The Harrow Writers' Circle

Memories

This summer mother and I went to Dublin.

Mother had wished for quite some time to visit the Emerald Isles and so it was great that we finally made it.

One of the characteristics of Irish people are that they are naturally very friendly and welcoming and this friendliness and welcome was abundant everywhere we went.

A small example could be - if you needed change for the bus most shops were willing to oblige -whereby my usual non Irish experience is that you would have to make a purchase at a shop or visit a bank to get change.

One evening we went to the Brazen Head pub a pub which had been in existence since the 12^th century – the evening was an Irish storytelling and folk lore night.

Among the stories Johnny told us was that the Irish historically were very concerned that when the sun disappeared would it come back again?  We were told that the early Christians probably put a symbol of the Sun (round circle) together with the Christian Cross in the traditional Celtic Cross symbol (incorporating pagan and Christian beliefs).

Another story was of the Irish potato famine where among a population of eight million one million perished.  Johnny told us that the potato famine was so severe that many more may have perished – but if a village ran out of food they were fed by a neighbouring village – so it was important to help each other for mutual benefit.

Many Irish people went to live in America and from the American Irish point of view they never forgot their roots and remembered to send money back to their homeland.

The Irish who opted to stay in Ireland also played their part in keeping an open door / heart to the Irish Diaspora.  One touching symbol was that the Irish President keeps a candle continually burning in a window of the Irish Presidential Palace.  The candle symbol (ironically also used by Unitarians) is there to symbolise that the Irish Diaspora have not been forgotten and that they are always welcome back in Ireland.

In conclusion there are many things to learn from the Irish – Natural friendliness (a stranger is friend who you have never met before), when there are two or more religions it’s best to find accommodation / commonality between them to maintain peace and prosperity, love thy neighbour (how the villages assisted each other in times of trouble), the candle symbol (keeping in touch with the wider family and letting them know – that though they are far away they is always a place for them at home / in your heart).

Word count: 450

Date: 24 June 2012

© Indra Sikdar