The Celtic Cross

Just as St. Patrick made the shamrock into a Christian symbol he did the same with the Celtic cross.  He took an ancient symbol of the sun and combined it with a Christian cross to form the Celtic cross.  Across Ireland, Scotland and England, one can find Celtic crosses in many cemeteries.  The Celtic cross had a practical component too; the circle strengthened the cross beams preventing breakage or destruction.

Early Celtic crosses, circa 600 AD were simply carved out of rock.  By the 8th, 9th and 10th Centuries, high crosses became common to honour famous people or places.  The Cross of the Scriptures, or King Flan's Cross, is inscribed with images of the Bible:  the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the Guarding of the Tomb.  By the 1850's, it became common to use Celtic crosses as tombstones, a tradition continued in North America and Australia where Irish or Scottish immigrants have settled.

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http://irishfireside.com/2015/02/03/history-symbolism-celtic-cross/

No Irish Need Apply

The Potato Famine of the 1840's drove thousands of Irish farmers out of the country.  Many immigrated to England, Australia and North America with the hope of starting over.  However, when they looked for work in their new country, they were often greeted by a window sign saying:  "Irish Need Not Apply".

The phrase turned up 29 times in the New York Times on November 10, 1854.  A variation, Irish Need Not Apply" appeared 7 times.  Other ads specified interest in Americans or Protestants, appearing several times on May 1, 1855, which effectively eliminated Irish Catholics.

A song "No Irish Need Apply", written by Kathleen O'Neil, was inspired by a young Irish woman searching for work as a maid in London.  She spots a sign in a window which reads:  "A small active girl to do the general housework of a large family, one who can cook, clean and get up fine linen, preferred.  No Irish Need Apply."
(The London Times, February, 1862)

Nineteenth Century British writer Anthony Trollope explained the pervading sentiment at the time:

"Often depicted as monstrous beings or apes in satirical cartoons, the Irish were not seen as welcome members to English society.  Irish immigrants were seen as lazy, drunk, anarchistic criminals whose sole purpose in life was to steal the jobs of English workers.  It comes as no surprise, then, that English employers were not very welcoming of Irish workers."(https://apps.cndls.georgetown.edu/projects/borders/items/show/86)

The city of Boston, Massachusetts was a common destination for the Irish.  In one year, the Eastern Seaboard city swelled from 30,000 to 100,000 Irish.  Boston shop windows often displayed the trademark "No Irish Need apply" signs, relegating the Irish to the most menial jobs.  In fact, in the mid-1800's, 70% of Boston's servants were Irish.  But they got their foot in the door.

The influence of Irish Catholics slowly grew when the Irish accepted jobs in the police force and in politics.  John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, father of the future Rose Kennedy, became mayor of Boston in 1906.  Joseph P. Kennedy rose to be the American Ambassador to Britain during the Second world War.  His son, John F. Kennedy, of course, became the 35th President of the United States in 1961, the first Catholic to be elected to the position.

Today, No Irish Need Apply signs are proudly mounted in the suburban Boston homes of third, fourth and fifth generation Irish. (http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2006/05/no-irish-need-apply/)

NINA sign circa 1916 courtesy Fulton Street Sign Co.

Irish Immigrant Martha O'Flanagan

"You have to be Irish to have dark hair.  This notion that Irish people have red hair is not true.  We got the red hair from the Danes when they invaded Ireland in 1014, and they married Irish girls." 

(Martha O'Flanagan)

Emerald Isle courtesy 

https://www.sfu.ca/continuing-studies/courses/ahcp/2015/09/265-EmeraldIsle.html.

Martha O'Flanagan grew up in Roscommon Country, Ireland where there is a "colour of green [emerald] that you cannot find in this country or any other country".  Martha grew up on a potato farm in a thatched cottage with stone walls.  One of six children, she had three brothers much older than her.  She and her brothers helped their father plant the potatoes, a task which involved a steeve to make the holes.  For entertainment, Martha attended dances where fiddlers provided the music. Every house in Ireland had a fiddle.  

