Yes, the Irish swear more than Americans. I hear this a lot from my American friends, who find it disconcerting that Irish in Ireland, especially those of an older generation, swear so much.

This is an 'Irish in Ireland' thing. Sometimes it seems they are swearing every second word ... because they actually are. Here are the reasons why:

1. Irrational exuberance:

Being Irish means you use language like a flowing stream of consciousness, every word out of your mouth has to be bettered by the next word.

Hence a string of swear words come ripping off the tongue.

Excited would be a fecking understatement.

2. For effect:

A long string of the f—word seems to get people’s attention, perhaps because they are burnt out from so much swearing themselves.

It helps relieve stress, too.

3. One-Upmanship:

One guy is shocked, swears and says “Jesus,” the next guy pipes in with “Jesus, Mary and Joseph” or “Holy Mary,” is trumped by “Holy Mary, mother of God,” and so on.

Well, actually I started one-upmanship so, um, actually, yeah.

4. Because they can:

The power of the church held swear words and rough talk in check. Lessened church power means lots of swearing.

Feels nice to get it out, y’know?

5. Makes them feel like rebels:

Nothing an Irishman likes more than to be considered a rebel.

Yeah. OK.

6. It disconcerts the snobs:

Those speaking with an upper-class Irish accent will literally run away and call a policeman when you start swearing at them.

You came to the wrong neighborhood, bruv.

7. Terms of endearment:

“How are ya ,ya f..er ya” or “Howya Bolix” are actually terms of endearment in Ireland.

You’re dumber than an oak, but I love you all the same

8: Impress women:

Some Irish men swear it adds to that strong and dangerous man image when you let loose a string of expletives in a burst of verbal diarrhea.

Yeah, that's a sure fire way to impress women. Once you leave they'll laugh at you.

9. Gets things off your chest:

A good old fashioned outburst of bad language acts like a dose of Epsom salts in purging the system. You feel much better after it.

All better now.

10. Impact:

The Irish have an international reputation for being charming. Those unaccustomed to our expletive was will often stand back when we let it rip.

An idea for children’s book: everybody swears.

11. Bonus one ... Irish animals understand:

Irish dogs and cats are well conditioned to understand the Irish swearing as in “Get outside ya bollix” after the toilet training fails. Some swearing pet owners swear the dogs and cats swear back at them occasionally.

NO! CAT!

* Originally published in 2014.

Special offer on home AncestryDNA kits for $69 will soon be closing. Will you discover you’re 81% Irish?

AncestryDNA, a DNA test that “tells a more complete story of you”, is currently on special offer until the end of August 15th (closing soon). So far, four million people have learned amazing details about their ancestry, will you be next?

For this short time only DNA kits, which are delivered to your home, are available for $69, reduced from $99. You can order your kit here.

The amazing kits, AncestryDNA, can pinpoint your origins to 26 ethnic regions. You could discover you’re 81% Irish or even 20% Scandinavian, 12% Iberian, or 2% Middle Eastern.

From discovering their ethnicity to connecting with distant relatives, the largest DNA network in the world is helping more people find the singular story in their DNA. Yours is just as unique, revealing traces of your family history—who your ancestors were and where they came from.

You'll also be connected to living relatives who share parts of your DNA. And since Ancestry has the unique ability to bring together DNA results with 80,000,000 family trees and billions of historical records, Ancestry can also help you fill in pieces of your family history.

How does AncestryDNA find your story? They have amassed the most diverse DNA collection on earth so they can use our latest science to compare your DNA to people all over the world—from small tribes in Africa to farmers in the Irish countryside.

An incredible story recently emerged, and was followed by the Washington Post and media around the world, when a woman, considering herself strongly Irish American, took an AncestryDNA test and discovered that she was in fact half Jewish. He DNA test unraveled a family secret, nearly a century old. You can read her full story here.

The AncestryDNA tests are truly amazing. Recently IrishCentral’s Founder Niall O’Dowd took a text “and was shocked at what” he discovered including that he has “roots tracing back to South East Asia thousands of years ago.” Even Reese Witherspoon has taken the test and it revealed she has Irish roots she was never aware about.

Isn’t it time you found out a little more about your ancestry?

Until the end of August 15th, AncestryDNA tests are available here, for the reduced price of $69. Order now and unearth some family history mysteries.

On the eve of the Civil War, New York City was home to over 200,000 native born Irish, one in four of the total population then. Tens of thousands of them later went to war – a fact that still has yet to be fully appreciated in Ireland. In "The Forgotten Irish: Irish Emigrant Experiences in America," author Damian Shiels reminds us why we have only grasped half the story.

Growing up in Ireland, we barely hear a word about the Irish who had fought in the American Civil War. Instead we hear almost exclusively about our own conflicts.

We hear all about the Great Hunger too: the causes, the effects, the enforced emigration that followed as the destitute Irish took to their coffin ships to escape the disaster.

What happened to the Irish once they made landfall in the United States was, we seem to have decided with our odd insularity, entirely their own business.

Like Oisin when he rode off to Tir na nOg, out of sight was out of mind. Good luck to him. There were disasters enough to be going on with back home.

This lack of curiosity was partly geographic; America was an ocean away. But it was also psychological.  It hurt to contemplate the physical severances that were unlikely to be mended.

In the 19th century the Irish actually waked intending immigrants as though they had died, because after they set off they effectively had.

So it falls to our historians to unite the story of the Irish. Uniting Ireland was never simply about borders or sovereignty it turns out.  It is also about reuniting our broken story.

In "The Forgotten Irish," historian Damian Shiels conjures the 19th century experiences of the Irish in America with the skill of a dramatist.  Assembling letters that let the long dead speak in their own words, he bridges a divide between their time and our own that does more than simply recite their history – it reconnects us to them.

In that regard we are living in a golden age. Reclaiming our lost or abandoned heritage and history has been the work of Irish artists and academics for almost 100 years, but the last three decades have been a particularly productive era.

Around 1.6 million native-born Irish people were living in the United States on the eve of the Civil War. That staggeringly large number was explained by British oppression and the Great Hunger. Exiles in their own country, they immigrated to the great industrial cities of America's north because they had no choice.

Once they made landfall they were someone else’s problem – not the Anglo Irish landlords who fleeced them, or the laws that exploited them so that they had no choice but to flee.

The journeys they made in that century are no longer possible.  That’s because when they left they were taking their language, their few possessions and their entire futures with them; they were as lost to their mother country as if they were journeying to the moon.

By delving into the widows and dependent pension records of the Irish women who were widowed by the American Civil War, Sheils has opened a window into the intimate details of their lives, offering us private snapshots of their lives and experiences in Ireland and America. It makes for eye-opening reading.

Sheils has a writer’s eye for the telling detail. Perusing the Civil War files in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., he examined the records of soldiers, their families and loved ones, tens of thousands of which happen to have been Irish-born.

As well as telling the stories of their involvement in the Civil War, these records follow their lives across decades, from their journey from Ireland to their new lives in America. Even the illiterate are given a hearing, since their hearers transcribe their experiences.

Just think of what so many of them went through. First there was the crisis of the Great Hunger and the voyage to America. Then the Civil War began, representing another great trauma in their lives.

By the time the war concluded, Sheils writes, some 200,000 Irish men had participated, the vast majority of them – as many as 180,000 – wearing Union blue.

There is no official record of how many native born Irish died in the Civil War, but it inarguably ran into the tens of thousands. Left behind were their widows, children and parents who would later seek pensions based on their service, in the process recording and leaving a record for us of how they had lived and died.

Despite the scale of the Irish involvement in the Civil War, the number of pension recipients in Ireland was small, a reminder of how rare it was for Irish emigrants to return to their home country in the 19th century.

From a list of thousands, Sheils’ book examines the lives and personal stories of just 35 Irish families, but in the process he tells the story of the Irish in that transformative and tumultuous century.

What unites these stories – the reason we have them – is loss. Each letter is written by the widows and dependents that were left behind.

There was, of course, much more to the full picture of the Irish in America, including much more happiness and success, but these are the stories of the bereaved, and the details that slip out of these letters makes them treasure stores of experience.

One elderly couple in Donegal is a particularly poignant example. In 1869 (corrected – Ed.) the Coyle family received an eviction letter from the Third Earl of Leitrim, William Sydney, a notorious landlord despised throughout Ireland.

Read more: Donegal in Pennsylvania - chain emigration and the American Civil War pension files

In their mid-seventies and infirm, the eviction could have left them destitute but for the service of their deceased son, who had died from mistreatment in captivity at the hands of the Confederate Army five years earlier. The Coyles’ application for a United States pension was successful, although it is not known if it was sufficient to save them from life on the road.

We do know what happened to the Third Earl of Leitrim, however. A decade after he sent the letter to the Donegal couple, a group of local Fanad men lay in wait for him along a road, killing him, his driver, and his clerk as they passed. To this day the men who killed him were never named or captured, but a monument was later erected to the “Fanad patriots” who sealed his fate.

By offering up the tales of these 35 families, it is possible to discern a fuller portrait of the century and the pictures that emerge are often immensely moving.

