BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day

Subject: RE: BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 02:23 PM

I spent St. Patrick's Day evening weeping for the first time ever! As I thought of my Mum, and listened to the music of some lovely peeps from Belfast who recently friended me on MySpace: Reel Folk
My Mum wasn't really into Irish folk, but she did introduce me to my very first traditional song 'She Moved Through the Fair' and I still find I 'run the gaunlet' of potential voice crackage in singing it today.

Subject: RE: BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 02:28 PM

Weird, I was sure I put a link there: Reel Folk

Subject: RE: BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 02:47 PM

I aught to add my Mum's Irish family recipe for lamb stew. It's all a bit rough from memory but includes: neck of lamb, potatoes, leeks and pearl barley all well simmered together until the lamb meat falls away from the bone. Lots of salt and pepper, but no other seasoning. So what you end with is a salty broth thickened with the barley and veggies, which is sweet from the lamb. Lots of all of it piled into a bowl, and I always had second helpings... Yum!
It is fatty though, which for anyone familiar with Irish grub, isn't exactly a shocker.

Subject: RE: BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 03:17 PM

"I was the only redhead in the family plus I have green eyes and freckles."

My Mother (Northern Irish) was very fair: sea blue eyes and light blonde hair. Both her parents had blue eyes too, though one was fair and one was dark. Her brother inherited the dark hair with dark blue eyes. On my fathers side the family come from Liverpool Irish: all blonde or dark hair and blue eyes yet again.
I'm the only green eyed member of my immediate family. I don't have any especially discernable Irish characteristics either. Though friends of mine who are members of the Irish diaspora can be striking in their classic Irish appearance.

Subject: RE: BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 03:54 PM

I was shocked to see in Ireland that most of the people did not look Irish to me..and I had two templates..the redhaired and the black Irish like I am descended from..although I don't look it a bit. And this was before massive immigration from Poland etc. Norwegians were not all that blond either frankly. I hate it when stereotypes don't turn out right. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 06:32 PM

Well in looking for some idea of just how many redheads there are in Ireland, I came across the following from Wiki posted on another discussion board:

"Scotland has the highest proportion of redheads, as 13 percent of the population has red hair and approximately 40 percent carries the recessive redhead gene.[8] Ireland has the second highest percentage; as many as 10 percent of the Irish population have red, auburn, or strawberry blond hair.[9] It is thought that up to 46 percent of the Irish population carries the recessive redhead gene. Red hair reaches frequencies of up to 10 percent in Wales.[10]"

My great-grandmother had red hair and was Scottish. I recently found out my mom's maternal ancestors were also Scottish, not English as we'd thought all of these years, so it looks like both of my parents had the recessive gene. From what I've read they both have to have it to produce a redhead.

There's also an interesting article about redheads becoming "extinct" as the numbers seem to be dwindling HERE. It includes some quotes from National Geographic.

Subject: RE: BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 06:50 PM

WTF is it all about?
Most of those posting in this thread are Americans!
In Ireland they don't drink green beer, OR, eat corned beef and cabbage.
They celebrate it with a few jars, and that's because, they have nothing to prove, and they are sure of their identitiy.

Subject: RE: BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 06:59 PM

Well bully for them. We have made it clear numerous times that we are talking about this from an Irish American perspective and what they do in Ireland is what they do in Ireland and not here. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 07:12 PM

"We have made it clear numerous times that we are talking about this from an Irish American perspective"

Thanks MG - maybe next time you should headline the thread "Irish-American Paddy Day" and no-one will be confused that it might have any reference to actual Irish people like my Mother that I was just waffling on about.

Subject: RE: BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 07:26 PM

I might give it some thought but I never use the term Paddy Day..and some actual Irish people like our ancestors became Irish-Americans or their children did and they are the ones who learned the Bing Crosby songs etc. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 07:26 PM

Sorry mg - I know you didn't mean it badly. I'm touchy at the mo'.

Subject: RE: BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 08:01 PM

"some actual Irish people like our ancestors"

Mg, I really genuinely don't understand this notion of deep emotional attachment to people you never met.

My Mum was Irish, so I guess I got into the spirit of this thread as a form of connection to her. It rather upset me when you stated that this thread was explicitly for Irish-Americans, rather than for Irish people or their families.
Thanks for the clarification anyway. I'll be more carefull on Mudcat in future.

Subject: RE: BS: Respect on St. Patrick's Day
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 19 Mar 10 - 08:23 PM

Mg - ignore me. I'm weepy.