A Read n’ Heed… “My Annual Denunciation of St Patrick’s Day: What You Should Remember”

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The Clancy Brothers… The Easter Rising 1916… poetry by W B Yeats

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The Breastplate of St Patrick by Sarah Hart

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The Chieftains

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I’m in my annual pre-St Patrick’s Day grump. I love my Irish heritage, but given my Unionist family background, I understand the tragedy and complexity of that historical legacy. I hate the pop pseudo-Irish ethnic stereotypes dragged out at this time of year. Alcoholism is a genetic and cultural curse on the Irish and other people of Celtic descent, and it pains me to see it celebrated as the prime ingredient of Irish cultural identity. Remember, it’s a feast day in Lent, so, go to Mass, or Liturgy, or what you will. Recite The Breastplate of St Patrick. Read some Joyce or Yeats or the Tain. Put on the Chieftains, the Clancy Brothers, or some other real Irish music. Raise a toast to those gone before, and in memory of those who suffered or resisted oppression. Don’t put anything green into your mouth that didn’t come that way. Remember that green was the colour of the Sacred for the ancient Celts. Wear your green, even if you have no Irish ancestors, but remember that there were times when merely wearing it in public would have put ones life and livelihood in jeopardy, and rejoice that this is no longer the case either here or in Éire.

12 March 2015

Geoffrey Deacon

(no URL, taken from Facebook)

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Northern Ireland Parliament Reconvenes Whilst Hostilities Continue

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Protestants threw petrol bombs at police in Northern Ireland, injuring at least 27 officers during the fourth night of protests against restrictions on traditional Orange Order marches. On Monday, protestors threw at least six home-made explosive devices and several petrol bombs at police in East Belfast. The police called on the Northern Ireland Assembly to help end the upheaval. The reconvened regional parliament was to meet on Tuesday to discuss ways of restoring order. Belfast police responded with water cannons and at least one baton round. At least five other towns across Northern Ireland reported protests and other incidents. Thousands of pro-British Protestants hold marches every summer, which often turn into sectarian violence, because the Catholic minority, which supports unification with Ireland, considers the parades provocative.

The Protestant marches started on Friday. The authorities passed a law that forbade Protestant parades along a stretch of road that divided the two communities. Protests and incidents also occurred in Newtownabbey, Antrim, Dungannon, Portadown, and Londonderry. US Vice President Joe Biden was one of the first to express his “deep concern” about the incidents in a phone call with Northern Ireland’s leaders. Senior police officials are also very worried about the situation and called for urgent measures to stop the violence. A peace deal made in 1998 seemed to have put an end to the years of sectarian disorder in the British province, but a particular problem still remains around the Orange parades marking the victory of Protestant King William over Catholic King James in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Police said they received hundreds of reinforcements from Britain. According to official reports, since the present upheaval began, police arrested sixty people and 71 police officers have been wounded.

16 July 2013

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_07_16/Northern-Ireland-parliament-reconvenes-whilst-hostilities-continue-7881/