#Irish Blood

[heavenboy09]

March Is Known As 1 Of My Most Favorite Months Of The Early Year Besides January

IRISH AMERICAN HISTORY OR HERITAGE MONTH IS IT WERE.

YES YES YES. THE IRISH HAVE A MONTH ALL TO THEMSELVES AND COINCIDENTALLY

IT COEXIDES WITH OUR VERY GOOD LUCK/ LUCKIEST DAY OF THE YEAR.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY 🍀☘🇮🇪

Which would make sense anyway since its the only Irish Holiday anyone celebrates besides Ireland 🇮🇪

Anyway

Irish-American Heritage Month is celebrated by proclamation of the President and Congress in the United States to honor the achievements and contributions of Irish immigrants and their descendants living in the United States. It was first celebrated in 1991. The heritage month is in March to coincide with Saint Patrick's Day, the Irish national holiday on March 17. Heritage Months are usually proclaimed by nations to celebrate centuries of contributions by a group to a country.

So as a Fellow Irishman myself from My Dad's side of course.

To all of My Fellow Irish-Americans and Irishmen and Irish Women 🇮🇪

Go Forth and Make This Month Of March Grand as the Emerald Isles themselves and Let Our Culture Shine like A Shamrock ☘

THIS IS IRISH-AMERICAN HISTORY AND HERITAGE MONTH 🍀☘🇮🇪

#irishamericanheritagemonth🇮🇪🇺🇸

[franciscomaldo]

#AliciaSilverstone protagonizará serie de #AcornTV #IrishBlood √

Alicia Silverstone interpretará a una destacada abogada de divorcios de Los Ángeles que busca a su padre en una nueva serie de misterio de asesinato para el transmisor Acorn TV. Alicia Silverstone / Imagen cortesía Acorn TV La estrella de Clueless protagoniza Irish Blood, una serie dramática de seis partes para el servicio de streaming propiedad de AMC Networks. La serie se está filmando en…

[millingroundireland]

How Irish are you, anyway?

Sooner or later, the question will arise how Irish I am.

Let's start with the first generation of Irish immigrants. John R. Mills and Margaret Bibby had a number of children, two of which I'll focus on here. Since both of them were born and raised in Ireland, they would be 100% Irish, and by extension their children, all born in Warren County, New York, would be 100% Irish.

This post was originally posted on WordPress in May 2018.

The first of those children I'll focus on here is Robert Byron Mills, later called RBM I or "Uncle Rob." He had one child with a woman named Hattie Ellen Stanley in 1901, named Stanley Sterling Mills (the first name coming from Hattie's maiden name and the middle name possibly coming from the Hotel Sterling which RBM I ran). Hattie's parents, Addison and Jane. Jane's parents are not known, but Addison's are, and it is clear that his ancestors had been in America since the 1640s. With this, it seems evident that Hattie did not have Irish blood in her, as far as we know. This would make Stanley 50% Irish. For all of us, however, Stanley is a dead-end because he died in 1934 in Cincinnati, with a very mysterious life, and had no children.

Dora, Cyrus, and their children

The second of those children, I'll focus on here, is Dorothy Ann Mills, also called Dora or Dory. She married a man named Cyrus Winfield Packard, who I know from my extensive research on the Packard family, had no Irish blood in him. This means all her children would be 50% Irish. One of her children was Robert Barnabas Packard, better known as RBM II or Bert, as he was renamed either by his own choice or by Uncle Rob as Robert Byron Mills II after Dora's death in 1895 when he was adopted by Uncle Rob. Now, since he was adopted, this means that his Irish blood descends from his mother Dora. As a result, he is 50% Irish as his mother was 100% Irish, and Cyrus had no Irish blood in him.

We then get to Bert. He married Miriam E. Hirst  and had three children: Robert Byron Mills III (Bob), Helen Eileen Mills (Helen), and Carol Ruth Mills. To my knowledge, the Hirsts were living in America by the 19th century, and likely earlier, with ultimate roots in England like the Stanley family which was mentioned earlier in this post. As such, they did not have Irish blood. With Bert having Irish blood, but Miriam not, this means that their three children would be 25% Irish. Without getting into the weeds too much, and off track, it seems evident that none of the spouses of Bob, Helen, or Carol had any Irish blood in them, but rather that of those who had immigrated from Europe, whether Albania, Germany, France, or elsewhere. With this, it would mean that all the children of Bob, Helen, and Carol, of which there are many, would be 12.5% Irish. Some of their children, had children, of which this writer is part of. This would make me, and all others of the same generation, you could say, 6.25% Irish. [1]

With this, you can't go around and wave an "Irish pride" flag or anything as that amount is utterly minuscule. But it is not insignificant. As such, it is part of a collective ancestry.

