|
Coordinator: Shirley Starke Route 2, Box 230 Valley City, ND 58072 701 - 845 - 2382 |
Newsletter of the Irish Special Interest Group of American Mensa Uimhir 81: Mrta/Aibren 1997 Opinions expressed are those of individual authors. Mensa as a whole has no opinions. |
A chairde,
A diligent search has turned up the information that the Irish SIG was founded in August 1978, which gives us a little over a year to decide how to celebrate our 20th. To start, let's have an anniversary drawing (not a hand holding a leprechaun head with "20" for eyes, please!).I would also like to find our oldest (longest-standing) member. Michael Halm and Annette Townley are solid contenders, but both are exchange subscribers. If you think you might be our oldest dues-paying member, please tell me when you joined. The prize is a two-year subscription.
We received a review copy of The Irish Almanac and Yearbook of Facts 1997 (pb, 318 pp), which is available for $9.95 from Dufour Editions, Chester Springs, PA 19425 (1-800-869-5677). The press release describes it as "the ultimate Irish reference book," and it seems to me that the description is accurate. It contains facts about Irish history and politics, arts, industry, sports, business and finance, and tourism; an Irish Who's Who, and the "Top News Stories of 1996" with pictures. It is the most complete Irish reference book I've ever seen, and is a steal at the price.
I am printing Brendan McGuinness' article on "Irish Israel" this time. Michael Greaney will be back in the next issue, continuing his saga of the Normans in Ireland with the first of a 3-part series entitled "The Assimilation of the Normans."
Litreacha
Michael D. Greaney (6166 Leesburg Pike, #A08, Falls Church, VA 22044) writes, "It's a good thing you warned us about the SIG Officer's non-receipt of your report. It seems to me that s/h/it did a rather nasty thing in listing all the SIGs for which reports had not been received as 'closed,' instead of simply not listing them. By the way, it is probably the fault of the U.S. Postal Service. I have noticed a great increase in mail delays, such as a CESJ associate who sent me a copy of Pius XI's encyclical Studiorum Ducem from the Catholic University of America, less than 20 miles away, priority mail - and having it take 21 days to get here. The poor fellow was phoning every day to see if we had received it yet. Or the letter from Germany that arrived from the BDR in two days, and took another 28 days to cross town. Or the letter mailed out of here in May, which we received back on Thursday of last week, with a rubber stamp (!) stating: 'FOUND IN SUPPOSEDLY EMPTY EQUIPMENT.' It's so common they have a rubber stamp for it??"Either that, or the SIGs Officer lost it herself/himself/itself. Just as bad as listing SIGs as "closed" was the lack of warning with which this was done. Previous SIGs Officers would send a notice that IF the report weren't received by a certain date, the SIG wouldn't be listed. This one simply notified us that the SIG would be listed as closed - no allowances for possible goofs by the coordinator, the USPS, or the SIGs Officer. Far from encouraging coordinators to correct any errors, this SO puts a notice in SIGNET telling us NOT to call him or anyone connected with the SIGs program - with the "NOT's" in bold capitals.
This is especially unfortunate for us, when we are approaching our 20th anniversary as a continuously active SIG, because now that we have been listed as "closed" and "re-opened," our official start-up date is probably listed in Mensa's records as sometime in 1996. But I'm not going to let that interfere with the celebration of our 20th or wait another 20 years for it!
Edward J. Toner (4818 Jason Place, Brick, NJ 08724) writes, "On page 17 of the current March/April edition of IRISH AMERICA, there appears in a reference to the LORD OF THE DANCE, the statement that the musical re-tells 'Irish folk legend in a dazzling and updated style.' Not so. This is a very common misconception.
"The LORD OF THE DANCE, a spectacular and successful performance viewed by millions, which has received rave reviews, tells of the birth, persecution by the Jews (John 5:16-18), death on the Cross (I Thes. 2:15) and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The musical can be much more appreciated and understood if the viewer knows the lyrics, which I enclose. This is hardly an irish folk legend. It is the greatest story ever told, put to dance as only the Irish could.
On the lighter side now, since the two holiest events of the year, St. Patrick's Day and Easter, fall in March, it is well to dwell on the fact that Jesus, the Son of God, was actually an Irishman. Consider the facts: He never held a steady job, He lived with his parents until He was 30, He made wine from water, He thought His Mother was a virgin, and She thought He was God. Case closed."
In other words, poverty (non-materialism), chastity, and filial loyalty. That is saying a lot for the old-style Irishman whom in these ways He resembled.
Ed enclosed a copy of the song, LORD OF THE DANCE. The tune is that of the Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts" which Dvorak used in the New World Symphony, and the words begin, "I danced in the morning when the world was begun / And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun / And I came down from heaven and danced on the earth / At Bethlehem I had my birth." Beautiful!!
W. Patrick Resen (18 Crow Canyon Ct., Ste. S390, San Ramon, CA 94583-1669) writes, "Can you halp me out? A friend gave me a great jacket - a copy of the Irish Olympic team's. On the back is 'Tosnaig se le brionglaid.' I'm hoping it's a suggestion as to what the Queen can do to herself but I suspect not."
