christmas they would spend it on themselves come January 6.”
Irish men were expected to assume the duties of Irish women for that one day. “….the men try to make everything as pleasant as possible for the women so that they can enjoy a peaceful and happy time, the women having worked so hard to make the real Christmas day a happy one for everyone else," wrote one man a very long time ago.
If Nollaig ma mBan sounds like something you’d like to celebrate, TC O'Leary's at 2926 NE Alberta St. is the place to be on January 6 to celebrate the close of the Christmas holiday with the Two Rivers Céilí Band and musical guest Andrea Wild. 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
LOCAL IRISH AFFINITY GROUPS TO GATHER JAN. 18
Folks in the Portland area with a keen interest in Ireland have been gathering together in common cause since the days of the Civil War. In 1863 the occasion was the dedication of the chapel at the convent of the Sisters of the Holy Names. In 1872, on Saint Patrick’s Day, the Benevolent Hibernians, the Father Matthews Total Abstinence Association and the Saint Vincent DePaul Society marched in downtown Portland.
It is with this history in mind that representatives of three modern day groups of local Irishmen and Irishwomen will gather on Thursday, January 18 at Kells.
The Portland Hibernian Society, the All Ireland Cultural Society and Irish Network Portland will meet to discuss common interests and preview what’s in store for 2024. Planning is underway for a Celebration of Saint Brigid, Kells Irish Festival at Tom McCall Waterfront Park and of course.....
THE SAINT PATRICK’S DAY BANQUET
At the top of our social calendar for 2024 is the TWENTY SIXTH ANNUAL Saint Patrick’s Day Banquet. We hope it will top your calendar too. Here’s the date: MARCH 9 - SIX P.M. - UPSTAIRS AT KELLS . You’ll be receiving an invitation soon.
IF YOU’RE EVER LOOKING FOR AN IRISH PUB UP NORTH
There’s a Kells in Seattle, too. A Belfast website calls Kells near Pike Place Market ,"a tribute to Northern Ireland." And it may be haunted. The next time you’re on holiday or business in the Emerald City check it out.
IRISH RADIO
Did you realize there’s a local monthly radio program featuring Irish music? It’s hosted by Kevin Grgurich of the band Biddy On The Bench. You can tune in to hear it live Monday, Jan. 15 and every third Monday of the month from 5:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. on KBOO at 90.7 on your FM dial. Here are just some of the musicians whose work is featured on Maidin Mhaith: An Irish "Good Morning”: Planxty; Arcady; Altan; Andy Irvine; Paul Brady; Donal Lunny; Kevin Burke; Dervish; Seamus Begley & Jim Murray; Mick, Louise & Michelle Mulcahy; Liz Carroll & John Doyle and Lúnasa.
IRISH PODCAST
There’s no shortage of podcasts that feature programs related to Ireland and Irish History. In future editions of the Hibernian Independent I’ll go into more detail about your listening options, but today I’d like to mention the Irish History Podcast hosted by Finn Dwyer.
One episode in particular is worth a listen, even though it barely scratches the surface of one of the great stories of the Irish Diaspora: How the Irish settled in the western United States. This episode deals exclusively with the Irish who headed west to work in the mines. A few fortunate Irish owned mines.
“Beginning back in the California Goldrush of the 1850s, tens of thousands of Irish immigrants ventured into the American West. Seeking opportunity, they were often greeted with racism and distrust. This podcast tells the stories of the men and women who forged vibrant Irish communities in the face of adversity.” From the Irish History Podcast website.
Perhaps in future episodes Dwyer will explore other aspects of how the West attracted the Irish. Listening to this episode on mining made me wonder whether there was much of an Irish presence in the forests of the Pacific Northwest around the turn of the last century. Irish lumberjacks?
THE NEWS FROM IRELAND: LEO V. ELON
Dublin, if you didn’t know, is the headquarters in Europe for all sorts of tech companies. Google, Facebook er Meta, Microsoft, Linked In, PayPal, Indeed and Twitter er X just to name a few.
“Twitter, as it used to be called, has always been a bit of a sewer as far as social media goes,” Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said at a briefing for journalists.
“If you recall in the aftermath of the rioting in Dublin it was communicated to me that X was not as responsive to the authorities as the other platforms were,” Tanaiste Micheal Martin said.
According to the Irish Independent, Musk was unmoved by the criticisms, “the platform’s billionaire owner Elon Musk,... has strongly opposed proposed hate-speech legislation in Ireland and claimed in one post that Mr Varadkar “hates the Irish people”.
The “rioting in Dublin” by the way, is reported to have resulted in almost $20 million worth of damage, “but the financial toll has not ballooned. Shoppers have returned for the crucial Christmas period after the attack that left a five-year-old girl and creche worker with serious injuries."
THEN THERE’S THIS
At the end of each year Google releases its list of top searches for various countries. In Ireland, the most-searched movie was Oppenheimer, starring Irish actor Cillian Murphy, the most-searched music act was Coldplay, the most-searched person was Russell Brand and what was the top general query? ”How to claim rent tax credit" was the most-searched question in Ireland, with other people googling "How to solve a Rubik's Cube" and "How to use chopsticks".
DON’T FORGET - NEXT MEETING - JANUARY 18- NO HOST DINNER AT SIX P.M. OPEN FORUM WITH PORTLAND HIBERNIAN SOCIETY, ALL IRELAND CULTURAL SOCIETY AND IRISH NETWORK PORTLAND AT SEVEN P.M.