© 2018-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] According to my calculations, looking at previous family lineage, I am 25% Austro-Hungarian, 25% Italian, about 2% English, about 6% French, about 13% German, and about 6% Irish, as noted above.

[dweeborea]

Was inspired by the Brazillian Miku trend going on on Twitter at the moment..so here's an Irish Miku! :D

[harrywavycurly]

I just know a One Direction reunion would fix about 99% of the issues in my life.

[werewolfetone]

[xoxochb]

cabin fourteen - children of iris, goddess of rainbows and messages. bubbly, peaceful, bright

‘but one of these things is not like the others / like a rainbow with all of the colors / baby doll, when it comes to a lover’ - me!

[thecrystalalice]

Soft petals, sharp edges

[gay-laeg]

Cu Chúlainn is having a really bad day

Bonus (Conall’s Horse)

um

horses aren’t supposed to have a hounds head wth sharp teeth and ave the ability to kill people

[blackcrowing]

Authentic Irish Foods for Samhain

🩸 Blood pudding (living cattle could be bled through the winter to provide the material as well as collecting blood when the cattle were slaughtered to keep the numbers down for winter)

🫓 Brambrack

🍲 Stew

Lamb

Beef

Wild boar

Domestic pig

Deer

Goose

Mallard

Hare

🐗 Salted wild boar and domestic pig (it is possible that other meats were salted for preservation but given that salt was an expensive commodity and no records indicate other meats we simply do not know. I will note here that we also don't seem to have records of smoked meats for preservation during this time)

🦌 From Samhain to Bealtaine it was considered inappropriate to hunt wild game, including boar. So while wild meats were likely eaten and preserved through this time, much like crop harvests for Lughnasadh, any game that wasn't taken before this festival was supposed to be left alone to breed. (Very unlike our modern hunting schedules)

🍺 Mead and Barely ale

🥣 Porridge

Oat

Barley

🥛 Dairy (this would likely become more limited as the season progressed, but butter has been found in bogs, presumed to be preserved but potentially given as offerings)

Cow's milk

Butter

Curds

mulchán 'hard cheese' (the exact nature of this cheese is unknown but it was described as being extremely hard and could be stored for long periods of time)

🦪 Sea food

Sloke

Clams

Muscles

Crab

Halibut

Sea Salmon

🌿Native Culinary Plants growing in Ireland at this time of year

Skirret

Apples

Purple sprouting boccoli

Wild cabbage

Blackberry

Raspberry

Rowan berries

Elder berries

Sloes

Rosehip

Acorn

Chestnuts

Hazelnuts

Hen of the woods

Pullball

Fairy Ring Champignon

Chanterelle

Porcini

Black Trumpet

Saffron Milk Caps

Cauliflower Mushroom

Wood Blewit

Penny bun

There would be an abundance of foods at this point in the year, but that food would become lesser as the season progressed do to lack of production in the environment and the fact that this point in the year was a time for traveling and feasting (likely to increase bonds amongs the Tuatha and because people would not be as occupied with farming and raiding).

My Kofi

[llyfrenfys]

In which I try not to be That Guy TM when it comes to Irish ancestors: An exploration of ancestry, diaspora and culture

Because of The Horrors TM in my life atm I've been looking into my biological family tree. I'm adopted but estranged from my adoptive family and I never met my biological family since I was adopted just short of my 2nd birthday. I've been tracing my ancestry for about 3 years now and it's genuinely quite stress relieving to me. It's also fun and challenging from a research standpoint - putting together my own family tree gave me the skills to write articles like this one I wrote in 2022 about historical Welsh queer people, for example.

Lately, I've been finding out more about my Irish ancestors while an adoptee (and thus not knowing any of my biological family) - but also doing this as a Celticist and tired of people doing the 'my sister's friend's cousin's father's mother was Irish' thing. This has created an almost unbearable tension between curiosity at my own ancestry while trying not to be That Guy who finds out about one (1) Irish ancestor hundreds of years ago and is weird about it.