What this means is, "It began with a dream." Incidentally, items with Gaelic sayings and Celtic art can be ordered from Regent Graphics, P.O. Box 82607, Swissville, PA 15218. Some of these are patriotic (i.e. "Tiocfaidh r l," which means "Our day will come" in English), though I've seen no mention of the Queen! For some reason they recently discontinued one of my favorites, a Union Jack made of snakes, with the slogan "Amach leat!" (Out with you!). But there are plenty of good ones left.
Annette Townley (727 N. MacArthur, #226, Oklahoma City, OK 73127) writes, "I suggested to Terry of the Horror/Fantasy SIG (formerly Vampire) to have an IRISH ISSUE. Hence my need to know the Irish for 'Mistress of the Dark.' Mistress, of course, in the usage of the woman in charge, not someone's paramour.
"Do you have any ideas on the origin of the word Banshee? On book I have says it should be Bean Se - but that would make it Woman She. IS that sensible? Ben (white) would be more reasonable. I do believe in those ladies. I have heard so many stories of them. My family has never been important enough to have its own banshee.
"Do you have any nice, spooky tales, related to the Auld Sod?"
"Mistress of the Dark" is "Mistres an Dorchais."
The "Se" in "Bean Se" is not the pronoun but a newer spelling of "Sidhe," "fairy" or "fairy mound." It means "Woman of the Fairy Mound"; the women who wailed before the deaths of members of certain families were fairy women, sometimes a fairy ancestor of the family.
If anyone has "spooky stories," please send them to Annette or directly to Terry Cottrell, 5116 Mill Race Circle, Richmond, VA 23234-3835.
IRISH SRAELISM...........................................by Brendan McGuinness
British Israelism is a religion which holds that the Celtic and Germanic nations are the Ten Tribes of Israel who lost their identity in Assyrian captivity in the late 8th century B.C. Basically, the Ten Tribes were settled south of the Caucasus and moved into Europe as Cimmerians (later called Celts, Gauls, Galatians, etc.) and Scythians (later called Saxons, Angles, Franks, Goths, etc.). It is accepted that all have a common origin and identical racial characteristics.
Even before the captivity of Israel by Assyria, there were many centuries in Egypt and Israel where Israelites left Israel (Judges 5:17 - "And why did Dan remain in ships?") for points unknown. The legendary invasions of Ireland include a people known as the Tuatha De Danaan: coincidence? These Danaanites came to Ireland (we are told) via Spain; but before the tribe of Dan set out, there were Hebrews who left Egypt, of the tribe of Ephraim (Rev. A.B. Grimaldi quotes an ancient Jewish Rabbi on this). It is these people, the Milesians, who fought the Danaanites but came to peace as they realized they shared a common tongue: both had come from Spain!
At Loughair near Limerick and elsewhere we find stone circles (God told Israel to set up high heaps in their wanderings), one large in the center with eleven smaller ones around it. (Compare Joseph's dream in Genesis 37.) Since so many people cannot imagine Israel outside the Holy Land, this theory is little known.
This theory is accepted by some Jews also. "We believe that the ten tribes of Israel exist within the Anglo-Saxon/Celtic/Scandinavian/American people and that they in fact constitute them and that they are Hebrews" (The United Israel Bulletin, 1951). "If the ten tribes have disappeared they must exist under a different name" (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1905). (In fact, God said that Israel would be called by a new name and would speak to Him in a new language.)
A.M. Sullivan, in his Story of Ireland, says: "The Milesian colony reached Ireland from Spain, but they were not Spaniards. They were an Eastern people on their way westward, seeking, they said, an island promised to them by their ancestor Gadelius. (Gad?) Moved by this mysterious purpose to fulfill their destiny, they had passed from land to land, from the shore of Asia across the wide expanse of southern Europe, bearing aloft, through all their wanderings, the 'sacred banner,' which symbolized to them at once their origin and their mission, the blessing and the promise given to their race. This celebrated standard, the 'Sacred Banner of the Milesians,' was a flag on which was represented a dead serpent and the rod of Moses; a device to commemorate forever among the Posterity of Gadelius the miracle by which his life had been saved."
Could Ireland and Britain be the "isles afar off" mentioned in the Bible (e.g. Isaiah 66:19)? In this era, there were no Celts in Europe (or Germanic or Italic people for that matter). Were these peoples in the Bible under different names? We see how names change from Celt to Gaul to Galatian or Gael, etc. (and that is without even mentioning distinct tribes of Celts in Gaul!). Greeks and Romans could not distinguish a Celt from a German by sight alone: we hear of redheads in Greek mythology, and all the gods are depicted as fair, blond, blue-eyed. The same goes for Rome and even ancient Israel. (Goliath hated David because he was fair and ruddy; Moses was born fair in the eyes of God, as were numerous Israelite women. Also see Lamentations 4: 7-8 - "Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire.")
