All over Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, Gaelic peoples have celebrated the harvest gifts on Aug. 1 with a dizzying array of cultural and sporting events. This festival, one of the four Celtic “fire festivals,” is known as “Lughnasadh” or “Lughnasa,” and commemorates the sacrifices of the beloved foster mother of the sun god Lugh. She died clearing the plains of Ireland so grain could be planted. These celebrations are still enjoyed today, and we can thank a member of modern day royalty, Princess Grace of Monaco, for encouraging widespread appreciation through her vision and pioneering efforts to educate students in Irish culture and history. This Oscar-winning model and actress had serious Mayo roots. Her grandfather, John Kelly, left Ireland in 1887 to start a successful construction company in Philadelphia. Grace Kelly’s’ parents, John (“Jack”) and Margaret, were accomplished Olympic athletes, coaches and civic leaders, her uncles were notable actors and writers. Princess Grace visited Ireland several times herself and, in 1975, purchased her ancestral Mayo home.
You might have thought the excessive heat on Saturday, July 29 was causing hallucinations if you witnessed a number of women looking remarkably elegant, many wearing pearls, disappearing into Connolly’s Bar and Restaurant back room in the early afternoon. Unlikely dress for watching sports over a cold beer, but these were participants in a Lughnasa gathering honoring Grace Kelly. Organized by a group of women who have been hosting and inspiring this, and other Celtic Fire festivals (Imbolg, Bealtaine, Lughnasa and Samhain) since 2016, the venues have favored Irish-owned businesses, many home to live Irish music and spoken-word events. Connolly’s on East 47th Street was the setting where we women, calling ourselves “Nollaig na mBan NY,” first suggested celebrating each festival with cultural performances from interested volunteers and with a nominal donation benefiting a charity of choice. Lugh was a God, King, master craftsman and warrior. The theme of Lughnasa is the struggle to gain the harvest for humanity. Ancient combat included Olympic type games, music, storytelling, law proclamations, horse riding and trial marriages! If the marriage, called ‘hand fasting’, survived a year and a day it was deemed a success.
When we remember Grace Kelly, we think of the glamorous star of the golden screen era who married Prince Rainier of Monaco in a real-life fairytale. But behind the made- for-TV love story was a woman who broke several glass ceilings. She was the first woman appointed to the Board of the Twentieth-Century Fox Film Corporation in 1976. After her marriage Grace Kelly supported local artists through the Princess Grace Foundation created in 1984, and the Princess Grace Academy, the resident school of the Monte Carlo ballet. She was appointed International Chairperson of the Irish American Cultural Institute in 1972, proposing a months’-long Irish culture and history study, together with basic Gaelic conversational phrases, for all American high school students. The resulting Irish Life Experience and the Irish Way, have benefited the lives of more than 5,000 teenagers since 1975. Princess Grace’s efforts to support the cultural world and her human rights record make her an ideal icon through whom a Lughnasa celebration could take flight.
Maria Venger, president of the New York chapter of UNWLA, addressed the gathering.
Currently Nollaig na mBan NY is supporting Ukrainian refugees by donating to the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA, unwla.org ). Maria Venger, President of the NY Chapter of UNWLA, quoted Princess Grace in her opening words of hope: “Love will bring Peace.” All donations support and educate Ukrainian refugees here in the U.S., and help purchase expensive equipment for Ukrainian medical staff. She reminded us that recovered individuals often bravely return to the Front Line. Maria presented a beautiful hand-crafted Ukraine pin, denoting special support of the cause, to Dee Nolan who had imagined and planned this event.
Martin Fitzpatrick had a story that spoke to Grace Kelly's humbleness.
Mary McIntyre informed us about some ancient Lughnasa traditions, as well as the Christianity-inspired annual climbing of Croagh Patrick in Mayo — barefoot if you were following the original intention. Other Lughnasa participants enthusiastically shared their own Grace Kelly memories and knowledge to the delight, and often the awe, of the listeners. Poet Bernadette Cullen described some of Grace Kelly’s history. Grace’s father Jack disapproved of his daughter’s acting choice, but she persisted and appeared on stage and screen, winning an Oscar for “The Country Girl.” She retired from acting at age 26 but continued to be an avid supporter of the arts. Bernadette told us that during early college years Grace loved dancing - even topless! She was the “Irish American Poster Girl,” possessing a powerful radiance, a quality echoed by Doris Meyer who, as a young editorial assistant, had actually met her. We see the parallels with Lugh, as the Sun God, the writer and poet, the “King of Grace,” who turns the harvest golden “at the feast of the rise of the sun” (traditional Reaping Blessing).
Although Grace Kelly never graduated college, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 1978, after a poetry festival presentation of her book “Birds, Beasts and Flowers.” Patrice told us that Grace’s father, hearing of a fire that destroyed housing for Fordham University’s live animal mascots, donated money to build a new fireproof barn. The Irish love of animals was clear. Sheila Houlihan’s ‘One Degree of Separation’ focused on the work she had done for Grace Kelly’s family. Sheila traveled to Monte Carlo where a Grace Kelly Irish library exists, supporting Irish writers through awards and grants. Colum McCann was an early winner! We learned that New York City’s Glucksman Ireland House is collaborating with the library for events in 2024.
This author recalled the famous “Scorpio Ball,” held at the Hotel Hermitage in Monte Carlo to celebrate Princess Grace’s 40th birthday — the last birthday she would admit to! Only Scorpio-born guests and their partners were invited and the guest list glittered - Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor stole some of the limelight in the mandatory dress code of red and black. The Royal couple were apparently ideally astrologically compatible. Martin Fitzpatrick’s sidebar displayed Grace Kelly’s humbleness with her choice of wedding guests including the owners of her local grocery. Maura Mulligan, founder of the Nollaig na mBan cohort, contributed Irish language with some well-chosen Gaelic words that described the Princess. Ellen Hasell won the “best costume” prize with an outfit her costumier Mother had inspired her to put together. The contributions ended with a beautiful song performed by Vera Wrenn, ‘True Love’ from the film “High Society,” starring Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. A retelling of “The Philadelphia Story,” the movie had music by Cole Porter and a score most of us could hum along with.
Mary Fee’s scrumptious soda bread dessert allowed us all to revisit what we hadn’t known about Grace Kelly, reluctantly leaving before impending thunderstorms erupted, but carrying some of Princess Grace’s, and King Lugh’s, brightness, with us like a wand of ripe golden wheat.