When she grew up, one of her brothers left for England and one, named Thomas, for America.  Martha longed to follow Thomas, a wish which he made possible when he sent her $200.  Martha rode her bike to Dublin to have her passport stamped, said goodbye to her parents and third brother, and boarded a ship bound for America. 

"One thousand single women looking for a spouse" on the SS Baltic as it arrives at Ellis Island 

circa 1907 courtesy http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/young-women-on-board-of-liner-ss-baltic-arriving-in-ellis-news-photo/112073415.

In 1925, the ship set sail from County Cork. "The S.S. Baltic was beautiful.  I didn't want to get off," reminisced Martha, referring to the blue waters of the Atlantic.  Many of the Irish passengers embarked to Boston where they had family waiting for them.  However, Martha chose to stay in New York City where she met up with Thomas.  

Martha, who reached the ripe old age of 94, reminisced:  "I remember my first St. Patrick's Day here.  It was the parade, and my cousins gave me a green dress to wear and I said, 'I'm not going to wear that ren.  I'm not going to wear green in the United States.'  They laughed at me."  

St. Patrick's Day Parade circa 1910 to 1915 courtesy http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-st-patricks-day-parade-new-york-city-circa-1910-1915-37380928.html.

Joe Queenan's "My 6,128 Favorite Books"

"I am of Irish descent and to the Irish, books are as natural and inevitable a feature of the landscape as sand is to Tuaregs or sand traps are to frat boys in Myrtle Beach."

Joe Queenan's love affair with books began at a Quaker City bookmobile when he was seven years old.  "What started out as a harmless juvenile pastime turned into a lifelong personality disorder," states Joe in his Wall Street Journal essay "My 6,128 Favorite Books".  He liked the way that books enabled him to escape into another world.  The three books that "saved his life" were:  Kidnapped, The Three Musketeers and The Iliad for Precocious Tykes.  Joe was hooked; there was no turning back.

Joe would read books wherever he went:  on trains, planes and busses.  He also read in unlikely venues like plays, concerts and prize fights.  He consumed Tortilla Flat from cover to cover during a Jerry Garcia concert.  Joe read books to kill time, like when waiting for a friend to be "sprung from the dunk tank, emerge from a coma, or the Iceman to cometh."  He read books while on lunch break from packing trucks on the graveyard shift in Philadelphia; he made sure not to read anything too fancy as his Teamster co-workers peeked over his shoulder.

Books fill every room of Joe's house.  "I am of Irish descent and to the Irish, books are as natural and inevitable a feature of the landscape as sand is to Tuaregs or sand traps are to frat boys in Myrtle Beach."  Joe describes how the Irish, invaded and pillaged by the English in the 17th Century, had everything taken away from them except their books.  Along with music and drink, that was how they escaped reality, how they survived.

Joe doesn't believe in speed reading.  Books are to be savoured, like a good Porterhouse steak.  Books also are to be chosen, not to be foisted on another person.  "Saddling another person with a book he did not ask for has always seemed to be like a huge psychological imposition, like forcing someone to eat a chicken biryani without so much as inquiring whether they like cilantro."  Joe explains that you don't necessarily like a book because of the author or the subject matter.  You don't necessarily like an Irish author just because you are Irish.  For instance, Joe's Mexican-American friend's favourite book is The Dubliners by James Joyce,  We choose books because they "speak to us".

Joe does not see e-readers in his future.  He prefers good old fashioned books, the ones with hard covers and frayed pages; the ones that evoke memories.  He owns one book that contains a Metro ticket which harkens back to the Rue St-Jacques in 1972.  Another book contains a note evoking Granada's sun soaked beaches circa 1973.  And another book contains a phone message from the Chateau Marmont in 1995, reminding him of a friend who passed away too soon.

While Joe has read 6,128 books, he says it is far from a record.  Winston Churchill used to read a book a day.  What he likes most about books is the way they make us believe, even for a short time, that we will live "happily ever after".  

Note:  This essay was adapted from Joe Queenan's book One for the Books.  To read it in its entirety visit http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444868204578064483923017090.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444868204578064483923017090