So, the word of the God of the Old Testament has been behind such practices as Druidism and the early Celtic-Irish religion, though these people did not know it since God had condemned them to blindness for a period of Seven Times (i.e. 2520 years). Celtic Fire accounts for the early introduction of Christianity to Ireland by stating that the earliest Irish and the later Celts are the Chosen People of the Bible, i.e Israelites.
In the library of the Irish Academy is a poem, "The Kings of the Race of Eibhar (Heber, the ancestor of Abraham), with the following introduction:
"The use of (the Coates of) Armes and Escouchions (family shields) is anciently observed by the Irishry in imitation of ye Children of Israell, who began to vse them in Egypt, at which time the ancestor of all the Irishry, called Gaoidhil, or Gathyelus there liued, which Armes, the Israellits at their passing through ye Redd Seas, vnder ye conduct of Moyses did carry in their severall Banners. They were Twelue Tribes, and each Tribe had a certaine number of men vnder his owne command with Distinct Banners and Armes"; then follows a list of the Banners of Israel, of which the two we are interested in for the moment are Judah -- a lion, and Joseph -- a bull. (Spelling as in original - ed.)
In The Bible: An Irish Book, Mac Dari stated: "This volume is dedicated to the memory of my father who, in my early boyhood, taught me the letters of the Irish alphabet, the initial step which in later years enabled me, with the aid of historical research, to interpret its character-names and to prove the true Source of the origin of the Bible." Though he may have had the cart before the horse, this man clearly made the connection between true Irish and Hebrew. It is reported that in 1827, the British and Foreign Bible Society sent Hebrew Bibles to Ireland for the Gaelic-speaking peasantry to read; though they could not make out English, they had more success with Hebrew.
The Irish Hedge Schools of the 18th and 19th centuries taught the classics, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, which would easily explain the last-mentioned phenomenon. But the theory is a fascinating one! Any comments? -ed.
(Hard copy sent by Mildred McCloskey)
Text not available for on line copy
Congratulations to Michael Greaney, whose seven-page article on the Norman invasion of Ireland, "Last of the Norman Invasions," was published in the December 1998 issue of Military History. The issue will be available until December 14, and I urge everyone in the SIG to buy a copy. I've read the article, and it was excellent, as Michael's work for Litir Sceala always is.
Comhalta Nua
Barbara G. Conley (nee Fagan), 101 Rainbow, Dr., Apt. 5297, Livingston, TX 77351-9330.Elisabeth Evans, 4541 Sequoia Dr., #261, Harrisburg, PA 17109
Litreacha
Michael D. Greaney (6166 Leesburg Pike, #A08, Falls Church, VA 22044) writes:(Hard copy from Michael Greaney)
Text not available for on line copy
Not only is Michael's article an excellent one, with a lot of new material that wasn't in his Litir Scealaseries on the subject and lots of gorgeous color illustrations, but the blurb about him at the end mentions, among his credentials, his membership in the Irish Special Interest Group of American Mensa! The issue has a picture of Norman knights in battle on the cover and underneath the title "Military History," in large letters, "NORMAN INVASION OF IRELAND." By all means, everyone, buy and read!!
Tom Culhane (954-A Stuyvesant Ave., Union, NJ 07083) sent this press release for the American Irish-Celtic Stamp Committee:
CAGNEY STAMP MOVES CLOSER TO FINAL APPROVAL
The September 14th edition of Linn's Stamp News reports the James Cagney U.S. Commemorative Stamp is moving closer to final approval by the Postal Service. According to an internal U.S. Postal Service publication released in late August, the Cagney proposal was cited as "being considered tentatively," yet still awaits final verification by the Postal Service.
Tom Culhane, director of the American Irish-Celtic USA Stamp Committee, who submitted the Cagney idea to the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee in Washington several years ago, is hoping for a 1999 issue date which would coincide with the 100th anniversary of Cagney's birth. Culhane has garnered political backing for this proposal, receiving letters of support from the White House, Senators Ron Wyden, Moynihan, and Torricelli, along with NJ Congressmen Menendez and Franks. South Carolina Governor Beasley and Hawaii Governor Cayetano have also aided the effort.
Cagney is certainly remembered around the world for his riveting portrayals of gangsters in film classics such as The Public Enemy and White Heat, while often turning to his Irish roots in other character depictions. Paramount among his film roles were his being cast as Jerry Plunkett in The Fighting 69th, IRA Commandant Lenihan in Shake Hands with the Devil, and his unforgettable Oscar-winning performance as George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Perhaps even more fitting than being recognized for his accomplishments on stage, screen, television and radio, Cagney's exemplary personal life deserves the honor of commemoration on a U.S. stamp. It was Cagney doing the yeoman's work as president of the Screen Actors' Guild in 1942 who successfully spearheaded Hollywood's bond-selling drives and organized entertainment tours for the Allied forces.
Culhane hopes that final approval for the James Cagney stamp will come within the next few months. He also points out that the Irish Famine Stamp, which a number of Irish-American organizations supported.