We hope this special St. Patrick's edition finds you in good health, good spirits and good company. If this is your first issue many thanks for joining us and if you like our musings and meanderings, please feel free to forward them on to your family and friends.

 

It’s been a very hectic St. Patrick’s Day weekend which included the O’Flahetty Blarney Bash for the first time in a couple of years. It was mighty craic as they would say in Ireland!  We stayed over, then stayed for a brilliant breakfast before heading home, still tired, but happy. This morning, we attended the funeral of a fine irishman - Denny Devine who passed away last Wednesday. We had asked for our readers to pray for him and perhaps a miracle, but in the end, we were praying for his merciful release. After the funeral we headed over to our son’s bar - the B-list in Bellevue, Ky  and toasted Denny’s emory. So, here we are, still tired,  but tring to  to accomplish what we set out to do for the St. Patrick’s Day weekend.  Which includes this special edition. 

 

In the interest of time, we reached back to last year’s issue  which covered just about everything we want to include this time round. So we are unashamedly using it as a template for 2014 edition. 

 

At  this time of year all of us  are winter weary and ready to welcome a respite from Lenten austerities.  So... as  the poet said...

 

 

 

Our annual drive is almost over - but not the fun of selecting   winners of several CDs and books. We’re extending the appeal to March 30th, so There’s still time to get in on the drawing by making a donation via PayPal to this e-mail address:

bhaggerty@irishcultureandcustoms.com 

  Or via snail mail:

 

5814 Blue Spruce 

Cincinnati OH 45224

 

All contributions of $5 or more will receive an Irish angel pictured.

 

Meanwhile, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have made a donation, especially those of you who also included compliments and words of encouragement. We treasure every single one of them!

 

 

 

 

We have created a special card exclusively for our readers here:

http://www.irishcorner.com/epickup.php?card_id=r4d824ed8a7a96

 

 This hymn was always played on St. patrick’s Day when Bridget was growing up. This is an outstanding  version which serves to remind his fans how much we miss the amazing voice of Frank Patterson, RIP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7H4HumAbTU  

 

GIVE UP YER AUL SINS -THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK  

We have listened to this numerous times and just can’t help but want to hear it again and again. It’s the story  of St. Patrick narrated by a little Dublin girl named Mary and she is  accompanied by an animated video. It’s from the series by Brown Bag Productions and we are certain you will want to watch and listen more than once. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0q-_gWOYjY

 

If you  want to listen to some lovely traditional airs amidst  the cacaphony of so called Irish drinking songs, please click:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUT7aGT1JxM

Or this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNfPRUkXJ7Y

Or for fourteen different genres of Irish music,  Radio Celt is yer wan!

http://www.accuradio.com/#!/world/radiocelt/

 

 You could spend hours exploring what's on offer! Featured are videos, history, a quiz, destinations and much more. http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=mini_home&mini_id=1082

 

St. Patrick may have exiled snakes from Ireland but he didn't banish the fun.

http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/travel/discover-ireland/2013/0315/376809-discover-ten-ways-to-celebrate-st-patricks-day/ 

 

This time around, the Hennesseys offer a page in celebration of the high holiday as our dear friend  Bill Deegan calls it. http://www.irishpage.com/SONGS/SLANE.htm

 

From our homepage you can click through to several articles appropriate to the day that’s in it:

http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/

 

By about 9:00 am on march 17th, we’ll have headlines and links to all the good news. We keep two weeks worth of headlines here:

http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/01News/Home.html

 

 

 

So there you have it until we send our regular March edition at the end of the month. Until then, we’ll take our leave that we think is most appropriate for today:

 

And a blessing attributed to St. Patrick - by the way,  It’s said if you ask for St. Patrick’s intercession on his feast day, your prayer will be answered)

 

 

Slan agus Beannacht,

 

 

 

 

Bridget & Russ

And this is for our dear friend Mary O’Hara who asked us to bring this phrase back:

In the Irish:

 

Blarney, as defined by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, is flattery so thin we like it, as opposed to baloney which is flattery so thick it can't be true.

 

And back by popular demand in honour of the most important day in the Irish calendar:

 

St. Patrick's Birthday

On the eighth day of March it was, some people say,

That Saint Patrick at midnight first saw the day.

While others declare 'twas the ninth he was born,

And 'twas all a mistake between midnight and morn;

For mistakes will occur in a hurry and shock,

and some blam'd the babby-and some blam'd the clock-

Till with all their cross questions sure no one could know

If the child was too fast-or the clock was too slow.

Now the first faction fight in old Ireland, they say,

Was all on account of Saint Patrick's birthday.

Some fought for the eighth-for the ninth more would die,

And who wouldn't see right, sure they blacken'd his eye!

At last both the factions so positive grew,

That each kept a birthday, so Pat then had two.

Till Father Mulcahy, who confessed them their sins,

Said, "Ye can't have two birthdays, unless ye be twins."

Says he, "Don't be fightin' for eight or for nine,

Don't be always dividin'-but sometimes combine;

Combine eight with nine, and seventeen is the mark,

So let that be his birthday." "Amen," says the clerk.

"If he wasn't a twins, sure our hist'ry will show

That, at least, he is worth any two saints that we know!"

Then they all drowned the shamrock-which completed their bliss,

And we keep up the practice from that day to this.

(Edited and adapted from Dick's Irish Dialect Recitations, Wm. B. Dick, Editor, New York, Dick & Fitzgerald, Publisher, 1879)