European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 15, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Sidelight the Irish tradition stands Patby Sid o Schapiro for the Irish St. Patrick a Day is a National Celebration of the birth of their Patron Saint a Man credited with converting the Pagan natives to christianity in the fifth Century and ridding Ireland forever of snakes. In the greening of America it is a Holiday when everyone seems to have an Affinity for things Irish from Green bagels to a Green Stripe running along new Yorkus fifth Avenue for one of the nations oldest and largest traditional parades. It is a solemn religious Observance that is often overshadowed by a disconcerting ebullience and causes the most restrained onlookers to lapse into bogus brogues. And what would the great Day be without a bit of Blarney As served up tuesday in earlier times St. Patrick a Day March 17 was an Opportunity for Shanachie or professional storytellers to pass along myths and legends about the Emerald Isles Patron Saint. According to one researcher the Shanachie were fond of saying that St. Patrick was a Teet Taler but invented Irish whiskey that he planted the first shamrocks wrote the first code of Irish Law and drove the snakes out of Ireland a or All but one. To Deal with this Crafty creature St. Patrick had a Box made and told the Snake to get inside. The Serpent refused saying it was too Small. A nonsense Quot said St. Patrick. A a it a just your size. Try it and a fall right ill show you its too Small a said the Snake slithering in. Whereupon St. Patrick snapped Down the lid and plunged the Box into the sea. Actually historians doubt that Ireland Ever had snakes because of its climate and isolated situation. But such a minor detail never fazed a Shanachie. Tuesday nights the night to see them if you re going to see them at All. Tuesday night or better still in the Small hours of wednesday when All the toasts have been made to Erin a legion of saints and scholars soldiers and statesmen when the sad songs and mad songs and glad songs of Ireland have All been Sung and Are just echoes in your head. To see what Why the Little people of course. You can to be Irish not even in spirit unless you re prepared to come across the wee Folk at least once in your life. And the Irish being the most hospitable and obliging of souls have made it possible for each of us no matter How thin the Strain of the Gael flows through our veins to see As varied an assortment of a Cray Turest As there Are anywhere in the world. There Are banshees and morrows and any number of varieties of fairies. There Are leprechauns and polkas and it goes without saying the most spirited of ghosts. A fall Are Woven into the fabric of the celtic mind right into the very Warp and Woof of the pathos and mysticism that is the spirit of the Emerald Isle a a Friend from the Ould Sod enlightened us. As a guide to better help you distinguish Between them Here is sort of a almanac de Gael of the spirit world. As they say at the Dublin football matches you can to Tell the players without a scorecard. The fairies make up by far the largest number of the Little people. There Are trooping fairies who hang around in Bunches and there Are the solitary ones who display a sort of a a in a rather do it myself Mither Quot Type of Independence. The gaelic word for fairy is a Quot and their chief reasons for being Are to fight frolic and make love. Who can condemn them for that irishmen Are irishmen be they made of flesh or blood or More shadowy stuff. Of All the she Hogue Only the leprechauns do and work. They guard the pots of Gold at the end of rainbows and sit Cross legged in quiet places making Little shoes. Strangely enough no one has Ever seen a Leprechaun working on shoes by the pair Only single ones and then Only for the left foot. According to Irish folklorists banshees Are among the More disturbing of the Little people. If you happen to meet a Banshee tuesday night pass him by. Banshees you see follow people who Are about to die. When the distressing event occurs the Banshee sets up a wailing that sounds like it would Wake the dead. Sad to say however it does no to. The More important the person the More banshees will turn up at his coffin. Even today in the More Remote country places owes Tom Ireland a tis said women at wakes set up a keening that is said to have been patterned after the sounds of the banshees. The Din is enough to Send Strong men to Strong drink a not uncommon occurrence at Irish country wakes. Interestingly emergency vehicles in new York arc equipped with devices called Banshee sirens. As far As polkas Are concerned forget Mem. They Are now believed to be the spirits of animals sometimes taking the shape of goats or horses or even eagles. They come out Only in november. In new Yorkus Irish neighbourhoods knowledgeable desk officers refer All Pooka reports to the american society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. Morrows on the other hand Are the loveliest of All inhabitants of the Irish spirit world. Lady morrows that is. The word comes from the gaelic a Murd Hutch a meaning maid of the sea for that a where you la find one. In other lands morrows arc known As mermaids. Rut like their Sisters everywhere the Colleen of the deep arc interested solely in luring handsome sailors and fishermen beneath the Waves to watery love nests. Every Irish storyteller has a few a Pat and Mike tales in his repertoire. Pat asked Mike a what would you be if you weren to Irish a Mike answered a a in a be Sid Schapro a stars and stripes now York Bureau Rotl Reo do lights in becoming 0�?~schaplro on St. Patrick s turns cold toward overflowing melting pot Andy Rooney it la take another couple of Hundred years but you can see it starting. The world and All the people in it Are swirling around and mixing together like paint in a can. Differences Are going to disappear. Its transportation and communication that will do it eventually. Barriers real and cultural Between countries will slowly break Down. If we re Lucky the world will take the Best of everything from each country. I think for instance that the japanese will drop their chopsticks in favor of our knives and Forks and give up their language for ours because its a better language than japanese. Maybe in Exchange Well eat More Rice and adopt some of their work habits. I Hope the world learns to Cook like the French and Hollywood learns to act like the British. With radio and television its inevitable that the world will speak one language. Its too bad in a Way but inevitable. Well All have the same newspapers read the same books and use the same Money. Already its interesting to see How just in the last 25 years the food and cooking style of one nation has mingled with the cooking of others. The food in London and Washington is infinitely better than it was 25 years ago because each of those cities has had a great influx of Good chefs from France China Japan and Mexico opening restaurants. Americans Are stir frying now with garlic Ginger and soy sauce. This mixing of All the people of the world will be better for the poor countries and worse for the Rich ones. We re Rich so it la be worse for us in the United states. Well All have to be a Little poorer in order to make other nations Richer. In the u.s., we re feeling the pressure from Mexico from Haiti from South and Central America Korea Taiwan and a dozen other countries with vast numbers of people who want to come Here. And we no longer want them to come. Each new wave of immigrants is resented by the one immediately proceeding it. In new York puerto rican cab Drivers who 10 years ago speak English and were hated by the Drivers with a european background who came after world War ii Are complaining about All the haitian cab Drivers. Immigrants usually fill the jobs that pay least because they re willing to take anything to get started. The people who came Here 20 years ago resent the newcomers because do the Job for less so they get it. Its paradoxical that this country which was made what it is by immigrants no longer wants them. We should Send 1,000 workmen out to the base of the statue of Liberty to chisel off those words that Emma Lazarus wrote so Long ago. They no longer Bear any relation to the immigration policy of the United states. We Arentt mean or heartless. There is simply no Way we can take in everyone who wants to come Here. Tie most Liberal kind hearted americans among us done to want the wretched refuse of anyone else a teeming shores. We have our own poor homeless masses. The problem Isnit unique to the United states. Every relatively prosperous nations has it. Half the population of India and Bangladesh would like to go to great Britain. In France the City of Marseille is overwhelmed by algerians and tunisians. Germany opened its doors for Many years after world War ii and the Eastern europeans flowed in. Now the turks for instance who went there because they were needed Are no longer Welcome because they Are no longer needed. Every country erects its own barriers a none higher than ours a but in spite of them hundreds of thousands of immigrants get in anyway. They go illegally through holes in Border fences and through Legal loopholes. The world seems to be becoming one big unhappy family. Tribune Media services Andy Rooney is a former stars and stripes reporter March 15, 1992 sunday a Page 7