The great work ahead of our scholars and artists in this century will be to reunite our broken narrative. Sheils is alive to the implications of that undertaking, remarking that although the Irish experience of the Civil War is now well known and well recorded in the United States, it’s still largely a mystery in Ireland, where the sheer scale of the Irish involvement has yet to be fully appreciated. It’s time.

The Forgotten Irish: Irish Emigrant Experiences In America, The History Press $26.95

The legal document shows the music legend’s ancestors left Leinster for a new life in America around 1775

A court document from the 18th-century has provided proof that Elvis Presley had Irish roots. The man with the magic hips beloved by so many died on August 16, 1977. Today we remember the rock n' roll legend's Irish heritage.

The paper, which dates from 1775, shows that William Presley, the singer’s great-great-great-great-grandfather, left Leinster for a new life in America, the Irish Times reports.

Presley, a farmer, originally came from the townland of Stranakelly near Shillelagh, Co Wicklow. 

According to the court document, he claimed he had been savagely assaulted by a group of men in Hacketstown, in neighboring Co Carlow.

In Carlow Court of Assizes on August 25, 1775, Presley said he had been “violently insulted, assaulted, beat and abused” by a group of Wicklow men.

The men used their “whips and fists, dragged him down by the legs,” and when down, gave him “several kicks in his body and face,” all “without any provocation.”

Presley told the magistrate that the men were “swearing they would have his life.” 

He said was now in “great dread and fear of his life.”

He also named the perpetrators: “Andrew Morris of Mullannashea; Francis Morris of Whiterock; Samuel Morris of Cross; Thomas Morris, William Wilson, Thomas Matthers and Several Other Persons whose names Deponent knoweth not.”

The magistrate said he would list the case for a further hearing, although what happened next in court remains unknown.

Presley's set sail for New Orleans

Later that year, Presley left Ireland for America with his son Andrew, settling first in New Orleans. He later moved to Tennessee, where he died in 1802.

The historical paper will be auctioned in Dublin in Whyte’s Auctioneers Eclectic Collector sale on May 14. The document has an estimated value of €500-700.

The connection between William Presley and the rock and roll musical legend was discovered by genealogists three years ago, reports the Irish Times.

Auctioneer Ian Whyte said: “Elvis’s great-great-great-great-grandfather left Ireland after being attacked . . . this document proves the link and explains why Elvis was born in America.”

William Presley’s granddaughter Rosella “never married but had several children and one of these was a son called Jesse Presley.’

In 1913, Jesse married Minnie Mae and had their son Vernon Elvis Presley in 1916.

“Vernon married Gladys Love Smith in 1933 and their son Elvis Aaron Presley was brought into the world in January 1935.”

Of course, the Irish people didn't need this court document to prove Elvis' Irish connection. The King of Rock n' Roll is celebrated greatly in Hacketstown. Check out this brilliant video on the Elvis Festival:

* Originally published in 2016.

Ireland's most popular Irish girls' names and their old Irish meaning

Whether you're Irish, Irish American or just a lover of the Irish here are IrishCentral's top ten Irish girls names. Whether you're in the market for a classic Irish name or a cute, classic Irish girl's name we've got the most popular Irish girls names for you here.

Here we have a list of Ireland’s most popular female names of Irish origin and their meanings. The names are pulled from the Central Statistics Office’s 2013 release.

1. Aoife (pronounced: ee-fa)

This name means beautiful, radiant or joyful, and likely derives from the Gaelic word ‘aoibh’ meaning ‘beauty’ or ‘pleasure.’ In Irish mythology, Aoife is known as the greatest woman warrior in the world. She gave birth to the mythological hero Cuchulainn’s only son, Connlach, and was the daughter of a king of Connacht. Legend has it, her marriage was arranged by St. Patrick himself.

2. Caoimhe (pronounced: kwee-va or kee-va)

From the Gaelic word ‘caomh,’ this name means gentle, beautiful or precious.

3. Saoirse (pronounced: ser-sha)

This name means ‘freedom’ or ‘liberty.’ It has strong patriotic overtones and has only been in use since the 1920s.

4. Ciara (pronounced: kee-ra)

The feminine form of ‘Ciaran,’ this name comes from the Gaelic word ‘ciar,’ which means dark. It implies dark features, like hair or eyes. In history, St. Ciara was a distinguished figure who established a monastery in Co. Tipperary during the seventh century.

5. Niamh (pronounced: neev or nee-iv)

Meaning radiance, luster or brightness. In Irish mythology, Niamh was the daughter of Manannan, god of the sea - she was known as ‘Niamh of the Golden Hair’ and was usually depicted riding on a white horse. She was the lover of poet-hero Oisin; together they lived in Tir-na-nOg, the land of eternal youth.

Read more: What are the top 100 Irish last names?

6. Roisin (pronounced: ro-sheen)

This name means ‘little rose,’ and has been use in Ireland since the sixteenth century. When Irish patriotic poetry and song was outlawed in Ireland, Irish bands would disguise their nationalistic verses and love songs, and sing about Roisin Dubh (‘Dark Rosaleen’) as the poetic symbol for their country.

7. Clodagh (pronounced: clo-da)

Named for the River Clodagh, or Clody River, which runs through Co. Tipperary and Co. Wexford. Like most Irish rivers, the name is associated with a female deity.

8. Aisling (pronounced: ash-ling)

This name means ‘dream’ or ‘vision’ from the Gaelic word ‘aislinge’ and refers to an “aisling,” which is a poetic genre of Irish language poetry from the late 17th century. It only started being used as a first name in the 20th century. The poetic genre has been personified in Ireland as a beautiful woman in peril.

9. Eabha (pronounced: ey-va)

This is the Irish form of Eve (Adam and Eve are Ádhamh agus Éabha in Irish). It means ‘life,’ but comes with all of the connotations of the name Eve, i.e. the mother of all the living.

10. Aoibhinn (pronounced: ey-veen or ee-van)

This name means pleasant, beautiful sheen of radiant beauty. It was a common name for princesses among the royal families of Ireland that has been revived in recent years.

What's your favorite Irish girl's name? Did it make the list? Let us know below.

Read more: Irish names that are most mispronounced in America

* Originally published October 2014.

Celtic symbols for love, Celtic symbols for family, Celtic symbols for strength and more in our guide to Celtic symbols and their meanings

Celtic symbols held incredibly meaningful powers in the lives of those living from approximately 500 B.C. to 400 A.D. Celtic symbols can be beautifully intricate and in some cases filled with intense mystery as to the various meanings behind them. Historically we have very little to go off when attempting to grasp the true sense behind them. Many of the recurring themes in the meaning of Celtic symbols are love, loyalty, energy, wisdom, and war. 

We have created a list of some of the most well known Celtic symbols to learn a little more about the language and intention of them.

Triskelion

The Triskelion symbol is made up of three conjoined spirals and rotational symmetry. Nature and the movement of life is the well-known meaning of the symbol, describing the past, present, and future. The symbol also shows strength in Celtic culture, it shows moving forward from adverse conditions.

Triquetra: Symbol Of Eternal Spiritual Life

The Triquetra is one continuous line interweaving around itself which symbolizes the eternal spiritual life.

Carolingian Cross

It represents unity, balance, and the eternity of God.

Claddagh Ring

The Claddagh ring is known worldwide and continues to be worn as jewelry because of its meaning. The heart on the ring represents love while the hands represent friendship, and the crown represents loyalty. 

Celtic Cross

It’s believed that the first Celtic cross was formed by St. Patrick while bringing Christianity to the Druids.

The Awen

The Awen is a Neo-Druid symbol of balance.

Are there any Celtic symbols we didn’t mention that you like? Let us know in the comments.

Guglielmo Marconi’s biography reveals an incredible link with the creators of one of the world’s most famous Irish whiskeys.

National Radio Day 2017 is upon us and what better way to celebrate than with a look at the incredible Irish connections of radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi and his mother’s famous family. Yes, National Radio Day on August 20 is a day made for the Irish, who have a great fondness for radio, maybe because of our great fondness for chatting and talking.

The invention of the radio changed the world completely and you may be surprised to learn that Marconi’s mother was, in fact, a member of the Jameson family. Yes, Annie Jameson, married to Giuseppe Marconi was the granddaughter of John Jameson who founded the famous Irish whiskey distillers Jameson & Sons in Dublin in the 1780s. Annie’s father, John Jameson’s son Andrew, was a famous distiller in his own right as well, founding a Jameson distillery in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, and settling with his wife Margaret Millar in Daphne Castle, on the outskirts of Wexford.

Although born in Bologna, Italy, on April 25, 1874, it’s amazing to think that the pioneer of radio communication and inventor of the first practical system of wireless telegraphy has an Irish family connection and such remarkable Irish heritage.

Marconi is also believed to have been a frequent visitor to Ireland, often visiting the castle during his boyhood summers, although unfortunately he Wexford distillery and castle no longer exists.

Read more: Top Irish inventions that changed the world

But wait! This isn’t the last of Marconi’s Irish connections. Not only was his mother Irish but he married an Irish woman. On March March 16, 1905, the famous inventor married the Hon. Beatrice O’Brien, a daughter of Edward Donough O’Brien, 14th Baron Inchiquin and High Sheriff of Clare.

