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Newsletters November 2017

IRELAND NEWSLETTER
November 2017

Ireland Newsletter
Winter Sun image from free public domain photos of Ireland
IN THIS ISSUE
  • News from Ireland
  • Woolworth's - A Story by Pat Watson
  • The Conneelys and the Seals - by Terry Flanagan
  • Tralee - A Poem by Jeremiah O'Shea
  • Origin of the Word Yankee - Irish Newspapers Revisited
  • Gaelic Phrases of the Month
  • Monthly Free Competition Result
Popular Articles from Recent Newsletters:
  • The Firbolg: The Ancient Ancestors of the Irish!
  • Tipperary - Walk in the footsteps of Brian Boru
  • The State of the Irish Nation 2017
  • 5 Words You Will Only Hear In Ireland
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FOREWORD
Hello again from Ireland where thoughts are beginning to turn to the Christmas season. The Irish economy is very much on the way back at the moment with retailers and manufacturers hoping for a bumper Christmas sales season.

In this month's edition we have another lyrical yarn from Pat Watson and a fine tale from Terry Flanagan of the connection that the families of Conneely have with Irish seals!

If you have an article or story you would like to share then please do send it in.

Until next time,

Michael


P.S. Please Do Forward this Newsletter to a friend or relative. If you have a website or Facebook page or Blog (or whatever!) then you can help us out by putting a link on it to our website: www.ireland-information.com



NEWS FROM IRELAND

NO PROGRESS WITH BREXIT AS 'HARD' BORDER LOOMS

Despite increased attention by the Irish authorities there has been little progress with regard to mitigating the effects of Brexit on Northern Ireland. The division of the six Counties in Ulster from the remaining 26 Counties in the South of Ireland marks the only physical political border between the UK and the European Union.

Irish Border in Ulster
A 'Hard' Border may be introduced in Ulster

The Irish government is keen that no physical or 'hard' border be reintroduced as this would negate the terms of the 'Good Friday Agreement' that has brought peace and relative prosperity to Ulster since its implementation from 1999. With the British Government seemingly unable to get to grips with exactly what they want from Brexit it is likely that they will follow the easiest path as much as possible and for Ulster this will mean the reintroduction of Customs Post and a physical border.

In a fine example of 'The Law of Unintended Consequences' it is becoming apparent that Brexit may yet threaten the entire Irish peace process.

EARLY REPAYMENT OF 5.5BN LOANS SHOWS ECONOMY IS ALIVE

The Irish Government has given the go-ahead for the early repayment of 5.5BN Euro of loans from Denmark, Sweden and the IMF. It is estimated that over 150 Million Euro in interest payments will be saved as a result of the early repayment. The loans were part of the overall 67.5BN Euro loans that Ireland was forced to take out in the wake of the financial collapse that began in 2008.

Pascal Donohoe is the Irish Minister for Finance:
'Actions taken in recent years, and the sacrifices made by our citizens, have laid the foundations for a solid and sustained economic recovery in Ireland.'

The Irish economy has been expanding rapidly in recent years with Unemployment down to 6.3% from over 15% in 2012 and GDP predicted by the EU to be 4% in 2017 and 3.7% in 2018. By contrast Unemployment in Greece is 22.5%, Spain is 17.1%, Italy is 11.3%, France is 9.6%, the UK is 4.3% and the US is 4.4%.

TOURISM BOOST FOR IRELAND CONTINUES

Irish tourism is booming at the moment and this has been confirmed by the recent Central Statistics Office figures showing a 2.9% increase in the number of trips to Ireland in August-October 2017 compared with 2016.

By contrast the number of visitors from Britain continued to decline as the Sterling currency took a beating in the wake of the Brexit vote, and is down by 5.8%. Visitors from the US made up this shortfall, increasing by a massive 14.8%.

DISASTER FOR IRISH SOCCER AFTER DENMARK THUMPING

The Irish Football team will not be going to the World Cup in Russia next year after a humiliating 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Denmark.

Ireland 1 Denmark 5
Irish Football Team Out of World Cup

The first of the two play-off games in Copenhagen saw the Irish get a 0-0 draw that was viewed as pragmatic at the time. And after taking an early lead at Landsdowne Road that result began to look even better.

But it was not to be. Shambolic Irish defending combined with a world-class performance by the Danish talisman Christian Eriksen who scored a hat-trick in the eventual rout.

This was a bitterly disappointing and humbling experience for the Irish team who will have to rebuild. With several senior players certain to retire from international football and with a relative dearth of home-grown talent it may well be the moment that Martin O'Neill decides to take his leave as manager.



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WOOLWORTH'S
by Pat Watson

Smart, well-travelled people, who had been to Dublin, knew all about Woolworth's nick-knack shop.

They sold everything under the sun, from a needle to an anchor. Anybody who had never been there was backward. Then, wonderful news arrived. They were going to open a shop in our town.

