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St. Patrick’s Day Irish 101: A primer on the origins symbols, sayings

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Edward T. O’Donnell

We’ve all been there before. Someone at work or a party discovers you’re Irish, Irish American, or just interested in things Irish and begins to pummel you with questions. Not wanting to seem Hibernically challenged, you offer a few vague answers and flee at the first opportunity, muttering

to yourself, "For the love of Pete, will you remember to look up ‘banshee’ when you get home!"

Fear not, help is at hand: the following primer in Irish and Irish-American sayings and symbols. You may want to post it on the inside of your medicine cabinet for a quick study every morning before brushing your teeth.

Symbols

The Shamrock

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Like so many aspects of Irish history and culture, to find the origin of the shamrock as a significant feature of Irish life one must go back to pre-Christian times. Ancient Celts believed the shamrock, or white clover, possessed curative powers and could foretell the weather (its leaves were said to arch upward before a storm). The word shamrock derives from the Irish word Seamr g, or "summer plant."

The shamrock’s significance in modern times, however, comes from its association with St. Patrick. Legend has it (and all we have is legend since St. Patrick never mentioned the shamrock in his writings) that he used the shamrock to explain the mystery of the Trinity to pagan Celts by comparing the three leaves with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

Doubtless, some missionary, if not Patrick himself, used this unique teaching tool in the Christianization of Ireland in the 5th and 6th centuries. The practice of wearing shamrocks on St. Patrick’s Day dates at least as far back as the 16th century. The shamrock became a symbol of Irish national identity in the 19th century when Nationalists adopted it as their symbol (so too, for that matter, did Ulster Unionists for a time).

How it came to be superimposed over the word Budweiser is another story altogether.

The Harp

Next to the shamrock, the second most common symbol in Irish culture is the harp. It’s everywhere in Ireland, from the backs of coins to kegs of Guinness. This may seem somewhat strange, since the harp doesn’t exactly figure prominently in traditional Irish music. Before the subjugation of Ireland by the British in the 17th century, however, Irish harpists were famous throughout Europe and enjoyed a revered place in the old Gaelic order. Harpists played the music that accompanied the recitations of that other famed group in Gaelic Ireland, the poets.

The harpist tradition was virtually wiped out with the Plantations and Penal Laws. When a harp festival convened in Belfast in 1792, only 11 harpists could be found in the entire country. The few songs written down during that event are the only connection remaining to this once essential element of Irish culture. As with the shamrock, nationalists in the 19th century adopted the harp as a symbol of Irish nationhood.

The Tricolor Flag

Why, if they represent the clashing interests in Ireland’s troubled history, are the colors green and orange in the Irish flag?

Well, you might say it’s the product of wishful thinking. Green has been a color associated with Ireland since the 1600s and is most likely derived (surprise) from the greenery of the Irish landscape (which, of course, gave rise to the expression "Emerald Isle"). The color orange also originates in the 1600s as the symbol of the Protestant Ascendancy. William III, also known as William of Orange, defeated Catholic James II in Ireland in 1691 to complete England’s "Glorious Revolution." The Orange Order, the Protestant organization dedicated to upholding the union between Ireland (later just Northern Ireland) and Britain, dates from 1795.

The earliest proposal for uniting these antagonistic symbols in a national flag dates from the 1830s. The Young Ireland movement of the 1840s adopted the tricolor flag as a symbol of Protestant and Catholic unity. It persisted for a few decades before giving way to the green flag with a harp.

It was in the aftermath of the Easter Rising of 1916 that the tricolor was revived as the emblem of militant nationalism. It became the official flag of the Irish Free State in 1922. The Good Friday accord of 1998 has come as close as any effort to making the symbolic intent of the flag a reality.

Leprechaun

Stop right there, drop the box of Lucky Charms cereal and move away from the caricature. The jolly little imp on the cereal box (and his counterparts on greeting cards, pub signs, and your Aunt Margaret’s stationery) bears almost no resemblance to the leprechauns of Irish mythology. To borrow a phrase from a long-dead philosopher writing about something entirely different, they were "nasty, brutish, and short."

Leprechauns were grumpy, alcoholic, insufferable elves in the employ of Irish fairies. They made shoes for fairies (hence their depiction as cobblers) and guarded their treasure, which was occasionally (to the leprechauns’ eternal frustration) revealed to mortals by a rainbow. Somewhere in the course of the Irish-American experience, the leprechaun took on the characteristics of the lovable, but ultimately contemptible, stage Irishman.

Claddagh Ring

With the explosion of interest in all things Irish in the

last decade, the claddagh ring has become one of the most popular ring designs in the world. Most wearers know enough to say that it’s a traditional Irish wedding ring worn with the hands pointed inward by someone who’s "taken" and outward by one accepting suitors. Some continue by pointing out the meaning of its three symbols: heart (love), the hands (friendship), and the crown (loyalty).

But that much said, where does the claddagh ring come from? No one knows how the design came into being or what it meant in ancient times (though some association with the local chieftain or king seems probable).

What is known is that it originated in the fishing village of Claddagh, at the mouth of the River Corrib opposite Galway City. Sometime in the late 17th century, a man named Richard Joyce (whom it is said learned the goldsmith trade while held as a slave in Algeria) began producing the distinctive rings. The design quickly gained popularity in and around Galway and then spread across Ireland. In the late-29th century, Irish nationalists promoted a Fenian claddagh — the same design minus, you guessed it, the crown. Today the Claddagh ring is found on the fingers of many people who have no Irish ancestry at all.

