Letter of the Month, 2005 - World Cultures European

Letters - 2005

Previous Page 2006: Letters

We receive many lovely letters from visitors to our web site and subscribers to our newsletter. As we’re fond of saying, your feedback helps to make all of the time and effort worth while. While we have a Readers Write Page where we post comments from time to time, we’ve decided to also select a Letter of the Month - one that for whatever reason, tickled our fancy. So,

December, 2005
Dear Bridget & Russ

My first trip to Erie, Co. Donegal was in 1983 with my Dad & my oldest son James (all 3 of us are James's). My Grandfather was born in N. Ireland outside of Coleraine & my Grandmother was from Moville. At the time, my father was 79yrs old and said he had no interest in dodging bullets, so we didn't visit the north.

In 1998, I was turning age 55 and my thought was if I don't go back now then when? So away I go for the whole month of February to meet up with my ancestral family in Coleraine and stop in and visit my old neighbor from Collingswood NJ who'd moved back to Erie. My intentions to stop in to see Dan Heron in Donegal were simple, it was just to say hello, and nothing else. Dan had other ideas and but me up with friends of his in the village of Ardara to keep me around. Dan would have me out and about showing me around Co. Donegal and would point out old houses and sites that he knew were for sale.

Three days before I'm to return to the States Dan tells me about the piece of ground going up the lane to his place, that his neighbor is willing to sell me. He introduces me to the neighbor and the deal was struck, we shook hands, had a Wee One and a Pint and the rest is history.

I had no intention of telling the wife about this when I'd returned home but for whatever reason she was at me about what I'd bought in Ireland. I'd told her it was the sweaters and other things she'd requested I bring back but this wouldn't do, she persisted and me being subject to the Grand Inquisition, I spilled the beans. I didn't want to tell her because I believed she wouldn't be a happy face about it and she wasn't and to this day isn't. Like Ricky Nelson said in the song "The Garden Party" You can't please every one so you got to please yourself. I don't consider this to be any great accomplishment on my part but more a tribute to those in the village of Ardara and my family that have helped and pointed me in the right direction. When I'm back I'm welcomed home, they no longer ask if I'm on holiday, what a joy. I've acquired my Citizenship and I'm considered one of the locals and another eejit in the village. What a compliment!

Fair Well and God Bless,
Seamus O Cuinneagain
Tamur//Inver, Chontae Dhun na nGall

P.S. It probably would be good to mention that all this help is in reference to me building the house. The big difficulty has been me trying to keep the house simple, both in appearance outside and true to cottage living inside. My architect had initially drawn up plans for it to be some Casa Grandy which was not what I'd requested. One will be desperate looking for most contemporary amenities in the kitchen and living areas upon entering the house. There'll be no T.V. in that part of the house and in front of the fire will be the simple chairs set around to Ceili. My passion is to be true to the old ways and therein lies the real beauty of Ireland. Seamus

November, 2005
Dear Bridget & Russ.

I am very pleased to have found you and thank you for the welcome you give
"new approacher's"* - it is warming.
I am an Argentine, living in Paraguay, where I have a family.
My father was born in Dublin and emigrated to Argentina around 1920. He married a British woman (my mother was born in London, although my grandmother was Argentine), and he never went back to Ireland.
We have many relatives and thanks to a distant American cousin who has spent time in gathering information on the family, can now have a view on our ancestry.
The Irish in Argentina are many and have been assimilated into the Argentine culture. (Quite different to the British who have kept apart and never really integrated into the local society, a subject of contemplation and many papers and books are written on the subject.

Anyway it is a real pleasure to be able to visit your web page and to be
kept updated on Irish Culture and Customs. thank you.

Simon Martin Healy
The original Healy's stem from the Kavanagh's.

*We are fairly certain Mr. Healy means new subscribers.

October, 2005

Dear Bridget & Russ,

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your wonderful newsletters. I am a 78 year old retired school teacher, and when I found your Web site I reallized I had accessed something that has lifted my spirits and the spirits of my dear Irish friend, who is my gentleman friend at Mass on Sunday morning. We serve as Lectors, Readers and Eucharistic Ministers in our small Catholic Church here in the Valley of Virginia. We are located at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where once I taught in a rural one-room schoolhouse. What a wonderful blessed experience.

Our families are O'Reileys, Erwins, and McCauleys. We cherish our Irish heritages, along with the heritages of my grandchildren who are mixtures of other cultures, including German, Norwegian, Polish and Spanish. But our Irish heritage is predominate in our daily living.

You are included in our prayers. I found your Web site when my friend and I were looking for the beautiful Irish Hymn, "Our Lady of Knock", which was sung at an Ancient Order of Hibernian Mass in Wildwood, NJ. (Click here to read our articles: The Annual Novena at Our lady of Knock and Our Lady of Knock Shrine) We fell in love with the Hymn, and because we could not find the sheet music anywhere, we decided to go on the internet and do a search. That's how we found you. My dear friend and I were so excited that we could access so many things Irish through this search. (By the way, we just received the sheet music for "Our Lady of Knock" from Ireland).

Bridget, we are so thankful for being introduced to you via the internet, and ask the good Lord and our Blessed Mother to bless you and your work.