O’Brien, in fact, grew up in Dromoland, Co. Clare but moved to London with her mother in 1900 after the death of her father. It was here that she met Marconi who lived up to the Italian passionate personality stereotype by immediately broke off his engagement to an American woman to pursue her. O’Brien wasn’t taken in by his fame, however, and initially declined his proposal only to eventually agree, entering into a very short-lived marriage that was annulled with both again re-marrying.

And that’s still not all! Guglielmo’s Irish connection continued via his business interests as it was Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, that acted as the site of the world’s first commercial wireless telegraph transmission, performed by Marconi’s employees, on 6 July 1898. His company had established a wireless transmitting station at Marconi House, Rosslare Strand, Co. Wexford and begun a regular transatlantic radio-telegraph service between Clifden, Co. Galway and Glace Bay in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Marconi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909 and died in 1937 aged 63 following a series of heart attacks. His Irish ex-wife O’Brien visited him as he lay in state.

The story of how the Irish came to Milwaukee is a quintessentially American tale of immigration, hardship, community, and adventure.

The first trickle of immigrants from Ireland to Milwaukee arrived in the 1830s. At this time, Wisconsin was not yet a state but a vast territory almost devoid of white settlement. Today we think of the state as being part of the ‘Midwest’ but then there was thought to be nothing ‘middling’ about its geography: it was a part of the West, plain and simple.

To make the journey to Milwaukee and set up home there required true pioneer spirit and the hardy handful of Irish who were among the city’s first inhabitants were flushed with a sense of adventure.

In the early years, Milwaukee was dominated by Germans; they were the city’s preeminent group but by the end of the 1840s growing number of Irishmen and women had begun to settle in the city.

The reason was not hard to pinpoint. The Great Famine that began in 1845 left a scar on the Irish soul that will never heal. A million died and a further million and a half fled - the vast majority going to America.

Chased across the Atlantic by sharks that tailed the coffin ships looking for an easy meal, the result was that by 1848 some 15% of the population of Milwaukee was Irish.

Few when stepping aboard a ship bound for the New World would have told their fellow travelers they intended to strike out west. Most made a go it at first back east and the average arrival had already spent seven years in America before they decided to hitch their wagon west.

For those that did, a few common trends emerged. First of all, the land was cheaper the further you got from the east coast and after centuries of landlords, many Irish found the prospect of buying a patch of land to call their own an irresistible pull.

For others, it was simply a sense of adventure. They had come this far, seen so much, why not push on even further?

One Mrs. Greaney persuaded her husband and his brother to move west because she, “could always see bright things in the distance.”

Three brothers from the Burren in Co. Clare - an area particularly badly hit by the Famine - had thought to settle in Illinois but after they were told there was a fever in the state they decided to press on to Wisconsin which an old man had told them had “the best drinking water in the world!”

Often, all it took was for one Irishman to end up in Milwaukee and dozens more of his friends would follow.

For their part, the Territorial Government was eager to encourage more immigration and placed adverts in all the major Irish newspapers back east urging readers to make the trip west.

It took, “An entrepreneurial spirit and a willingness to take chances [for people] to make the trek westward”, the historian David Holmes concluded and the result was a city of hardy Irish folk, keen to work hard and willing to make a success of their new city.

The building of railroads saw a flood of Irishmen race west to help in the construction and after the tracks were laid and the last paycheck cashed hundreds decided they wouldn’t leave but settle down in Wisconsin.

As with everywhere in America, sectarianism against the Irish was rife and one of the great attractions of Milwaukee was that many of their new German neighbors were Catholic, too.

Nevertheless, it took several generations before the two would seamlessly blend together and most Irish lived strictly amongst their fellow countrymen and women.

Most settled in Downtown Milwaukee and the area soon garnered something of a reputation as an Irish “ghetto”.   

Others preferred to set up home in the more rural areas that surrounded the city and it was here, isolated from German or Anglo-Saxon influences, that the Irish culture took root deepest of all.

One William Shea, a native speaker of the Irish language, recalled asking two teenage girls for directions to his Uncle Joe’s in broken English shortly after arriving in Wisconsin.  

“When I asked them the way to Uncle Joe’s, they started making fun of me, and I told them in Irish they could kiss my ass and one girl answered back in Irish and said, ‘I don’t have to.’”.

As they put down roots, so the Irish became into politics and, although the Milwaukee Irish never grew into as strong a faction as the Irish in New York in Massachusetts, they did exert a certain influence over the politics of their state.

Most Irish became strong supporters of the Democratic Party - the Republicans were regarded suspiciously as a Protestant party and the Democrats hailed as the champions of immigrants.

In 1852, the state legislature’s Irish caucus succeeded in passing a motion condemning Britain for their imprisonment of Thomas Francis Meagher and his associates following the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848.

Tragically in 1860, just as the community was beginning to flex its political muscles, many of its best and the brightest were snatched away.

One night in September the PS Lady Elgin left Chicago where many passengers had been to hear Lincoln’s opponent, Stephen A. Douglas, give a campaign speech.

But the ship was soon being buffeted by gale force winds and crashed into a small schooner. Within 20 minutes the ship had sunk below the wild waves of Lake Michigan, taking 300 souls with it.

The vast majority of the dead were Irish and every single Irish family was said to have lost a relative. Due to the political nature of the trip, a great number were involved in politics and historians have since speculated that the loss of so much talent permanently transferred the balance of power to Milwaukee’s German community.

The community did go on to provide the city with its longest-ever serving mayor, Daniel Hoan. Mayor Hoan was elected in 1916 and served 24 years back to back in office. A staunch socialist, he is credited with launching the city’s system of public buses after the death of a friend at the dangerous driver.

But few would argue that the Wisconsin Irish ever wielded the same power or clout as their relatives to the east.

As the last of the city’s first generation immigrants died off after the First World War, so too did the community’s collective political cohesion. The Irish in Milwaukee were just as likely to vote for the Republican candidate as their neighbors and many proudly cast their votes for the most hated man ever spawned by Irish America: Senator Joseph McCarthy.

McCarthy grew up in eastern Wisconsin where few of other Irish had settled and his mostly Dutch Catholic neighbors dubbed his home, “the Irish settlement".

In the 1950s, there was still a general suspicion amongst Protestant Americans that Catholics’ primary loyalty was to the Pope and not the United States. Historians have debated whether McCarthy’s rabid anti-communism was an attempt to prove his loyalty to the country he loved.

And many of his Irish American constituents flocked to his banner of hatred with enthusiasm.

“Everyone knows,” one letter wrote to an Irish paper opined, “the great job Senator Joseph McCarthy is doing in fighting communist infiltration in America. Only recently the Bishop of Cork, after a visit to America, revealed the courageous fight McCarthy has made against communism. It is the duty of the Catholic… not to sit idle, or remain indifferent to this attack on a fellow Irishman and Catholic of whom we are proud.”

If Irish Wisconsinites were key to the rise of one famous Republican, 60 years later they received a mixture of ire and praise for helping elected Donald Trump as President. The state had been regarded as part of Hillary’s “blue firewall” but the hemorrhaging of the Catholic vote saw the Badger State turn a surprising shade of red on election night.

Today, only 6.5% of Milwaukee’s population claims Irish heritage (rising to 11% across the state of Wisconsin) but they’re an influential few percent without a doubt.  

As the world looks skyward for the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 we recall Ireland's 5,000 years of history with astronomy

The Irish have a long and distinguished history with eclipses. Images of the first recorded eclipse were carved into stone cairns at Loughcrew in Meath over 5,000 years ago, but one of the first eclipses, of the common era, was also recorded in Ireland, by an Irish monk on June 29, 512 in the Chronicle of Ireland. 

A dramatic solar eclipse is set to take place in America today, August 21. It's the first nationwide eclipse since 1918 and it should be visible all over the United States. It will occur for two minutes as the moon passes between the earth and sun. Stars and planets will be visible in the sky.

Eclipses were first recorded by the Irish

Our ancient Irish ancestors carved images of an ancient eclipse into giant stones over 5,000 years ago, on November 30, 3340BC to be exact. This is the oldest known recorded solar eclipse in history.

The illustrations are found in the Stone Age “Cairn L,” on Carbane West, at Loughcrew, outside Oldcastle, in County Meath. The landscape of rolling hills is littered with Neolithic monuments. Some say that originally there were at least 40 to 50 monuments, but others say the figure was more like 100.

“Cairn L” received a mention in Astronomy Ireland’s article: “Irish Recorded Oldest Known Eclipse 5,355 Years Ago.” They noted that the Irish Neolithic astronomer priests recorded the events on three stones relating to the eclipse, as seen from that location.

During their research at Loughcrew, Martin Brennan and Jack Roberts discovered that the sun illuminates this chamber on the mornings of Samhain and Imbolc, the ancient Celtic festivals. These important dates lie during the first week of November and the first week of February, the ancient cross-quarter days. Though this may not be the original alignment we are still left with a spectacular display.

The 3340BC eclipse is the only eclipse that fits out of the 92 solar eclipses in history tracked by Irish archaeo-astronomer expert, Paul Griffin. With none of the technology available to our modern experts, the ancient Irish constructed these complex structures, that not only have endured for more than 5,000 years but were built with such accuracy that they continue to perform their astronomical functions today.

