Saturday, March 17, 2012

The Whole World is A Little Bit Irish Today

This seems to be the stereotypical image of how society views the Irish....

And I am sure many of Irish ancestry or "Irish-for-a-Day" ancestry will be living up to that fine stereotype today!

But while the Irish as a people are quick to entertain with stories, songs and dance, and enjoy relaxing and lifting a pint or four with their friends, I like to think about the other side of being Irish.

The hardworking, "always rise up when life keeps knocking you down", taking care of their families side.
Some of whom took a leap of faith, and stepped onto a boat either to escape their lot in life in a repressive society, or those of whom had restless spirits and longed to find something more in life.

Many of them came to the shores of America, and many of those who came arrived in the 1800's and the early part of the 1900's....


I was always told as a child that we had Irish ancestors, especially on my father's side of the family.
As I have begun to dig through the layers of ancestors I am discovering Irish roots through stories that vary greatly.  My Irish were early adopters of leaving their homes. I can't find an Ellis Islander among them as they came over before that facility was built.
  Some of them have deep roots in the Gaelic soil while others were more transient in Irish culture, like my "Scotch-Irish" kin and those who I'll probably find started out as sturdy English peasants.

These are just a few of the Family Crests I can claim....





And I have even turned up a surprise for the Hubs in all this!
My "my father's family is fully Sicilian-Italian and my mother's family is just German and Dutch, going back to the beginning of time" Hubs.

I've turned up this not even very far back in his lines....


Even He has a teeny tiny droplet of the Irish in him!
I told him I KNEW he had to Irish.....after all, he just likes beer so darn much. ;-)
Otherwise, the clan disowns him, as he can't dance, play an instrument, sing and he's not short enough to be a leprechaun.

But when I get finished working the "TONS of Irish Luck I have accrued through my ancestry" on him, he will end up with that Leprechaun's Pot o' Gold you hear about!





By Faith and Begorrah!.....did you see how I found a way to give this post a personal finance tilt!?

So what clans do you have knocking around in your Irish closet?  Maybe we are related at some point waaaay back in time?  Leave a comment(if you are still sober enough to type) and let us know!


And then go hoist a liquid refreshment today for all those Irish kin that came before you!

"May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.
And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.”


-A traditional Irish Blessing

O' Sluggy or McSluggy

4 comments:

  1. Fully sober here! My mother's side of the family is Scots Irish. No, no Indian blood. Daddy's side was German and Native American. My cousin (our fathers are brothers.) found out that he is about 98% Irish through a test of some sort. AND, there is Native American origns to my mother's side. I'm Irish? Hmmm....

    I suppose I did not get the Irish drinking gene. Whew....

    Oh, yes, there is the French "Key" that is part of my ancestry.

    And, based on appearance, I have been mistaken for Italian, Greek, Jewish, Native American. My picture is on my blog.

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  2. Blessings back to you my dear sluggy.

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  3. Den's Irish and German, its an evil mix I tell you. He gets drunk and tries to conquer himself.

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  4. I'm an Irish wannabee!!! I wore green and went pub hopping with the bagpipe band, so I was Irish for a day. Didn't drink anything outside of DDP tho.

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