Frances W. Dovel and Francis Eugene Baker

September, 2005

While I'd love to find myself in Ireland - even for a day - several things might preclude my going. At age 70, I can only hope to live long enough for an opportunity to go and... if I go, I may not want to come back.
My paternal grandfather was born in Scranton. PA. There are many of Mayo lineage there, mostly originating as miners' families. My paternal grandmother was from Franklin Furnace, NJ - another mining town. They married in Scranton and moved to NY then NJ.
As the oldest in my family, I have carried the genealogy duties for some time. Only recently did I learn where my great-grandparents from Ballina were buried. When I went to find their gravesites, I was two days after vandals had destroyed most of the headstones (St. Catherine's, Dunmore, PA).
I wandered around in a grand funk, looking for headstones that faced up, with a Purcell name on it. Most that I could read had 'birthplace - Mayo'. None were mine.
A violent thunderstorm came up and I was in a graveyard protected by the overhanging branches of large old trees - the worst possible locale during a lightning storm. As I ran out of the cemetery, I tripped over a low marker stone and fell on my face in the wet ground. Bad enough to face the frustrations of vandalism, now my Irish was up. I struggled over to give the offending marker a good kick, when a flash of lightning lit its wet, shiny surface and the inscription read CATHERINE KELLY PURCELL and a date. 'Twas my great-grandmother, tripping me up so I'd pay attention to her. So I sat down in the rain next to this poor little stone for 'herself' and visited for a while, knowing full well that lightning wouldn't dare strike me at this hallowed moment. If I do get the opportunity to go to Ireland, I will certainly visit Ballina and of course, the beautiful isle of Achill.
I enjoy and share Irish C & C with family and friends. It is the most comfortable, friendly site on the web. Makes one feel like they've known Bridget and Russ for a lifetime and perhaps may even be related - back in Eire.

August, 2005

Hello,

My name is Irene, and I have been receiving your weekly e-mails for the last two months or so. A friend of mine (who is Irish) showed me to your doorstep" (so to speak), and I got hooked on reading your weekly letters. And also, I'm half Irish, as my mom was full Irish. So that adds a "warm & fuzzy" feeling when reading. There's so much to read, I take a good week going through it. The one you e-mailed from several weeks ago I still have, as I like playing that stress reliever (match the cards) game. Thank you for the language lessons, too. I understand now why mom had such a thick accent, knowing more how they pronounce words and such. I find those to be educational and fun to read. All in all, I have nothing but good things to say about your newsletter. And if the computer acts funny one week and you're late, that's okay. Technology can be such a joy to work with sometimes, LOL. Keep up the good work. You've made me a life-long reader!!!

Sincerely,
Irene Carpenter
(e-mailing from Alaska)

P.S. And how do the Irish conclude a letter? The States uses "Sincerely" or "Best Regards", but what about over there?

ED. NOTE: In general, a very common closing to a letter is "All the best." The Irish word "slan" is also used; loosely translated, it means later. We often end our correspondence to friends with the Irish phrase "slan agus benannact" which loosely translated means God bless you until we write again. In more formal correspondence, "Le Meas" is sometimes used, which means with respect.

July, 2005

A Cara Bridget, (and Russ)
Greetings from Ireland!

I just came across your website while "googling" to see if I could find some photos of the St John's eve fires last night, on the web.
Your website is wonderful, well thought-out and the Irish folkloric information you post there, is fantastic. I just read your article on St. John's Eve and enjoyed it very much.
I have just completed a Diploma in Irish Folklore Studies in UCD, in Dublin and hope to pursue further research in various customs, traditions and lore. I imagine you've also visited the archives there - a great resource!
I realise now in writing this, that I have your book on Traditional Irish weddings. I didn't realise you were the author until I looked at your webpage. Well done!
Anyhow, just wanted to wish you both well in your writing and other endeavours, and send you greetings from Ireland.
Blessings of the solstice and St John's Feast to you!

Le gach dea guí,
Rhona ní Fhógartaigh,
Dublin, 24th June 05

June, 2005

Dear Bridget and Russ,
Thank you for the article on the Infant of Prague. Until now I could not figure out why my Mum (Julia Sullivan-Griffin from Kilkenny) had a devotion to the Infant. I never knew it had any connection to Ireland. Her cemetery headstone has the Infant on it at her request. I thought she had acquired this devotion to the statue here in this country. I wish I knew the story behind it. My brother, Tom, receives your e-mail also and we both enjoy it so much. We were brought up with two wonderful Irish parents. Dad was from Roscommon and was a wonderful tap-dancer; his brother, John Griffin (known as the Fifth Avenue Busman) played the flute and sang back in the 20s and 30s for Victor Records. Tom and I are the only ones alive of our generation - Tom is 82 and I am 84 yrs. old. We believe it is the good old Irish blood that is keeping us alive. Tom had two boys and I had three; between us we have 3 Granddaughters and 3 Grandsons which is grand. My granddaughter and one grandson are delicious red-heads (my Mum was).
Thank you for the delight you bring to our families.
May the good God abundantly bless you both,
Jo Griffin-Zwick
Andes, NY

Previous Page 2006: Letters

Image: The Letter by Kirsten Soderlind, Note card from All Posters
Caption: We lost a lot when we stopped writing letters. You can't reread a phone call.