Many believe that the ancient Celts created the “festival of light” to welcome the eclipse, that is, they knew it was coming.

The ancient structure of the “Cairn L” remains a mystery. The most unusual aspect of the monument is a tall pillar stone within the chamber known as the “Whispering Stone.” This limestone pillar is two meters tall (6'7") and gives the impression that the whole chamber and cairn were built to house it.

Below is an illustration of the interior. This drawing, from c. 1870, is by Eugene Conwell, who discovered the structure.

On August 26, 1980, Brennan and Roberts observed the full moon entering and illuminating the end recess of the cairn. The moon struck a cup mark on the endstone and then moved to the right to illuminate the bottom of the Whispering Stone. Little observational research has been done on the movements of the moon in these monuments.

Read more: What you need to know about August’s solar eclipse?

H/T: Carowkeel and Newgrange.

* Originally published in September 2015.

Four-day celebration of Irish culture in Wisconsin a massive carnival of craic and ceoil

“Live and Legendary” as the festival’s own tag line put it, the 37th Milwaukee Irish Fest was a massive success including an opening performance by Gaelic Storm, a showcase of talent from TradFest Temple Bar, renowned international chefs and much more over the four days of culture, craic and ceoil (that’s fun and music).

Milwaukee Irish Fest is the world’s largest celebration of Celtic music and culture. The four-day festival showcases more than 100 entertainment acts on 17 stages at Henry W. Maier Festival Park on Milwaukee’s lakefront. The annual celebration of all things Irish is proudly presented by CelticMKE, a non-profit organization dedicated to igniting a love of Celtic culture in all people. With the help of more than 4,000 volunteers, CelticMKE and Milwaukee Irish Fest promote Celtic music, dance, drama, sports, culture, children’s activities and genealogy through the annual festival, as well as year-round programming.

This year’s highlights included:

Big shows!

Milwaukee Irish Fest welcomed Dublin’s world-renowned TradFest Temple Bar for its very first engagement on U.S. soil.

Created in collaboration with the Dublin City Council, the TradFest Dublin Showcase featured artists who have previously appeared at TradFest Temple Bar. The show included talents such as Aoife Scott, Goitse, Frankie Gavin, The Maguires, Dermot & Flo, The Young Folk, Paddy Keenan and Cúig.

Other shows of note were the opening performance by Gaelic Storm and The Beatles – Celtic Style starring We Banjo 3, Skerryvore, and friends.

Culture

Northern Ireland author Tony Macaulay launched the American publication of his memoir, Little House on the Peace Line, at Milwaukee Irish Fest. Macaulay also appeared in the Hedge School to discuss the work he and his wife do towards the reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

Food and drink

Failte Ireland Food Ambassador, Chef Pádraic Óg Gallagher of Boxty House, Temple Bar, Dublin shared lively Irish stories, delicious food and recipes in the Celtic Kitchen.

New to the festival, Mulligan's Irish Pub offered guests award-winning Irish lamb stew, Reuben quesadillas and an Irish banger sandwich.

And two new whiskeys, the Yellow Spot and Green Spot, made their Milwaukee Irish Fest debut at The Jameson Lounge.

In addition to the newest food and drinks at the festival, there was, as always, classic Irish fare that really hit the spot. Festivalgoers had the chance to sample traditional Irish stew, corned beef and cabbage, and a festival favorite, Gilles Jameson Frozen Custard.

Music

Milwaukee Irish Fest welcomed 15 new acts in 2017, including contemporary talents like The Young Folk, Hermitage Green and Brave Giant.

Additional acts who played sets at the Fest included Celtica Pipes Rock, The East Pointers, The Fitzgerald's, and Open the Door for Three.

Several festival favorites also made a return in 2017, including Gaelic Storm, We Banjo 3, JigJam, Skerryvore, Dervish and The High Kings.

Arts, culture and more

The Cultural Village at Milwaukee Irish Fest featured Celtic art, history, genealogy and shopping. Visitors had the opportunity to meet authors at the Literary Corner, walk through exhibits showcasing Irish history, visit the Irish language area to learn simple Gaelic phrases, talk with research consultants in the Genealogy area or catch the new play, Galway Girl, in the theatre pavilion.

Fun for the whole family

From young to old, the festival holds something for all!

Families could collect stamps for Pirate Paddy passports, catch daily parades, search for gold in the Leprechaun Village, and participate in highland games, crafts and mini-golf. Plus, festivalgoers had the chance to check out daily family entertainment at the Children’s Stages, including performances by fan favorite, Scythian.

Sports

Milwaukee Irish Fest featured several sporting events to watch and try out, such as Tug-of-War competitions, Currach races held in the lagoon, Gaelic football and hurling. Many also offered demonstrations as a hands-on way to learn more about the Irish sports.

To learn more about the Milwaukee Irish Fest check out their website irishfest.com or follow the festival on Facebook.

A remarkable photo of "The Big Fella" Michael Collins taken just hours before his death was uncovered in an attic

After being hidden away for 90 some years, a remarkable photo of Michael Collins taken just hours before his death was uncovered in a Dublin attic in 2012.

The images, captured using an old Brownie camera, were taken on August 22, 1922, by 18-year-old Agnes Hurley from Bandon. One shot features Collins in the back of the military vehicle in which he was driven to his death just hours later.

The Hurley collection spans 20 years from 1921. It was lost and found again in 2012 in a Dublin attic by her niece Mim O’Donovan.

O'Donovan brought the photographs to the 'Revolutionary Decade Roadshow' in Clonakilty, organized by University College Cork.

Another picture shows the scene at Béal na Bláth where Collins was killed on August 23, 1922, the day after the ambush.

No photograph of the site where Collins died was known to exist previously.

"Aggie went to Béal na Bláth to see what had happened because they'd heard gunshots the previous day.

"She took hundreds of photographs over the years and dated the back of every single one," O'Donovan told the Irish Independent.

Cork archivist Brian Magee described the find as "extraordinary".

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* Originally published in April 2012.

Where are The Big Fella's mugshots? They don’t exist because they were never taken

One of the great mysteries concerning the Easter Rising – and the subsequent arrest of its participants – is why didn’t the British photograph their prisoners? As someone who has written two books on Michael Collins, who was assassinated 95 years ago today, this has always bothered me.

"Why?" because Collins’ survival depended on his anonymity. With a £5,000 (sometimes embellished to £10,000) bounty put on his head by Winston Churchill, Collins walked about the streets of Dublin at the height of the terror in 1919-20 and almost never feared for his survival. There are many reasons for this.

Collins believed that if you didn’t look guilty you had nothing to worry about. He always dressed impeccably and carried an attaché case. He was a businessman. Why would the British bother a busy businessman?

When he went into the Great Brunswick (now Pearse) Street Dublin Metropolitan Police Station on April Fool’s Day 1919 to read his file, he discovered that they had a poor photograph of him taken in profile. He promptly pinched it, which left them with no picture at all.

Read more: A delayed message from Michael Collins to army headquarters may have cost him his life

Collins was also the perfect chameleon. I have never seen someone who could change their facial appearance so dramatically. The differences between the scowling Collins and the laughing Collins are so great that they are like two different, distinct people. This is especially evident in the official photograph of the members of the First Dáil where Collins has an absolute look of disgust on his face.

Collins never missed a wedding. The tradition at the time was that the entire wedding party lined up to be photographed. Collins, always the perfect guest, duly lined up with everyone else, but when the photographer said “watch the birdie” Collins always dropped or turned his head. I have seen at least five or six of these photos from different weddings.

However, the biggest mystery regarding the missing mugshot goes all the way back to the Easter Rising. After the rebels were rounded up they were taken to Richmond Barracks for processing. There they were separated into elites and non-elites. Legend has it that Collins saw that the elites were probably going to be shortly staring down the barrel of a rifle and crossed the room and lined up with the non-elites. Shortly thereafter he was shipped off to Stafford Prison in England and then Frongoch Prison Camp in Wales.

There are a few clues as to what happened at Richmond Barracks. Vinny Byrne, one of Collins’ "Twelve Apostles,” said in his witness statement that he was fingerprinted while at Richmond Barracks. Thanks to his young age he was soon sent home to his mammy – a dramatic blunder on the part of the British.

Read more: The ten greatest quotes of Irish hero Michael Collins

After all the research I’ve done over the years (reading many witness statements) I have come to the conclusion that the British, in their rush to execute the leaders and deport the rest, simply did not take mugshots of the participants. And this would be natural because the British processed thousands in the days after the Rising.

Recently the Irish Times reported that rare mugshots from 1916 were going on sale. The Irish Times did not say where these mugshots have been, but one can guess that they were in someone’s attic for the last hundred years.

These mugshots are important because they contain the photographs of two of Collins’ closest associates: Liam Tobin (#4 W. Tobin) and Piaras Béaslaí (#6 P. Beazley), who was Collins’ first biographer. Tobin was one of the most important members of the IRA in Dublin in 1919-20. This is because he was the Assistant Director of Intelligence (Collins was the chief) with an office at #3 Crow Street in Dublin. The office is a mere two blocks from Dublin Castle but was never discovered by the British.

