Becoming, Second Installment
TopazOwl

Tue Feb 23 16:37:40 1999
     I am Irish-American, raised in an Irish-American home. My family is originally from Donegal, Clare, and Wexford. My great-grandmother on my mother's side is American Indian, but the Indian ways were not the folkways I learned as a child; in fact, they were hidden and forgotten, as my family felt it was an embarrassment. (Yes, that was long before being "Native American" was "cool" in American culture.) The Irish ways were what I grew up with, preserved in the Catholic veneer that was painted over them, a religion and a way of life that was so much a part of the Irish-American sub-culture.*p*     We lost a great deal when we came over to the Americas, as we struggled to "fit in" to an Anglo culture that was openly hostile to Irish immigrants. When I heard the stories about the "No Irish Need Apply" signs from my grandparents, the wounds of racism were still fresh. It was not good to be different; it was not good to be Irish. Our language was schooled out of us completely, and here no one kept it alive because of our need to fit in and make a go of this new frontier. Our survival depended on assimilation into this brave new world, this beautiful and diverse land, where our dreams could thrive and where we saw our hope for the future.*p*     I was an Irish-American child, raised in a Catholic school and church in a neighborhood predominantly Irish-American, a child of my Irish forefathers, and yet a child who never heard the Gaeilge until I made a valiant effort to learn it again as an Irish-American adult. I learn this language again in honor of my ancestors, and I learn this language again to help my descendants. I do not want the language of my people lost to future generations. I do not want to be assimilated as long as it is no longer necessary for our survival. I want our children to know where they came from and what it means to be descended of the Irish people. I want them to understand what kind of people we are, and in doing so, they may find a better understanding of themselves. Because it is not just a language that defines a people, but a language can greatly *explain* a people, even to themselves. John O'Donohue said, "When you steal a people's language, you leave their soul bewildered." Nothing quite describes the Irish-American better, for we *are* bewildered souls in that most of us no longer know where we came from, have no concept of our rich and illustrious heritage, and have no words in this English language to adequately describe who we are. And how can we know where we're going if we don't know where we've been? *p*     It was my journey to re-discover my heritage, to define who I am, that led me ultimately to the Druids. It was the fact that I could not define myself within this modern Anglo culture that brought me to this place of Celtic spirit and spirituality, because when I identified the essence of Celtic spirit, I found myself within it. When I discovered the folkways of the Irish people, I recognized in them my own family's traditions. When I heard Irish music, I heard my family as they sat around on a Saturday night, singing and playing any number of instruments together. When I heard the Irish triads, it was as if my grandmother was offering some of her many little wise-woman sayings. It was then that I realized that a people's traditions don't die, but mutate and change to suit the circumstances in which the people find themselves. That is what is called a "living" tradition. And I also realized that I am, that I always was, part of that living tradition. I am a member of the Celtic diaspora, a vehicle by which the old ways evolve and carry on. I am the hope of my Irish fathers in the brave new world, and I have every right to the heritage and the history of my people, which is also my history, my heritage. After all, we did not lose our heritage in a trip across the ocean or in our adaptation to this new land that sustains us.*p**br*(To be continued)
Becoming
TopazOwl
375
Thu Feb 18 14:36:50 1999