Especially since mine are quite distant ancestors - my great, great, great grandparents were born in Dublin and in a tiny village in County Down called Dunnaman (near Kilkeel). However, they were Irish Catholics and emigrated to Liverpool in the 1870s - all of their subsequent children and grandchildren were born in Liverpool and all of the above + great grandchildren were raised Catholic - including my grandmother (who died before I was born). So there was an obvious attempt to maintain that heritage. There's even evidence my great, great, great grandmother at least spoke Irish (which, as she was born in County Down, would have been Ulster Irish).

The problems with uncritically throwing oneself at an ancestor's nationality:

Now, not all North Americans of Irish (or Welsh, Scottish, Italian, Scandinavian, German etc.) descent do this - but there's a very vocal set of North Americans of Irish descent who find awe and interest in their ancestry - which is actually quite a positive thing! - however, due to either temporal or cultural disconnect, they may end up doing or saying things (and not necessarily with bad intentions) which can have a negative impact on the Irish and the Irish language (or [nationality] and [language(s) associated with that nationality].

I'm reminded of the time an American commented on a Welsh language rights post I made in support of Welsh speakers, but they accidentally ended up using a white nationalist slogan by mistake. It can be a minefield - and with regards to Ireland specifically, mistakes like that can be so much worse. To literally give my own (mild) example, today I decided to relearn Irish (since I haven't spoken any in years since being taught basics at undergrad) and picked up a blank notebook I bought at Tesco the other week, while completely forgetting the inside cover of the notebook was orange. I was planning on decorating the notebook anyway and painted it a different colour. While I know that nobody would really hold it against me if I didn't change the colour, I just know that walking around with an orange notebook filled with Irish I'm relearning because of interest in my Catholic ancestors could be a confusing set of messages, at the very least. If you don't understand why this is, look up the meanings of the colours on the flag of Ireland.

Which is to say, even those of us in Northern Europe who have significantly greater physical proximity to Ireland than North America (and therefore should know better) still can and do get things wrong. And not just benignly wrong like in my case.

The tendency for some North Americans of Irish descent (Canada isn't exempt from this) to conflate Irish ancestry with a contemporary connection to the modern countries located on the island of Ireland as a whole can have results ranging from 'a bit weird' to 'jesus fucking christ'. As a Celticist, I've seen far, far too many Americans of Irish descent try to weigh in on modern Irish politics without any background knowledge or tact at all - and naturally they stake their claim on modern Irish politics entirely on the premise of having distant Irish ancestors. Or, even worse, things start to get all phrenological.

'Irish blood' and the nonexistence thereof:

'Irish blood' is continually evoked by some to validate their sense of 'Irishness' and the obsession with '[insert nationality] blood' is a distinctly North American phenomenon- likely related to or an offshoot of the concept of 'blood quantum', in which enrolment into some Native American nations and tribes is determined by how much 'Native blood' a person has. Notably, many people who would ostensibly have been described under this system as 'full blood' were registered by the US as 'half blood'. This is a method of genocide intended to wipe out tribes and nations by imposing strict measures of who does or does not qualify to enrol into a tribe or nation. This concept seems to have been extrapolated over time (in a North American context at least) into the idea of descent from other nationalities' being measured in a similar or adjacent way. This is how you end up with some North Americans declaring they are '1/8 Italian and 1/4 Irish' on their dad's side etc. While in Europe (where these nationalities hail from, crucially) this practice is seen as a really weird way to describe your ancestry. In general, it's simply 'my 4 times grandfather came from Spain' or 'my great great grandfather on my dad's side came from Finland' etc. if it comes up at all. For various political reasons, many Europeans with descent from multiple other European nationalities may choose to omit to mention descent from certain nationalities, especially if in recent history there has been conflict between their birth nation and an ancestor's nation. The most famous example of this is literally the British royal family changing their surname from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the more 'British sounding' Windsor in 1917 due to the onset of the First World War.

Where it gets really weird (and also very offensive and rude) is when cultural stereotypes get invoked alongside the whole 'blood' thing in usually quite damaging and/or disparaging ways. I've seen way too many North Americans of Irish descent claim they're alcoholics because they have 'Irish blood' or even worse, claim it's normal to domestically abuse their spouses because of it!! (Genuine thing I have seen btw). Same goes for claiming to be a naturally good chef because of 'Italian blood' and so on. As a general rule, people from the place where your ancestors were from don't generally like to be inherently be considered drunks or prone to violence due to their nationality. Or have weird and inaccurate idealisms projected onto their language or cuisine.

