Day: March 13, 2009

Yes, President Barack O’Bama is part Irish. His maternal grandfather’s ancestors were from Moneygall, Ireland. Right smack dab in the middle of the Emerald Isle.

I tried to figure a way to post the song, There’s No One as Irish as Barack O’Bama, by the Corrigan Brothers. The embedding was removed from youtube and I found how to download the song but not the video. Alas, you will just have to go to youtube.com by clicking on the song title.

Definitely a fun song that will stick in your brain. Sing it at the parade.

There seems to be some discrepancy on how many ‘greats’ in that great grandfather claim to Irish fame, but who’s counting. So know that in Moneygall, County Offaly, Ireland, they take their Amrican politics seriously. Ironically, ‘Moneygall’ (Muine Gall) means ‘grove of the foreigners’ in Irish.

According to that great source, Wikipedia:

Falmouth Kearney, the great-great-great grandfather of United States President Barack Obama, emigrated from Moneygall to New York City at the age of 19 in 1850 and eventually resettled in Tipton County, Indiana.[2]Kearney’s father had been the village shoemaker, then a wealthy skilled trade

Now for those of you who want to be able to speak a little Irish during the next few days, I am going to leave you another website. You can learn to say ‘kiss me arse,’ ‘Erin go Bragh’, or ‘My trousers are on fire.’ I have no clue why anyone would want to say the last one or what its connotation is. However, the first 2 …obvious.

It’s that time again. Wearing o’ the green, pinching, shamrocks, green beer and Leprechauns will be out in full force tomorrow and into next week as another St. Patrick’s Day rolls around on March 17.

The 10th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be held in Old Town Manassas will be held this Saturday, March 14 2009 beginning at 11 am. This years’ parade marshall will be none other than Fire Chief McGee, a second generation Irishman from Buffalo NY. According to News and Messenger,

As a youngster growing up in Buffalo, N.Y., Kevin J. McGee’s parents always took him and his siblings to the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Now years later, much to his surprise, McGee gets to head up a St. Patrick’s Day parade as grand mar-shal.
“I always enjoyed going to the parade in Buffalo … but never did I think one day I would be in one,” McGee said.

Vincent T. Fitzpatrick, president of parade sponsor Inisfail, said organizers chose McGee—an “Irish gentle-man” and local fire chief—to pay homage to the Irish, whose descendants have made up “the core of fire departments in many municipalities throughout the country for decades.”

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. He lived during the 4th century and is credited for driving the snakes out of Ireland. There is much myth and folk lore surrounding this beloved saint. For most of us, on March 17, everyone is Irish or just a wee bit so.

More parade information

More Information on St. Patrick from a religious/historical perspective