I decided to check the witness statements of both Béaslaí and Tobin. Béaslaí’s shed no light whatsoever. Tobin’s statement, however, told his 1916 story. (Surprisingly his statement ends after his incarceration and he never mentions his work for Collins.)

During the Rising Tobin fought at the Four Courts before his unit's surrender. He was taken to Richmond Barracks to be questioned and processed. For some reason Tobin, a regular foot soldier in the Volunteers without rank, was singled out, sent to Kilmainham Gaol, and sentenced to death, which was immediately commuted to penal servitude. (His harsh treatment may have been because he fought at the Four Courts under Commandant Ned Daly and they had given the British a brutal time.)

Read more: Pathe clips show Michael Collins on the day he "signed his own death warrant"

The Irish Times speculates that the mugshots, including those of Tobin and Béaslaí, “were taken at Richmond Barracks in Dublin – a British army facility in Inchicore where most of the rebels were taken after the Rising. It is believed that the photos were taken by the Dublin Metropolitan Police, who were called on to assist the military in processing the detainees.”

I disagree with this. Tobin was then removed to Mountjoy Gaol for a while before being deported to Britain. He makes no mention of being photographed while at either Richmond Barracks or Kilmainham Gaol. But when he moved to Mountjoy he was “received by warders, had a bath and the usual prison routine gone through.”

Could that “usual prison routine” included the taking of mugshots? I think so because both Richmond (a military facility) and Kilmainham (an antique of a prison even in 1916) were not equipped with the photographic equipment to take mugshots. Mountjoy, of course, would have had such equipment.

Read more: How Michael Collins helped save Winston Churchill's career

So where are Michael Collins’ mugshots? With a great degree of certainty, I can speculate that they don’t exist because they were never taken. Collins, like many of his fellow GPO rebels, was quickly processed at Richmond Barracks and taken to the North Wall for his voyage on the cattle boat to England.

The British, in their rush for vengeance, probably only photographed a handful of their 3,000 prisoners, mainly those few who were sent to Mountjoy Gaol like Tobin. This blunder, in less than six years, would cost them their first colony, Ireland.

---

Dermot McEvoy is the author of the "The 13th Apostle: A Novel of a Dublin Family," "Michael Collins, and the Irish Uprising and Irish Miscellany" (Skyhorse Publishing). He may be reached at dermotmcevoy50@gmail.com. Follow him at dermotmcevoy.com. Follow The 13th Apostle on Facebook.

Behind their glamorous looks and “Camelot” fame, the Kennedy dynasty held a vast array of dark secrets

The hidden happenings took place before, during, and after John F. Kennedy’s presidency - from missing and shunned siblings to gambling addictions, promiscuity, family rules, infidelity and bribery. Biographers slowly started to debunk the theory that JFK’s presidency was akin to the story of Camelot, showing the public that underneath the dynasty’s image of perfection and ambition was a collection of sinister undertakings. Here is a list of 10 skeletons in the Kennedy family’s closet.

The lobotomy of Rosemary Kennedy

Referred to by biographers as “The Missing Kennedy,” Rosemary Kennedy was the eldest daughter of the dynasty, who was forced by her father to undergo a wrongful frontal lobotomy that, at age 23, left her unable to speak or walk.

Her parents Joseph and Rose had feared their daughter was severely learning disabled as she had a low IQ, and had technically the mental capacity of someone aged 8-12. So when she grew older and quite physically alluring, attracting admirers, her parents found her sexuality to be “dangerous” and didn’t let her leave the house, which resulted in violent tantrums and acting out.

Her parents feared that their daughter’s mental state would puncture the family’s image of perfection and ambition, and so Joseph decided to bring Rosemary to a facility in upstate New York to have a prefrontal lobotomy performed when all she had needed was psychological therapy.

In the operating room, the doctor asked Rosemary to speak the months of the year aloud to him and tell him stories, as he scraped away her brain tissue, stopping when she could barely speak anymore. The procedure left her completely disabled, and she was kept hidden away from the public eye. Her story didn’t become public knowledge until over forty years later.

Commonplace and accepted infidelity

Because of her husband Joseph’s known infidelities, matriarch Rose Kennedy taught all of her daughters-in-law to ignore the inevitable infidelities of her sons. It became such a regular aspect of Kennedy relationships that they were rarely mentioned between partners, and were both accepted and ignored.

JFK had an array of known mistresses, including Marilyn Monroe, White House intern Mimi Alford, and actress Marlene Dietrich - in retaliation, Jackie rounded up extramarital affairs of her own, including Marlon Brando, Paul Newman and Warren Beatty. In one known story told by a friend of Jackie’s, Jackie once found a pair of women’s underwear in her White House bedroom and handed them to John, saying coolly, "Can you find out where these came from? They're not my size."

Jackie and John had a tumultuous marriage, and came to see their partnership as just that, maintaining love for one another as parents while ignoring yet accepting the infidelities under the surface.

In an Atlantic article, journalist Caitlin Flanagan wrote: “Their time together was unsullied by domestic drudgery, enriched by their shared love of reading and gossip, made meaningful by the joy of raising two children and the sorrow of losing two others.”

Jackie’s promiscuous past

Though Jackie was initially seen as JFK’s “virgin bride,” her promiscuous past reared its head in biographies: the most famous story being how she lost her virginity in an elevator that was stuck between two floors, to the son of French novelist John P. Marquand. Her stories are included in “Jackie Kennedy Onassis: Life Beyond her Wildest Dreams” by Danforth Prince and Darwin Porter, in which Marquand is quoted saying Jackie was “so hot to trot she couldn’t wait until I got inside my apartment,” causing him to deliberately stop the elevator.

After she came out as Debutante of the Year at the age of 18, Jackie dated numerous wealthy bachelors. She studied in France, reportedly romancing students, ski instructors, intellectuals and men of Parisian high society. During a party at Lady Astor’s home in Buckinghamshire, she’s said to have disappeared into a bedroom with Hollywood legend Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

She also had quite a close relationship with JFK’s brother Teddy, who admitted to being in love with her. In the biography, the authors wrote: “Teddy stood by Jackie through one crisis after another, becoming the one man in her life she could depend on.”

Shunned Kick Kennedy

Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy is referred to by biographers as the Kennedy family’s “forgotten sister.” She had a zest for life and a rebellious spirit, but was shunned by her devoutly Catholic family for marrying Protestant English aristocrat William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, whom she charmingly called “Billy.”

It was a known fact that Kick had been her father’s favorite, and had previously had quite a close relationship with her brother JFK, but marrying outside of the church was considered to be the biggest sin possible. Only one Kennedy was in attendance at Kick’s wedding - her older brother Joe Jr. Four months later, William Cavendish was killed at war.

Soon after, Kick died in a tragic plane crash at the age of 28 alongside her new lover, Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam, who’d been married to someone else at the time. The only Kennedy to attend her funeral was her father.

Although Kick was shunned by her family, she was a big hit in England, widely loved for her charming and humorous personality. Her niece and namesake wrote of her aunt: “She was idiosyncratically charming. She would call the Duke of Marlborough ‘Dukie-Wookie’ and chewed gum walking down the streets of London.”

Lady Jean Ogilvy recalled a dinner party where Kick threw a bread roll down the table at a guest: “If someone else had done that, it might have been rude or shocking...but she had this way about her that made it seem an absolute liberation.”

Family rules of matriarch Rose Kennedy and dinner table habits

As the closest America’s come to a Royal Family, it’s no surprise that the Kennedys had behavioral rules to abide by. Matriarch Rose Kennedy took these rules very seriously: the most important one was “Kennedys don’t cry.” It’s no secret that the family was faced with an extraordinary amount of early death and tragedy, but Rose has said in an interview: “It would be selfish and demoralizing to focus on our tragedies. When the children come home, we try not to talk about [them].

There was a saying after Jack died, for the grandchildren, no crying in the house. If you cry, you'll be sent back to wherever you come from. I insisted that.” In interviews, she also discussed being obsessive about tracking the weight of her children and did not allow them to eat certain foods, as she wanted them to stay lean. She also admitted to physically punishing them with a ruler when they misbehaved at the dinner table.

Dinners in the Kennedy household were more about work than family bonding: the kids were given topics to learn up on, and had to present reports on the subjects at dinner. In a biography by Evelyn Lincoln, she wrote: “If the children arrived even seconds late, they did so at their peril. If one of their guests was tardy, Joe would often fly into a rage and administer a tongue-lashing. One such victim, a pal of Jack’s who never returned, later recalled.

‘The other kids, including Jack, sat around the table, heads bowed, apparently frightened to death.’ The children stood when their mother entered. They were required to listen attentively when their father lectured on any topic (sometimes with a map) and to respond clearly and intelligently when he asked detailed questions about their activities, current events, and matters of general knowledge. There was never to be silliness, irreverence, or even relaxation at a formal family meal.’”

The 1 million dollar divorce bribe

Sources close to the Kennedy family have confirmed that Jackie knew early on she was unhappy in her marriage to JFK, and wanted a divorce before he took office. However, in the biography, author Darwin Porter says that Kennedy patriarch Joe Kennedy offered her 1 million dollars not to go through with the divorce, for fear of ruining the incoming president’s clean image.

