DG Conny Ovesen introduced the presentation by wishing everyone a happy St. Patrick’s Day and telling us how glad she was that Rotarians from the Emerald Isle could join us via Zoom on this special day. She was thrilled to be invited and hoped we all would enjoy the program! She offered a toast to celebrate the day and our meeting. Sláinte!

Conny then introduced President-elect Mary Long from Cork who gave us a warm welcome in the native Irish language. You can view the Zoom meeting to hear it and what its translation was.

Then Conny introduced Seamus Parle, District Treasurer for the Irish district, who loves to crunch numbers. He gave us some very interesting statistics about Ireland. He shared with us that there are 1660 members of Rotary in 72 clubs in their district which includes the entire country of Ireland. That results in about 23 members per club on average. He said that while Beaumont is the 23rd largest city in Texas, it would be the fourth largest city in Ireland. It is said that in Texas there are more guns than people, but in Ireland there are more cattle than people and about as many sheep as people. He also shared that Ireland produces enough food to feed about 45 million people, and since Ireland has a population of less than seven million, it exports quite a large amount of food on an annual basis. He also shared that Texas is eight times the size of Ireland with four times the population of Ireland.

Conny then introduced Sean Lynch, representing the Rotary Club of Navan, who told us a story of St. Patrick. When he was called before the High King of Tara to explain Christianity, St. Patrick used the shamrock as an example to show the relationship in Christianity between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost – one stem with three leaves. He also gave us a brief history of the area around Navan and the Boyne River Valley, including the Newgrange Stone Age Passage Tomb, which was built over 5000 years ago (older than the pyramids), and engineered in such a way that on the morning of the Winter Solstice, the light of the sun shines down the thin passageway and illuminates a room deep inside. Sean also told us that actor Pierce Brosnan of James Bond fame is from Navan. He and his daughter Kate then treated us to a stirring rendition of the official song of the Boyne Valley played on twin trumpets! Sláinte! Sean then turned the program over to Garth Arnold, who showed us a hilarious rendition of “Danny Boy” performed by the Swedish Chef, Beaker, and Animal from The Muppets. Very funny! Sláinte!

Hugh next gave us a brief history of St. Patrick and the origins of the holiday celebration that bears his name. St. Patrick was born to wealthy parents in Britain near the end of the fourth century. At the age of 16, he was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who brought him back to Ireland as a slave. At that time, there were few Christians in Ireland, with most native islanders practicing a nature-based pagan religion. St. Patrick spent six years in captivity working as a shepherd. It was during this time, enslaved among pagans, that he began to fully embrace his religion and become a devout Christian. He was able to escape captivity and make his way back to England, where he began a course of religious training that lasted 15 years. St. Patrick received a revelation from an angel in a dream telling him to go back to Ireland as a missionary. After he was ordained as a priest, he was sent to Ireland, where he ministered to the few Christians living there and began to convert others. St. Patrick was extremely successful because he spoke the language, was familiar with the customs, and incorporated some traditional pagan rituals into his Christian teaching instead of trying to eradicate traditional beliefs. It was St. Patrick who superimposed a symbol of the sun, an important symbol to the pagans, onto the cross to create what is now known as the Celtic Cross. This was done so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish. The legend of St. Patrick driving the snakes of Ireland into the sea is just a story, as snakes are not native to Ireland and did not exist there during his lifetime. Many of the stories of St. Patrick’s life are likely exaggerated – which is an Irish tradition when storytelling. Sláinte! St. Patrick was never actually canonized by the Catholic Church, as during the first millennium there was no formal process within the Church to do so. He became Saint Patrick by popular acclaim.

The first recorded St. Patrick’s Day celebration occurred in what is now St. Augustine, Florida (which, at the time, was a Spanish settlement – which makes perfect sense) in the year 1601. The most well-known celebration and parade held every year in New York City started in 1762 as a protest by disgruntled Irish soldiers in the city. The largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the world happens annually in Tokyo, Japan (which again makes perfect sense). The 2019 Tokyo parade drew over 130,000 spectators. Sláinte! St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated all over America, where it is estimated that nearly half of Americans have some Irish links in their heritage. The Irish have a great appreciation for the Americans who served in WWII and many still remember the huge number of American soldiers who were stationed in Ireland prior to their deployment to the beaches of Normandy. It is obvious that the American servicemen also had a great appreciation of the Irish, as it is estimated that over 2000 Irish girls became American soldiers’ brides. Sláinte!

Sean passed off to Maz, who played and sang for us, one song on accordion and a second on guitar. We were all able to join in on the second song with a series of handclaps during the chorus. There did seem to be some issues with everyone clapping in unison, which may have been due to the Zoom format or maybe due to the frequency of toasts. Sláinte!

To finish off the presentation we were shown a video titled “Dancing Through Cork”, which showed many beautiful sights from that area, some new, some old, all highlighted by some talented young dancers. Conny thanked us for setting up this meeting of the two groups and allowing the Irish Rotarians to share their love and knowledge of their home. Sláinte!

Any discrepancies in this account of the program stem from the author’s inability to understand parts of what was said due to the Irish accents. The author will gladly accept donations so that he may travel to Ireland for further study of the language in order to correct this deficiency. Sláinte!