by Robert Emmett
It’s Irish history month again. We’ll be hearing all the old stories about St. Patrick’s origins, and maybe some new ones, as well. Historians differ on his origin, but agree he came from a Roman enclave around 500 AD. That makes nearby Wales a llikely place. We don’t know for sure if Patrick, or Patricious, was his given name, or one he took along with his vows, but St. Patrick was a Baptist, that’s for sure. He converted and baptized everyone he could find in Ireland, and the new religion was permanently infused into their Celtic culture.
The Irish and their Celtic ancestors originated somewhere north and east of Greece and spread across Europe until they were squeezed to its fringes by the Roman legions and the Germanic tribes of the north. Recent DNA studies have indicated the oldest DNA in Europe is found in men from the west of Ireland. Long before the Celts were squeezed, Ireland, or Scotia, as the Greek and Roman cartographers referred to Ireland (probably from the Greek for “dark,”) was home to a pre-historic race that built very sophisticated mounds of earth. Newgrange, the most impressive, was built before the pyramids, around 3310 BC. It is 280 ft. in diameter, and 45 ft. high, with a single passageway that gives access to a room 62 ft. into what is basically a pile of rocks with an ingenious design that allows the rising sun to shine into the chamber and light it up on the winter solstice. It is the oldest man-made structure in existence, and it’s astrologically aligned, too. If you’re not impressed with this accomplishment, get out your world map and note that Ireland was way off the beaten path, the last landfall before Iceland. Definitely more interesting than shamrocks and green beer!
It deserves mention, while you’re checking your world map, that one half the DNA in Iceland originated in Scotland and Ireland. The reason for this is obvious: When Vikings went sailing off to find women, they went to the most convenient location. Icelanders still go to Ireland on charted planes to do their Christmas shopping in Dublin. If you’d like to hear Irish ballads sung in Icelandic, stop off at Reykjavak on your way to Europe and listen to “BaBa,” a local folk rock group.
So, what’s the story, you ask, with all the bagpipes and kilts in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade? Aren’t they Scottish? The answer is both yes and no. At least 30 different variations of the bagpipes were played by just about every culture that herded sheep. They originated as a recorder-type instrument, with a sheepskin bag inserted between the mouthpiece and fingering holes. This air reservoir is squeezed to keep the air flowing while the player takes a breath. Brilliant! A continuous flow of air which helps to deliver non-stop tones. The Highland pipe is the most highly developed of its kind. The Irish also had war pipes, but after Britain established the Penal Laws, everything “Irish” was outlawed, including bagpipes. But, while the pipes were banned in Ireland, the Scots of the Highlands continued to play their bagpipes, and eventually played them as part of the British Army. As an interesting side note, in North Africa during WWII, Rommel’s desert troops called bagpipers the “ladies from hell,” because of the eerie sounds drifting across the desert. The Irish missed their bagpipes, and eventually adopted the Highland pipes as their own after the Penal Laws were rescinded in 1829. The Irish didn’t take to their newfound freedom easily. After hundreds of years of oppression they needed time to acclimate. The American Irish were so delighted to hear the good news that in Philadelphia, they rang the Liberty Bell so hard they cracked it. (straight skinny!) But before England granted complete freedom, she gave the Irish people another blow by failing to respond to their needs during the years of the “Great Hunger” of l845.
The kilt goes along with the Highland pipes. The Highlanders of Scotland were originally residents of Scotia, (Ireland,) and migrated to the northern part of Britain in the 5th century AD, which came to be called “the land of the Scots,” or Scotland. Somewhere along the way, their plaid, a long woolen shawl that was wrapped around the waist and thrown over the shoulder, took the form of a kilt. Further design changes, or improved looms, resulted in the colorful tartans of today. Each clan, family or organization can register its own pattern, as over 4,000 have done. The Irish tradition is earth tones in solid colors. Popular colors are saffron, mustard, and yellow, as well as blue, red, maroon, and many more. Not so earthy, the Irish have also shown an affinity for the tartans of their Scottish cousins and have registered original tartans with the Scottish Tartan Registry. The American Irish love of the Highland pipes has resulted in hundreds of Pipe and Drum bands in this country. Most of their members are American Irish, but many are Italian, African-American, German, and an occasional Scotsman. Some of the finest pipes are made right here in the Hudson Valley, in Dobbs Ferry, New York.
Now you know where the Irish came from, what they do, and why they wear kilts and play bagpipes. What do they wear under their kilts? Now that’s another story!
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