Porter writes: “Jackie’s aristocratic heritage was total fantasy in the same way that Jackie created the myth of Camelot at the White House. It never existed. She wasn’t happy in her marriage to Jack Kennedy and before he became president she wanted a divorce. Jack’s father Joe Kennedy offered her $1 million to stay, knowing that a divorce would destroy Jack’s political future.”

Jackie’s father and general upbringing

Though Jackie grew up under a generally privileged lifestyle, her family had dark secrets of their own. Most notable is her notorious father, John Vernou Bouvier III, who was nicknamed by friends and foes as “Black Jack,” mainly because of his vice-filled lifestyle and gambling addiction. Porter writes in his biography that he was “a hedonist, a rogue, a gambler, a scoundrel, a rascal, a libertine and a heart breaker. He led a dissolute life which featured promiscuous sex and reckless spending.” He was also known to have been bisexual.

Biographers write that although Black Jack was a well-known socialite, his status was exaggerated. Jackie grew up on her grandfather’s 14-acre estate - he had built an English-inspired manor to embody the family’s supposedly noble history, “but their genealogy was invented,” Porter writes. “They wanted it to appear that they had breeding, power, and money for centuries.”

“The Major traced his family back to French aristocracy, but they were actually cabinet makers, maids, ironmongers, tailors, shopkeepers, tavern owners, farmers and chimney sweeps. He even created a fake coat of arms.”

Reports say Jackie was walked down the aisle on her wedding day by her stepfather, even though her father had been in attendance because Black Jack had been too intoxicated to walk her himself.

The family’s secret service nicknames

The US Secret Service uses code names for all US presidents and their families, originally for security purposes, but today, as electronic communication can be encrypted, the nicknames serve mostly for tradition.

Each presidential family is given a letter, which their code names begin with - the Kennedy family’s letter was L. JFK’s secret service codename was “Lancer,” alluding to the knight in the play Camelot, as his presidency was endearingly compared to the story of Camelot, first by Jackie herself. Jackie’s codename was “Lace,” their son John Jr.’s was “Lark,” and their daughter Caroline’s was “Lyric.”

The codenames of President LBJ’s family all began with the letter V: the president’s was “Volunteer,” the first lady’s was “Victoria,” and their kids were “Venus” and “Velvet.”

JFK’s Cuban cigars

Just hours before enacting the Cuban trade embargo in 1962, JFK secured for himself 1,200 of his favorite Cuban cigars. It was a commercial, economic, and financial embargo on the country banning all of their imports; but before signing the paper, Kennedy requested his head of press, Pierre Salinger, to procure “1,000 Petit Upmanns.”

Salinger first made the revelation to Cigar Aficionado magazine in 1992: he recalled being summoned to JFK’s office, where he was asked to provide "some help" in securing "a lot of cigars" by the following morning.

“The next morning, I walked into my White House office at about 8am, and the direct line from the president's office was already ringing. He asked me to come in immediately,” Salinger said. Kennedy was pleased to learn that Salinger had successfully secured 1,200 rather than 1,000 cigars. Salinger remembers, “He took out a long paper which he then immediately signed. It was the decree banning all Cuban products from the United States. Cuban cigars were now illegal in our country.”

Jackie’s electroshock therapy

Well into their marriage, it was no secret that Jackie was unhappy in her relationship, especially considering her husband’s infidelities. One evening in 1957, after he arrived home late from a night with a mistress, Jackie and the president, both intoxicated, got into an explosive argument that caused her to run out into the street in her night slip.

When John went to get her, he brought her inside, and promptly telephoned for an ambulance to escort his wife to the Valleyhead Psychiatric Clinic in Carlisle, Massachusetts, where she received three brutal electroshock treatments for depression.Jackie began feeling her serious and sometimes suicidal depression after she miscarried two of their children. She was released from the clinic after a week; according to the biography, she called the treatments “the nightmare ride of my life.”

Read more: Remembering JFK – the assassination took place 53 years ago

Catholic and Protestant remain Ireland’s two most important labels, so where do Irish Jews fit into Ireland's history?

The Chief Rabbi of Ireland once told a joke about three European Jews who were discussing their emigration plans. One said he would go to America for comfort and security, the second to Israel because it was the land of his ancestors and the third said he would go to Ireland.

Shocked, his two friends asked him why. “Because,” he said, “Ireland is the last country the Devil will look to find a Jew!”

Jews in Ireland for centuries

Despite the Chief Rabbi’s joke, there have been Jews in Ireland for centuries. The earliest known reference dates back to 1079 and a small community had been established by at least 1232 when the English King Henry III sent them a sum of money.

Ireland’s great Liberator, Daniel O’Connell, made common cause with the small Jewish community and although best remembered for his fight for Catholic emancipation he did not forget the needs of his Jewish constituents. When asked about religious freedom he said, “No man can admit the sacred principle without extending it to the Jew as to the Christian.”

The community’s population swelled dramatically during the Russian pogroms in the 19th century. Whereas the 1881 census had recorded only 394 Jews in Ireland the number soared by 282% to 1,506 in 1891. And although not the main destination for Jews fleeing persecution, by 1911 there were 3,805 Jews in Ireland. An astonishing tenfold increase in only 30 years.

Limerick vicious attacks

Unfortunately, many refugees quickly found that their new home was not entirely free of the Antisemitism they had fled from. In 1904 Fr John Creagh launched a vicious attack on the small Jewish community in Limerick, warning his parishioners they had come "to fasten themselves on us like leeches and to draw our blood". The result was a two-year boycott of Jewish business by many of the city’s Catholics, forcing the all five of Limerick’s Jewish families to leave for Cork or America.

Jews in Northern Ireland

Generally, Jews in Dublin or Cork were nationalists or republicans, whereas Belfast Jews remained pro-union. One such man was Sir Otto Jaffe, a German-born former Mayor of Belfast but naturalized British subject. A stalwart of the Irish Unionist Party, he and his wife had together founded the Jaffe School for the Jewish Children of Belfast and had a son serving in the British Army but felt so unwelcome in Belfast after the outbreak of the Great War they moved to London.

The Sinn Féin Rabbi

On the republican side Dubliner Robert Briscoe became a Captain in the IRA and was adamant that being “Hebrew” did not make him any less of an Irishman. Two sisters Fanny and Molly Goldberg were active in Cumann na mBan (the women’s IRA) and did everything from hiding soldiers to marching.

Most famous of republican Jews was Belfast’s Rabbi Isaac Herzog who was described as “an open partisan of the Irish cause.” He learned to speak Irish fluently, was a personal friend of de Valera and by the time he was appointed Chief Rabbi of Ireland in 1919 he had well and truly earned his reputation as “the Sinn Féin Rabbi”.

His son Chaim was educated at Wesley College in Dublin and was later elected President of Israel in 1983. Reflecting on his Irish childhood in a Dublin accent he never lost Herzog said, “Ireland had no history of anti-Semitism, and while I did not feel outcast, I did feel different.”

Politics clearly runs in the family and his son Isaac is the current leader of Israel’s opposition Labor Party.

The rise of Hitler was closely followed by Ireland’s Jews, and whereas many Irish people felt antipathy towards Britain when war broke out in 1939, the Jews harbored no doubts as to whose side they were on.

Read more: My family's Holocaust story recalled for the Irish

Jews were heavily represented among Irish volunteers to the British Armed Forces and those that remained all made contingency plans for what they could do if a Nazi invasion of Ireland ever succeeded. They were right to be fearful; the infamous Wannsee Conference of 1942 which planned the Final Solution had noted Ireland’s population of some 5,000 Jews and earmarked them for death.

Liberation of Europe

After the liberation of Europe, the community was faced with trying to organize entrance into Ireland for Jewish refugees. Their efforts were mostly thwarted by a skeptical Government. Minister for Justice Gerald Boland bluntly admitted that “It has always been the policy of the [Department] for Justice to restrict the admission of Jewish aliens, for the reason that any substantial increase in our Jewish population might give rise to an anti-Semitic problem.”

Nevertheless, one hundred Jewish children from Poland were brought to Meath for recuperation in 1946 and in 1948 Taoiseach Éamon de Valera personally overruled Boland to bring a further 150 into the country.

Community in steep decline

But despite the small post-War influx, the community could not evade the affliction of two centuries old curses - one Jewish, the other Irish - that of assimilation and emigration and the second half of the 20th century saw the community go into steep decline.

Whereas the 1946 census recorded 1,474 Jews in Northern Ireland, by 1991 this had dipped to a mere 410. Such a story can be seen across Ireland; in the Republic, there were 3,907 but by 1991 it had plummeted to 1,581.

And the decline was particularly dramatic outside of Dublin. Where once there been a small but vibrant community concentrated around an area in Cork City called Jewtown by 1981 there were 62 left in a county that in 1946 had been home to 252. In neighboring Waterford the decline was even worse; in 1946 there had been 23 Jews in the county but by 1981 they had all died or moved. As one historian lamented in 1987, “Today when one speaks of the Jewish community in Ireland, the reference is almost exclusively to Dublin.” In February this year Cork’s synagogue held one final service and reluctantly shuttered its doors closed for good.