Old Playing Cards

Even the war, the rationing and the coupons could not dampen our enthusiasm at the great news. They had acquired the building, work on its renovation was proceeding, and it would be open for Christmas. Santa Claus would be there, we had heard, but we did not really believe that he visited the Dublin shop every year. Now we could see for ourselves. Just because you were only seven didn't mean you were stupid.

When the sign over the new shop went up everybody said that the spelling was wrong, 'Wellworths'.

They supposed it would be noticed and put right by next week but it wasn't. Instead we heard that it was not the real Woolworth's at all but a copycat company. However they would have many of the same things, nearly as good.

The question was would they have packs of small playing cards selling for sixpence. A full size pack cost a half a crown.

'Haven't ye your father's playing cards, aren't they good enough.'
That's what Mammy said.

Daddy's playing cards were several years old and there were only thirty-seven left out of the original pack and even those were in poor condition. They were dog-eared and marked so that many of them were recognisable from the back. This led to cheating by the older members of the family.

I had learned to count on the cards long before I went to school. There were forty-five in the pack then. I heard there were several games you could play if you had all fifty-two cards but we had only two games, strip-jack (beg of my neighbour) and casino.

Only two could play strip-jack so casino was usually played. In this game every player got four cards and there were four cards placed face up on the table. If the first player had a card in his hand matching one on the table, he could put both in his bank.

Sometimes he could pick two or three cards off the table if their number added up to a card in his hand, for instance a two a three and a four could be picked up by saying two plus three plus four equals my nine. He could then put all four cards in his bank. If he had no match he just had to leave down a card. Deals continued until all the cards were gone and whoever had the biggest bank won.

When my aunt gave me sixpence in town, during the Christmas week that Wellworth's opened I decided to look for the little playing cards.

That was the first day Santa was there and the crowds were huge. Behind the two girls at the door there was a long queue of children and parents and at the end of the line was a fake Santa. I might have been only seven years old but everybody knew Jim Farrelly. One of the door girls grabbed me.

'Give me your shilling and then you can join the queue for Santa.'
I glared at her.
'I don't want to go to Santa I just want a pack of playing cards for my six pence.'
'You cannot go to Santa unless you have a shilling.'
'I don't want to go to Santa' and I ducked under her arm and ran down the shop with her after me.

The manageress appeared,
'What's all the fuss?'
'He won't line up for Santa.'
'I want a pack of playing cards and I only have sixpence.'
She took the sixpence and gave me the most beautiful little box with a king of diamonds on the outside. Now it was the door girl's turn to glare.

'Now! We'd see who would cheat, who would claim that three and four was eight, who would read the backs of the cards. The owner of the cards would call the tune. Anybody caught cheating would be put out of the game.

It was great to be a man in charge of his own cards.

===

'Woolworth's' is one of sixty lyrical yarns from 'Original Irish Stories' by Pat Watson, Creagh, Bealnamulla, Athlone, Ireland. First published in May 2006. Visit: http://www.myirishstories.com or you can email the author here: pjwatson@utvinternet.com




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THE CONNEELYS AND THE SEALS
by Terry Flanagan

FOREWORD: In the Folklore of Ireland and other maritime countries, there is a profusion of stories concerning seals. Possibly due to the fact that they come ashore and that their head, when seen at a distance above water, bears a resemblance to a human head, it was said that they were human beings under a spell.

===

Many years ago, there was one family of Conneelys living in Errismore very close to the sea. They had one son, a fine young man. On May Day each year, three seals used to come ashore on a very big flat rock that was high above the tide. There was a cave, five or six yards deep, at the back of the rock, under a cliff.

Old Playing Cards
A Silkie Seal Woman

When the seals came up on the rock, each of them used to take off the hood that was tied about its neck and throw it into the cave behind them. As soon as they took off the hoods, they became the three finest women that the sun had ever shone upon, and they would go out swimming, each with a golden head of hair. The third woman was the most beautiful of all.

When they grew tired after swimming for two or three hours, they would come back on to the rock again. Each of them would then take her own hood and tie it about her neck. She would become a seal immediately. After spending about half an hour on the rock, the three seals would dive into the sea together and disappear from sight.

Young Conneely used to watch them every May Day. He liked the youngest woman best of all. He was working in the field one day at the end of Spring when he met an old man who he never saw before. He spoke to the old man, each of them telling his own story. Conneely told him about the three seals that used to come to the rock every May Day.

'There's one of them a lot nicer and more beautiful than the other two,' said he.

'I'd say that you have a liking for her,' said the man.

'Indeed, I have,' said Conneely.
'I'm in love with her, but I've no chance of ever getting her.'

'I have an idea who they are' said the man.
'I have heard talk about them. What would you give to the person who would tell you the way you might get the one you want?'

'Oh, I'm only a poor man,' said Conneely.
'All I could give you as a reward is my seven thousand blessings.'

