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www.celtic-connection.com
DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013
ROBERT BURNS [25th of January 1759 - 1796] - Has been called the first Romantic Poet and his passion for women (some might say a weakness) was a central theme of his life.
Annual celebration of Scotland's national poet
obert Bums is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide. His writing inspired a rebirth of Scottish cultural pride and enhanced the dignity of the common working man.
The family attempted to make a living at farming but spent most of their time toiling in poverty. Burns appears to have written his first poems as a young man on the farm.
Also known as Rabbie Burns, the Ploughman Poet, the Bard of Ayrshire and The Bard, he lived in a time when Scottish culture was on the wane because of English influence and social mores were heavily controlled by the Scottish Presbyterian Church.
Burns opposed both these authorities and celebrated the more humanistic qualities of individual liberty, equality and fraternity that drove the French Revolution. For this reason he has been called the first Romantic Poet.
A cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish Diaspora around the world, celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature.
As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them.
His poem (and song) Auld Lang Syne is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and Scots Wha Hae served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country.
Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well-known across the world today include A Red, Red Rose; A Man's A Man for A' That, To a Louse; To a Mouse; The Battle of Sherramuir; Tarn o' Shanter; and Ae Fond Kiss.
He was born the 25th of January 1759, and it is a testament to the life and work that this date is still celebrated by societies around the world over 250 years after his death.
Burns was born in Alloway, Ayrshire, the son of Agnes (nee Broun) and William Burnes (who later shortened his name to Burns).
As a child he was largely educated by his lather, who also hired a schoolmaster named John Murdock to tutor him.
It was prophetic that his first effort at verse was inspired by his affection for a young woman. This passion of Burns (some might say a weakness) would be a central theme of his life.
In 1784 his father died penniless, leaving him in charge of the tenant farm. His first child was born in 1785, the result of an affair with a household servant, Elizabeth Paton.
Burns was already involved romantically at the time with Jean Armour, who bore him twins the next year. They declared themselves married but her father imposed on Jean to request an annulment.
Bums then took up with Mary Campbell and decided to leave the country with her for Jamaica, where he hoped to achieve the success that eluded him in Scotland.
To raise money for the trip he arranged publication of some of his work in nearby Kilmarnock. The editionPoera^, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect brought him considerable acclaim. The 1786 book was praised by critics and the public alike.
Burns moved to Edinburgh in 1786 where he mingled in literary society. However, financial security continued to elude him.
He again tried his hand at farming at Ellisland, Dumfriesshire in 1788. His fame allowed him to overcome the opposition of Jean Armour's father and he married Jean that year.
Monetary success again proved hard to find. Burns relocated to Dumfries in 1791 where he worked as an excise officer.
Burns died in Dumfries, aged 37 in 1796. His death was attributed to the effects of rheumatic fever, but some critics (and he had many) blamed his fondness for drink as a contributing factor.
The Adventure of a Lifetime Held in Solstice Light
By CYNTHIA WALLENTINE
HE moon seems to shine more brightly at this midnight of the year.
Last night the landscape was shrouded in dense fog. A tall spruce in my front yard pointed upward to a waning moon hanging heavily in the sky, the ultimate seasonal ornament. The Echtra, the Celtic adventure is at hand.
Long long ago, but what could have been just yesterday, I wrote of the Celtic Imram, the Celtic sea voyage to isles of wonder - and of terror. The oceanic tides were upon me then, as they are upon many now.
I wondered then about the Echtra, the Otherworldly journey, often made by way of the underground - not as often by sea. Distinct from the Imram, the Echtra arrives even now by inescapable invitation.
By middle age though, the impetus for the journey is no longer a beautiful woman or shining warrior, but economic
or spiritual impoverishment, hardship or the leer of old age. Contemporary life is rarely as beautiful as folklore, but equally as magical.
This is a dark and dusty journey which, years in the taking, has broken my heart and my hearth many times. And still like so many others, I walk.
The commonalities, the niceties, the charm of each season drawn away to reveal the massive skeletal entwining of chaos with an ordered, seething universe. There is little peace, there is only discovery.
I understand now the tidal journey of the Imram, carrying its voyagers back, back to the western ocean and once
there, on to a future eventually culminating in death. Perhaps the Imram, the voyage, is for those young enough, either in heart or hand, to seek.
The Echtra is for those who must. A barren adventure, void of riches or love, taken by those old enough, either in heart or hand, to mine deep into wilderness for what is needed by others and perhaps finding oneself along the way.
It is the midnight of the year. Moonlight illuminates a misted landscape. On December 21 at 3:12 AM PST, the season of Samhain shrinks away from the queer wonder of a newly born sun at midwinter. May we each and all find peace in the Return.
1,000 Irish volunteers give 7,000 man-hours to hurricane hit Queens, NY neighborhoods
NEW YORK - The first Irish Day of Action to help neighbourhoods devastated by Hurricane Sandy were such a huge success, a second day of action has been planned for December 15.
Reports in Irish Central, the online news agency, indicate that the second day of work in Rockaway and other venues is expected to attract more than the thousand Irish who took part in the first Day of Action.
"We are calling it the Meitheal na Nollaig, Irish for the Christmas helping hand," said one of the organizers Turlough McConnell. "It is a Christmas gesture from our community that will reach out to so many in need."
Irish Deputy Consul Peter Ryan said the talk had begun right away after the success of the first day to do it again.
"There is an extraordinary commitment in this community," he said, "and so many are trained in the construction and renovation skills that are so badly needed down there."
Ryan said that wider spread of areas would be helped this time with crews likely working in Long Island and Staten Island.
On November 24, the community mustered 1,000 people from many different organizations ranging from the Irish Centers, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the United Irish Counties, American Ireland Fund In-NYC and many others.
Twelve buses transported volunteers
BREEZY POINT is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, located on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula, between Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay. It was one of the hardest hit areas following Hurricane Sandy on Oc-tober29.
from The Bronx, Yonkers, Queens, Manhattan and upstate Rockland, while hundreds of others drove their cars, trucks and logistical equipment out to the Rockaways in Queens.
Groups helped clear out houses, basements and churches, all wearing their Irish Day of Action t-shirts (sponsored by AerLingus).
Writer Cathy Hayes with Irish Central reports that of all the places damaged, Breezy Point shocks the most. The area where the 111 houses burned to the ground resembles an atom bomb crater with twisted metal, trees and buildings in every direction.
According to the U.S Census, Breezy Point has the nation's second highest concentration of Irish-Americans. By day's end the Irish community had contributed a massive 7,000 man-hours to helping the Rockaways in their huge recovery project.
Many sat in the heated tent opposite St. Frances De Salles church, donated by Irish firm Navillus tired but content and telling the stories of their day and the incredible gratitude shown them by locals.
The Irish community has shown the way on the Rockaways and hopefully many other groups will follow.