In Cork, the community’s decline was attributed mostly to assimilation but emigration was a significant factor too. Many observant Jews simply moved to Israel or Britain where there are a larger number of Jews to live among.

In Belfast, the shooting of a prominent community member by the IRA in 1977 and the kidnap of another in 1980 left the community feeling vulnerable and many simply packed up, never to return.

Steven Jaffe who grew up in Belfast told IrishCentral, “The decline of the Jewish community in Northern Ireland pre-dates the Troubles and it is true that every regional Jewish community throughout the UK has also declined, except for Manchester. But I believe the Troubles did accelerate the process.”

He added that a desire to live in a larger Jewish community was also a factor in the community’s decline, “For young people looking for Jewish marriage partners and facilities such as Jewish schools, kosher restaurants and social and cultural opportunities, a larger Jewish community in London or Manchester was going to be attractive. A number of Jewish families from Northern Ireland also made aliyah - the term for emigrating to Israel.”

The community is too small to play much of a role in the politics of the province and most would lean towards unionist parties in part at least due to their pro-Israel politics. However, the community was on occasion used as an important intermediary between the orange and green traditions.

“During the worst of the Troubles the Belfast synagogue was seen as a neutral space where Protestants and Catholics could meet sometimes under a Jewish chair to discuss local issues,” Jaffe told us.

Numbers have since stabilized and the last three censuses in the Republic have even shown moderate increases, fueled by emigration during the Celtic Tiger.

Among the remaining community members, attitudes can veer from gallows humor to optimism. “Children go away for university now, and they don’t come back,” Belfast’s Norma Simon told Forward.com. Her fellow worshiper, Michael Black agreed, “I am saddened,” he said, “that my generation will, likely, be the last that can offer a Jewish way of life in Belfast.”

But lifelong Dubliner Natalie Wynn is more cheerful, telling the Times of Israel, “The Jewish Chronicle archives show that, in the 1870s, observers considered the community to be on its last legs, little realizing that a large-scale immigration from Eastern Europe was just around the corner.  So you never know what may happen in the future.”

Read more: Ireland’s only Holocaust victim: the story of Ettie Steinberg

One of the great figures in American journalism James Gordon Bennett spoke out on behalf of the Irish

You will search in vain for any notable person defending the Irish, with the exception of the great Frederick Douglas, in the era of “No Irish Need Apply.”

Thomas Nast, the darling of the establishment, drew the Irish as apes, savages, and monkeys and it was clear many of his fellow artists and powerful interests felt the same way. Newspapers like The New York Times were unremittingly hostile to the new immigrants.

It was left to a Scottish Catholic emigrant, James Gordon Bennett (1795 -1872), one of the great figures in American journalism, to speak out on behalf of the Irish. He did so in the New York Morning Herald, later the New York Herald.

Bennett had a remarkable career and died publishing the most popular paper in America. Alas, his son was unable to match his genius and the newspaper eventually disappeared.

The New York Herald will be best remembered for taking the lead in creating the legend and promoting the historical importance of Abraham Lincoln.

Bennett revolutionized newspaper coverage, covering speeches word-for-word rather than brief summaries, he hired 63 journalists to cover the Civil War, and he was the first to write financial articles covering Wall Street issues.

Bennett clearly remembered his own days as a penniless immigrant and the No Irish Need Apply signs he saw everywhere in 1830. Also, receiving advertising with No Irish Need Apply statements upset him greatly.

His anger at the ethnic hatred saw him put pen to paper in July 1830, a clear indication the offending signs were prevalent even then.

Here is how one lonely voice, as far back as 1830, stood up for the Irish:

New York Morning Herald, July 12, 1830.

“Several advertisements with this insulting appendage have been from time to time left on our hook for insertion, but which we rejected with disdain for their authors.

If one Irish servant maid commits a fault, is that a reason that all other Irish girls must be bad? Surely not. Those who write those illiberal and foolish advertisements must remember that the misconduct of a few can afford no ground for insulting a whole nation; and a nation like Ireland - renowned for the virtue of her females, and the genius and generosity of her sons.

Know that America cannot be patriotic who would offer a deliberate insult to the country of General Montgomery and Commodore Barry.

When we were making the great struggle for our liberties, were we not nobly assisted by IRISHMEN?”

Read more: No Irish Need Apply - The actual signs and ads that vilified our Irish ancestors

* Originally published in 2016.

Chilling last words of a 19-year-old Cork man who died on the RMS Titanic after it struck an iceberg, en route to New York

The chilling last words of 19-year-old Jeremiah Burke from Glanmire, County Cork, were slipped into a bottle not read until a year after his death on the Titanic. Using the bottle of holy water that his mother gave to him when she saw him off in Cobh, Burke used one of his very own shoelaces to tie it up and threw the letter overboard.

The letter simply reads: "From Titanic, goodbye all, Burke of Glanmire, Cork.”

Miraculously, the bottle made its way to shore only a few miles from his family's house. It was kept within the family until 2011, when his niece decided to donate it.

Read more: Faces of the Titanic - Jeremiah Burke 

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, at the time, about the effects of the loss on her family Mary Woods explained that "Jeremiah's mother was at a removal several days later when a person came up to her and said 'I'm sorry for your loss.' It was only then that she found out what had happened. She died of a broken heart within the year.”

Jeremiah was just one of the 1,521 passengers and crew who died on April 15, 1912. The ship struck an iceberg at about 11:40 pm on April 14, and sank around 2:20am the following morning.

Irish Aboard the Titanic - Jeremiah Burke

In 2011, the bottle and note went on display at the Cobh Heritage Centre, in County Cork, and Burke was one of the victims profiled in Senan Molony's 2012 book "The Irish Aboard Titanic," which was released for the centenary of the disaster.

Of Burke, Molony wrote:

"Jeremiah Burke [19] is the passenger fabled to have thrown a despairing message in a bottle from the decks of the sinking Titanic. Miraculously, the bottle washed up on the shoreline just a short distance from his home in Ireland just over a year later.

"The message contains an unclear date which could variously be 10, 12 or 13 April 1912. The Titanic struck the berg at 11.40 p.m. on 14 April. Interestingly, an article in the Irish News, published on 20 April 1912, observed that very few authentic messages from shipwrecks had ever come to safety and ‘very many … are cruel hoaxes.’

"Jeremiah’s grieving family believed the message found by a coachman on the shore at Dunkettle, close to their home, was authentic. The message reads: ‘From Titanic. Good Bye all. Burke of Glanmire, Cork.’ Kate Burke, his mother, recognized her son’s handwriting. She announced that the bottle was the same holy water bottle she had given to her boy on the day of his departure.

"Jeremiah Burke was only 19, and stood six feet two inches in his stockinged feet. He was the youngest of seven children who had all worked on the 70-acre family farm and stated on embarkation that he was an agricultural laborer.

"Two of his sisters had previously emigrated to the US and he was resolved to join them when a letter arrived from Charlestown with money for his passage. His cousin Nora Hegarty, from neighboring Killavarrig, decided to accompany him on the expedition to America.

"Jeremiah’s father William drove the cousins to Queenstown in his pony and trap. He reported seeing them making friends with another intending passenger, a piper identified as Eugene Daly. He survived, while both Jeremiah and Nora drowned."

Read more: Chilling photograph of iceberg that sank the Titanic

* Originally published in 2011.

We know we’re American. But we also know that we wouldn’t be here unless our ancestors had left Ireland, and we want to honor that

I know there are many Americans who don't care one bit about their Irish roots, just as I also know that there are probably many people in Ireland who do not consider Americans with Irish roots to be Irish. I understand both perspectives, but I would like to tell you how I feel.

I was born in America, served my country during the Vietnam War, and I know that I am an American. However, what has always stayed with me is that I am only an American because all of my great-great-grandparents were forced to choose between leaving Ireland or starving.

They were Holohans, Brennans, Currans, Ryans, Hogans from Kilkenny. Their Clans may have been in Leinster for thousands of years until the Great Hunger forced them to leave. I believe that if they could, they would probably have stayed in Ireland.

Instead, they came to work in the coal mines of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. This area was the home of the so-called Molly Maguires, whose story, which is still a story of unproven questions, is probably one of America's best ignored labor fights in history. It's a long tale so I'll sum it up by saying that in the 19th century the filthy rich coal barons in the county needed labor desperately and when the Famine occurred, they went to Ireland and recruited the starving, promising them a great life.

Read More: Exploring the legend of the Molly Maguires

But life was not great. Pay was minimal, hours were unending, and conditions exceedingly dangerous. Within a decade the Irish started demanding better conditions. The owners realized that the Irish were trying to unionize.

Soon there was much sabotage, mine explosions, and several murders. The wealthy coal barons blamed everything on the Mollies, and, over time, used very questionable trials which ended with the hanging of 22 Irish Catholics over a two year period. On June 21, 1877, a day we call Black Thursday, six were hanged in Schuylkill County, and four in neighboring Carbon County. To this very day it remains one of the largest legal mass executions of American citizens on record, and yet it’s rarely taught in our schools.

After they crushed the Irish spirit, people wouldn't even admit to being Irish, or talk anything Irish for fear of losing their jobs and company homes. As a result, many people in this region, including my family, knew nothing of our ancestors, because two generations kept silent.