Blarney

It’s both a place in Ireland and a term that means calculated flattery (no, B.S. doesn’t stand for Blarney Stone). The term Blarney originated in the late 1500s when one Lord Cormac Mac Carthaigh (McCarthy), resident of Blarney Castle, faced pressure from Queen Elizabeth to renounce his ancestral claim to the castle and surrounding lands and to acknowledge that he held them only through a grant from the Crown. Rather than openly defy the formidable monarch, he pretended to accept her request, but stalled its enactment by issuing a steady torrent flattery and kiss-uppery. After years of this oh-so-cordial run-around, an exasperated Elizabeth is reputed to have said, "This is all Blarney. What he says he never means."

The term stuck and it was not long thereafter that the legend of the Blarney Stone — that those who kiss it will be granted the gift of persuasion — took hold.

Banshee

Ancient Irish folklore contains many frightening figures, but none more so than the banshee — the shrieking messenger of death. In most cases, the banshee (in Irish Bean Si for "female spirit") appears as an old woman with flowing white hair who weeps (and shrieks) as she warns of a impending death. The banshee was feared not so much for her ghostly appearance, but for her message of death. Indeed, her sorrow suggests sympathy, not evil.

Celtic Cross

The Celtic Cross so many people wear around their necks today is modeled after the extraordinary "high crosses" of Ireland. Most of these ancient relics date from the 9th and 10th century when detailed stone carving was rare in the rest of Europe. Monumental in size and covered in intricate carvings of biblical stories and Celtic designs, they are often located on the former sites of monasteries. The most distinct feature of the Celtic Cross — the ring at the junction of the cross bars — is of uncertain origin. Very likely it was borrowed from Celtic symbolism (ancient Celts, like many other groups, saw the circle as symbolic of life).

The most famous high cross ("Cross of the Scriptures") is found at the monastic center of Clonmacnoise, which apparently was a center of stone carving.

Gaelic

How many times have you used this word when describing the language of Ireland only to be upbraided by a self-appointed guardian of terminological correctness who insists that "Irish" is the proper term?

Well, you’re not wrong, just a tad imprecise. There are three main forms of Gaelic that survive to this day — Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic. We could go on from here to point out that all three derive from Goidelic Celtic spoken by the Celts who settled in Spain and Ireland, which, of course, was distinct from the Brythonic Celtic, which gave rise to Welsh and Breton — but let’s leave well enough alone, shall we? Stick to "Irish" when describing the language and Gaelic when describing traditional Irish culture.

Expressions

"Luck of the Irish"

Have you ever stopped to consider the absurdity of this expression? What sort of luck is it that brings about 900 years of invasion, colonization, exploitation, starvation and mass emigration?

Well, this term has a happier, if not altogether positive, American origin.

During the gold rush years in the second half of the 19th century, a number of the most famous and successful miners were of Irish and Irish-American birth. Over time, this association of the Irish with mining fortunes led to the expression "luck of the Irish." Of course, it carried with it a certain tone of derision, as if to say, only by sheer luck (as opposed to brains) could these fools succeed.

"In like Flynn"

In his heyday, silver screen star Errol Flynn epitomized the dashing and debonair Hollywood playboy. His reputation as an irresistible lady killer (both on screen and off) led to the expression "in like Flynn," which meant both quick success ("A timely word to the maitre de and we were in like Flynn") or fast friends ("I said just the right thing to the boss and I was in like Flynn").

"The Life of Riley"

So far as one can tell, there was no real Riley who lived a worry-free and luxurious life. Some associate the phrase with James Whitcomb Riley, who wrote a good many poems about carefree boys enjoying sleepy summer days, but that’s a bit of a stretch. A more likely source is the 1880s song popular on the vaudeville circuit, "Are You the O’Reilly?"

It told of the great days that lay ahead when O’Reilly struck it rich — "A hundred a day will be small pay." The chorus went as follows:

Are you the O’Reilly who keeps this hotel?

Are you the O’Reilly they speak of so well?

Are you the O’Reilly they speak of so highly?

Gor blime me, O’Reilly, you’re looking well

"Beyond the Pale"

This rather grim term takes us back to 14th century Ireland and the Statutes of Kilkenny. These laws established a sweeping series of prohibitions against fraternization between Anglo-Irish colonizers and the native Irish. They also defined what became known as the Pale of Settlement (pale comes from the Latin word palus, or fence post) a narrow strip of land (little more than 20 miles wide in most places) running north from Waterford to Dundalk on Ireland’s eastern coast. Anyone living "beyond the pale" were considered "Irish enemies" not entitled to protection under English law.

"Go the Whole Hog"

This expression for "to overindulge" is of uncertain origin, but more than one scholar claims it derives from the Irish nickname for a shilling — a "hog." Thus, to blow one’s money meant to "go the whole hog," an expression that eventually came to mean any form of excess.

"Work Like A Turk"

Oddly enough, this term has nothing to do with a person hailing from the former Ottoman Empire. "Turk" derives from the Irish word torc, or wild boar. For centuries torc has been used in Ireland as a term to describe a strong, temperamental man, or a successful prizefighter. In America, the word became "turk" and its meaning altered slightly to mean brawny laborer, hence the highly alliterative "work like a Turk."

"Knock on Wood"

There are half a dozen competing explanations for this term and practice, but more than one expert asserts that it derives from ancient Celtic tradition. To summon the assistance (or thank) a fairy or god, Celts rapped a tree trunk.

(Edward T. O’Donnell is an assistant professor of history at Hunter College and the author of the forthcoming book "1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History" [Doubleday].)

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