Aren't there any positives?

It wouldn't be fair to make a post like this without mentioning some of the positives that can come from interest in an Irish ancestor. Like I mentioned at the start of this post, I myself felt inspired to relearn Irish because of my own Irish ancestors. I was taught the Connacht dialect at undergrad, however, since my ancestor was from County Down, I'm going to try and learn Ulster Irish instead. One doesn't need Irish ancestors to learn Irish of course - when I learned I wasn't aware I had any Irish ancestors. But being inspired to learn Irish because of an ancestor can't hurt and directly increases the number of Irish speakers in the world (provided you keep at it). This is a net positive for the language as a whole.

Similarly, people who have educated themselves on Irish politics because of their ancestry and genuinely learned something are also a positive thing to come out of discovering Irish ancestors. In my experience, these people are the kind of people I enjoy talking to about being a Celticist because they actively want to learn and respect the cultures being talked about. Which is huge to me!

Conclusion:

As a Welsh speaker whose national identity is more-or-less Jan Morris-esque, my Irish ancestry is an interesting facet of my ancestry I simply didn't know about before. And being an adopted person, I can sympathise with the general sentiment of a lot of white North Americans of feeling disconnected or alienated from any ancestral heritage. The conditions which create That Guy TM as described above rely on that sense of alienation to propagate a very ineffective, tactless and often very insensitive approach to Irish and other European cultures. But the important thing is that that approach can be challenged by people genuinely interested in their ancestry who are also conscientious of the living versions of the cultures their ancestors hailed from.

For me, that means learning Irish in a dialect my ancestors are likely to have spoken. I also visited the library today to check out some books on the Irish emigration to England and the sociopolitical reasons behind that emigration. I know the broad strokes, but the details are desirable to know to get a better idea of the why and how the country of my birth had a hand in creating the conditions which led my ancestors to emigrate in the first place. I think the world would be a better place if people took the time to understand the history and politics of ancestors which don't share their nationality.

As always, reblogs and thoughts are welcomed and encouraged!

Thank you for reading to the end - and if you'd like to support me, please see my pinned post. Diolch!

[heavenboy09]

March Is Known As 1 Of My Most Favorite Months Of The Early Year Besides January

IRISH AMERICAN HISTORY OR HERITAGE MONTH IS IT WERE.

YES YES YES. THE IRISH HAVE A MONTH ALL TO THEMSELVES AND COINCIDENTALLY

IT COEXIDES WITH OUR VERY GOOD LUCK/ LUCKIEST DAY OF THE YEAR.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY 🍀☘🇮🇪

Which would make sense anyway since its the only Irish Holiday anyone celebrates besides Ireland 🇮🇪

Anyway

Irish-American Heritage Month is celebrated by proclamation of the President and Congress in the United States to honor the achievements and contributions of Irish immigrants and their descendants living in the United States. It was first celebrated in 1991. The heritage month is in March to coincide with Saint Patrick's Day, the Irish national holiday on March 17. Heritage Months are usually proclaimed by nations to celebrate centuries of contributions by a group to a country.

So as a Fellow Irishman myself from My Dad's side of course.

To all of My Fellow Irish-Americans and Irishmen and Irish Women 🇮🇪

Go Forth and Make This Month Of March Grand as the Emerald Isles themselves and Let Our Culture Shine like A Shamrock ☘

THIS IS IRISH-AMERICAN HISTORY AND HERITAGE MONTH 🍀☘🇮🇪

#irishamericanheritagemonth🇮🇪🇺🇸

#IrishAmericanHeritageMonth #Irish #IrishPride #irishblood #irishblessing #Ireland

[alsoika]

I have such a headache.

[noeavoiding]

Isolation (2005) dir. Billy O'Brien

[amylouioc]

Part 4: The End of Deirdre and Naoise

This is my June postcard for my Irish Mythology Postcard Club! if you're interested in joining, you can subscribe here to receive a new postcard and story each month.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

[crowleyjacks]

the physicality of test matches (most of these were from the first 40 minutes)

[240713] RSAvIRE @ Durban, South Africa [X]