Read More: Why do people in Ireland not consider an Irish American to be Irish? 

My great-great-grandfather was Jeremiah Curran, who came to Schuylkill County in 1848 from Moneenroe, near Castlecomer, and he was very involved in trying to unionize. He spent 30 days in jail for keeping scabs from entering a local mine.

When I visited Castlecomer in 1999, I dug up a bag of Irish soil and took it home to spread it on my great-great-grandfather's grave. It might sound crazy, but I felt that he would have liked his great-great-grandson remembering him.

So all I'm trying to explain to the people of Ireland who become upset or even ridicule Americans when they say they're Irish, is this: please try to understand that for many of us, we know we're Americans, but in our hearts, we also know that our ancestors, just like your ancestors, were from the greatest land of all… Ireland.

---

Gary Martin was born and raised in Minersville, Pennsylvania. He joined the Navy at 17 and served four years as an aircrewman on C-130 during Vietnam War. He later became a union Ironworker and worked 24 years in the field, erecting structural steel. He was elected Business Manager of Local 420, Reading Pa., and served six terms until retiring in September 2015. A history buff, he’s been to Ireland twice and hopes to return to spend some time studying Medieval Irish history at Trinity College Dublin.

“A mass grave containing the remains of babies and young children has been discovered at a former Catholic orphanage in Ireland"

This from Associated Press: “A mass grave containing the remains of babies and young children has been discovered at a former Catholic orphanage in Ireland, government-appointed investigators announced Friday in a finding that offered the first conclusive proof following a historian's efforts to trace the fates of nearly 800 children who perished there.”

“A great many people are always asking what is the good of keeping these children alive? I quite agree that it would be a great deal kinder to strangle these children at birth than to put them out to nurse.” -- Doctor Ella Webb, June 18, 1924, speaking about illegitimate children in care in Ireland at the time.

The story of Doctor Webb’s comments was in the Irish Times that day in 1924. It was allowed to go without outrage or question.

How do you like euthanasia Irish Catholic style?

Have no doubt what happened in Tuam happened in such homes all over the country. Tuam came to light because of a fearless local writer, Catherine Corless, who suspected the truth and tracked it down with forensic clarity.

The same dreadful business was going on in other homes, too.

Elaine Byrne, a columnist with the Sunday Business Post in Ireland, discovered the quote above as she researched how up to 800 children were allowed to die and their bodies stuffed in a septic tank by the Bon Secours sisters in Tuam, County Galway.

Her answer is clear: it was condoned and covered up by the political, religious and medical establishment at the time.

Folks, Holy Catholic Ireland was a monstrous hoax. Rampant pro-abortion forces had nothing on God’s little executioners when it came to children out of wedlock.

The sin of having sex outside marriage was all encompassing. The progeny of such sex were the devil’s spawn.

Confirmation came this week that a mass grave of little children existed near the former Catholic orphanage. The Mother and Baby Homes Commission found an underground structure divided into 20 chambers containing ”significant quantities of human remains.”

Read More: Babies' bodies finally excavated at Tuam Mother and Baby Home

One in four of the little children would die within a year of birth out of wedlock, according to available records. In Dr. Webb’s time, a commission found that: “The illegitimate child being proof of the mother’s shame is in most cases sought to be hidden at all costs…the child becomes an encumbrance on the foster mother who has no interest in keeping it alive.”

Note how the baby was called "it".

The mortality rate was 25 percent on average over the years, only seven percent for the “normal” population.

A 1935 report unearthed by Byrne states: “Doubtless the great proportion of deaths in these cases is due to congenital debility, congenital malformation and other antenatal causes traceable to the conditions associated with the unfortunate lot of the unmarried mother.”

There you have it. A child out of wedlock was the fault of the clearly morally and physically corrupted single mother. The official Irish state had ruled.

Read More: Death records for 796 Tuam Home babies published in full

No wonder the poor outcasts were allowed to die of neglect. If the Nazis did it we’d be outraged and talk of genocide would swirl.

The Irish state did it to its own children – murdered them by the thousands by neglect and hate.

As Catherine Corless, the noble campaigner who against all the odds and cover-ups exposed the Tuam babies scandal, said last week: “The county council knew at the time there were remains there, the local guards knew, the religious knew. And yet it was all nicely covered up and forgotten about.”

DNA analysis of selected remains confirmed the ages of the dead ranged from 35 weeks to 3 years old and that they were buried chiefly in the 1950s, when the overcrowded facility was one of more than a dozen in Ireland offering “shelter” to orphans, unwed mothers and their children. The Tuam home closed in 1961.

Catherine Corless tracked down death certificates for nearly 800 children. Eighteen she discovered died of starvation; yes, they were starved to death.

"Everything pointed to this area being a mass grave," said Corless, who criticized the Bon Secours nuns' mushy “we will continue to co-operate” response as "the usual maddening nonsense. They must apologize and take responsibility for what happened there."

We won’t hold our breath.

Read more: Tuam mass infant grave is confirmed, now what are we going to do about it?

Here's an interview with Corless from 2014:

There's also a massive conversation taking place on reddit if you want to join in and share your views. 

* Originally published in 2017.

"He was very proud of being Irish...he really felt his Irish roots were at the core of his being"

On this day, August 23, 1912, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on of the greatest dancers of all time Gene Kelly was born. The singer, actor, and dancer, most famous for his roles in hit movies such as "Singing in the Rain" and "An American in Paris", was extremely proud of his Irish roots. 

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was born in Pittsburgh to an Irish Canadian father and an Irish German mother. It wasn’t until much later in life that he was issued an Irish passport, which made him extremely proud, according to his wife.

The American dancer, actor, singer, film director, producer, and choreographer, best known for his performances in movies such as An American in Paris and Singing in the Rain is credited with making his ballet form commercially acceptable to movie audiences.

In 1952 Kelly was awarded an Academy Honor for his career achievements and later received a lifetime achievement award at the Kennedy Center and from the Screen Actors Guild and American Film Institute.

He was born in East Liberty, Pittsburgh, the third son of James Patrick Joseph Kelly, a phonograph salesman, and his wife Harriet Catherine Curran. His father was born in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, to an Irish Canadian family. His maternal grandfather was an immigrant from Derry.

When young Eugene was eight, Kelly's mother enrolled him and his brother James in dance classes and the rest as they say his history. They were all part of an early Vaudeville act called The Five Kellys. Young Gene was picked on because of his dancing, but it helped his family survive the Depression and eventually made him a star.

Kelly's wife speaks in Ireland

In 2013 the National Concert Hall in Dublin as part of RTE’s “Ireland at the Movies” screened Singing in the Rain with a live orchestral score. The show was introduced by Kelly’s wife, Patricia Ward Kelly. In advance of the show Patricia spoke to RTE about Kelly’s pride in his Irish heritage to RTE.

"He was very proud of being Irish and I think he felt a real identity with Ireland. At one point he said to me that he really felt his Irish roots were at the core of his being.

"I remember the day that the Irish passport arrived and the new certificate was in Gaelic and he was just tickled, he was like a little kid with it."

When asked about the success of her husband’s famous film, Patricia said that her husband and MGM did not intentionally make Singin’ in the Ran for posterity, saying:

"They never dreamed that we would be sitting here in Dublin 60 years later with this turnout crowd watching this movie.

"That would be astounding to him and I think he would extremely proud of that."

The 1952 musical film starred Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds and was choreographed by Gene Kelly. It is now classed as one of the best American films of all time.

* Originally published in 2014.

New survey finds Irish are happiest with their names and consider them to be very important

Despite the confusion some Irish names can lead to when ordering a coffee at Starbucks, Irish people are very happy with their first names.

According to a survey taken by Coca-Cola in 2014, an impressive 87% of Irish people like their first names – a greater percentage than any of the other countries surveyed.

The study, commissioned by Coca-Cola as part of their “Share a Coke with” personalized bottle campaign, surveyed 1,800 people in eight European countries. The results indicate that 87% of Irish people like their first names and believe their first names reflect their personalities.

Ireland also ranked first in religious-inspired given names and ranked high (27%) for names passed on through family tradition. In comparison, only 9% of Irish survey participants were named after someone famous.

Remembering names proved to be important, with 76% responding that they are more likely to respond positively to a person who remembers their name. However, the Irish do not appear to be very possessive over names, with 37% saying they feel happy when they see their name used elsewhere.

The most popular baby names in Ireland are currently Jack and Emily. For girls, the top five names of 2013, following Emily, were Emma, Sophie, Ella and Amelia. For boys, the top names after Jack were James, Daniel, Conor and Sean.

The highest-ranking Irish language name for girls was Aoife, ranked sixth and up five places from 2012. For boys, it was Oisin, ranked 14th for the second year in a row.

“It’s fascinating to see how much emphasis Irish people place on their names and what they mean in our lives,” clinical psychologist David Coleman told The Journal. “From a psychological perspective we know that everyone reacts differently to their name – some people love theirs whilst others use a different version or even change theirs during their lives.”

The study found people in the UK to be the most likely to alter their names, almost one in four preferring to shorten their names.

* Originally published in 2014.