'That's a good reward,' said the man. 'I'll tell you what you must do. When next May Day comes, hide yourself in the cave early in the morning, and when they throw their hoods into it, you must put the young seals hood inside your shirt. Keep the other two hoods in your hands. The three women will be screaming and wailing, each of them asking for her own hood, and saying that their father will kill them if they aren't home by a certain hour. They are the three daughters of the King of the Sea. You mustn't give the youngest woman her hood, at any price, no matter what screaming and complaining she does. Give the hoods to the other two. Then walk towards your house, and the youngest one will follow you. You must hide the hood in a place she'll never see it. If she does, you'll have finished with her.'

'You may be sure that I'll never give her the hood,' said Conneely. 'I love her too much for that!'

The old man then stood up and left, and Conneely never laid eyes on him again. May Day came, and at dawn, Conneely hid himself in the cave. Soon the three seals came up to the rock. Each of them took off the hood, and threw it into the cave, and they were the finest women to have ever raised their faces to the sky. The youngest was the most beautiful of all. When the three women jumped in to swim, Conneely picked up her hood and shoved it inside his shirt. He kept the other two in his hands. He waited until they came back to the rock. When they saw him with the hoods in his hands, they asked him for them, but he refused. They started to wail at the top of their voices, saying that their father would kill them if they weren't home early in the evening. He threw her hood to the eldest, and to the second eldest. The two seals jumped into the sea together and swam off.

The youngest seal was left behind, and her cries could be heard for miles. He told her that he wouldn't give her the hood and he asked her to go home with him. She had no wish to, but she had no option but to follow him to his house. She spent the night there, and they got married the next day. He hid the hood in the roof of the house, between the thatch and the sods. They lived happily together, and five sons were born to them. There wasn't a better worker to be found. But each day, when he was out at sea, fishing, she would weep her fill.

One fine summer's day, the husband was out at sea, fishing, and his wife was working in the fields. When she looked back at the house, it was on fire. There were two or three other houses nearby and she shouted to them for help. Two or three men came and started throwing water on the burning thatch, while she stood watching them. Suddenly, a large clump of thatch fell down near her and in it was the hood. She grabbed it, tied it about her neck and she was immediately turned into a seal. She ran down to the sea and was gone.

Her five sons followed her to the shore but failed to find her. They returned home, crying for their mother. When Conneely returned home in the evening, the house was half burned, his wife had gone and the children were waiting for him. He sat down with them, and he too cried his fill until morning. As soon as the children got up in the morning, they went down to where they had seen their mother go into the sea, hoping to see her. And they did. She came in close to the shore where they were and spoke to them. And there wasn't a day that came during the next five years that they didn't go down to the sea, and she came every day and talked to them. When the five years were up, she told them that they would never see her again.

There were very few Conneelys in Errismore at that time. But you couldn't count all of them now that descended from the five sons of the seal-woman. That's why, to this very day, it is said that the Conneelys are related to the seals.

---

The above tale was provided by Terry Flanagan of the Irish Seal Sanctuary:
'Our aim is the conservation of marine mammals and in particular seals. Seals are the enchanted people and the Grey Seal is the world's first protected species.'

http://www.irishsealsanctuary.com



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TRALEE
A Poem by Jeremiah O'Shea


The fields are green as ever there,
The hills are just as brown
The sunset scatters gold across
The bay beyond the town.
The ivied bridge that spans the brook
Seems oh so dear to me,
At Ballyseedy on the road
That leads to old Tralee.

The beauty of the grand old wood
The witching twilight hour
The rook returning, seeking out
His lofty oaken bower,
The friendly voice that calls 'Good day',
Though rain is falling green
You see and hear along the road
That leads to old Tralee.



IRISH NEWSPAPERS REVISITED

The Freeman's Journal


ORIGIN OF THE WORD YANKEE

The Connaught Journal, Galway, October 9, 1823.

Yankee is the Indian corruption of the word English: Younglees, Yanglses, Yankee, and finally Yankee. It got in general use as a term of reproach thus: - About the year 1713, one Jonathan Hastings, a farmer at Cambridge, in New England, used the word Yankee as a cant word to express excellence - as a Yankee (good) horse, Yankee cider, etc.

The Students at the College having frequent intercourse with Jonathan, and hearing him employ the word on all occasions when he intended to express his approbation, applied it sarcastically, and called him 'Yankee Jonathan'. It soon became a cant phrase among the Collegians to designate a simple, weak, awkward person.

From College it spread over the country, till, from its currency in New England, it was at length taken up and applied to the New Englanders generally, as a token of reproach. It was in consequence of this that the song called Yankee Doodle was composed.



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GAELIC PHRASES OF THE MONTH

PHRASE: Corp dicheile
PRONOUNCED: corp dee-kayleh
MEANING: The height of folly
PHRASE: Rogha an da dhiogha
PRONOUNCED: rowah on daw deegah
MEANING: The lesser of two evils
PHRASE: Bua na cainte
PRONOUNCED: boo-ah nah coin-che
MEANING: The gift of the gab (ability to converse)

View the Archive of Irish Phrases here:
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I hope that you have enjoyed this issue!



by Michael Green,
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The Information about Ireland Site.
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