Saturday, March 17, 2012

Erin Go Bragh

Meaning, Ireland Forever!
Greetings blog friends and Happy St.Patrick's Day.

Being Irish is a blessing to me and I look forward to this day each year. St. Patrick's Day brings back many memories growing up and our home celebrations with special meals and Irish music. My Father was Irish and my grandfather was from Dublin. I have not been to visit, but look forward to a trip one day.


Ireland is about the size of West Virginia, and this tiny island has some of the richest history of the Western world. Some important dates are 600 B.C. when the Celtic arrived on Irish soil. In A.D. 432 St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland. During the time from 500- 800 known as the Golden Age of Ireland, great music, literary creativity made Ireland the most accomplished in Europe. When the Vikings invaded Ireland in 800, they founded the first towns including Dublin in 988. In 1002 Ireland is united for the first time under one leader and by 1801 Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. 1845 saw a million and a half Irish starve to death due to the Great Potato Famine and a million more people emigrate to avoid the same fate. By 1922 Ireland becomes a free state within the British Commonwealth except for six counties of Northern Ireland which still remain part of the United Kingdom. Leaving the year of 1949 to see the twenty six counties of Ireland become an independent republic.


St. Patrick is the man who converted the Irish to Christianity and is the most famous Irishman of all time. No one is sure where exactly the patron saint was born or buried, but they do know when he died, which is March 17Th. So on this day, the Irish worldwide celebrate the holiday in honor of his name. The shamrock is the symbol of Ireland and comes from Gaelic Seamrog, which refers to the plant's three leaves. As the story goes, It was in a heated debate with a Druid priest that St. Patrick bent down, picked a shamrock and used it to demonstrate the Christian trinity using the three leaves held together by one single stem. Meaning, "The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit." The Shamrock is regarded today as the national plant of Ireland and worn in many forms on St. Patrick's Day.

Churchill once said," We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English"

My grandfather was from Dublin and came to this country residing in Pennsylvania in 1921. He married a wonderful girl,my grandmother also from Ireland, and they had three children, one of wish was my father.
Here is a picture of Dublin today overlooking the River Liffey. Shown is a portion of the Ha'penny Bridge. The Dome building in the background is the Custom House.



Some of my favorite Irish books, and beautiful pictures from them to share! From a pair of vintage Irish bells, pottery and shamrock bowl, gorgeous green hutch, ending with inspiring spring roses!








I hope you enjoy a bit of the Irish on St. Patrick's Day and may your day be filled with blessings and good cheer!

Thank you for stopping by for St.Patrick's Day." May the road rise up to meet you, and may the wind always be at your back."

ERIN GO BRAGH "Ireland Forever"
Blessings, Celestina Marie~

15 comments:

Mariette VandenMunckhof-Vedder said...

Dearest Celestina Marie,

Since we live in Dublin, GA we had lots of festivities for the annual St. Patrick's festival. On Monday we had a great Irish evening with Irish dances, music and singing in our theater for our bi-centennial celebration. Friday we had with the Rotary Club (Pieter's club) a joint civic luncheon with all clubs and the Georgia Speaker of the House did speak. He flew in by helicopter.
We had a lovely dinner with dear friends on Friday evening. Hope you also enjoy a lovely weekend and Happy St. Patrick's to you!
Love,

Mariette

BG said...

A beautiful St. Patrick's day post Celeste. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.
Hugs,
XXX

lilybets said...

Nice post Celestina,when you will visit Ireland you will find a part of your father and yours in your hearth!

Linda said...

Happy St Patrick's Day to you and your family.

VM Creation Atelier said...

Have a very,very nice weekend,dear Celistina Marie!!!

Your post looks SO lightly and sunchine;-)*

Hugs,
***Violetta***

Edie Marie's Attic said...

Happy St Patty's Day to ye lad & lass! What a wonderful post on your family history and of Ireland. Wes' maternal grandfather was from Ireland so he has a bit of the blarney in him! LOL
Love the toast at the end. Our Russell is getting married in May and I may use that as a toast at his wedding since he is also a bit Irish! (getting married to the "sweetie girls" mom)

Much love, Sherry

Julie Marie said...

Blessings to you too dear Celeste on this St. Patrick's Day... I loved reading about your family, and seeing all of your pretty Irish treasures... those books all look wonderful!... and those little bells are so sweet... we celebrate big too as Jack is Irish... wishing you all a perfectly wonderful day... xoxo Julie Marie and Tessy PS Your Spring flowers are so pretty!

Yesteryear Embroideries said...

What a wondeful post..........I did not know that you are Irish! Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

Anonymous said...

Good day C! Being half green myself you can imagine the history I grew up on on the knees of my g'parents and aunties who ended going back to Ireland in their sixties "to die in their country". And that they did in their 80's. They always instilled in me what it meant to be 1/2 Irish and to be proud of our traditions. I hold many dear to my heart today. Lovely post my friend, as always, lovely. Hugs. T

Grandma Barb's This and That said...

What a beautiful post. Thanks for the history of Ireland and your family.
Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day.
Blessings, Barb

Createology said...

This was a lovely post and I enjoyed your sharing of family Irish history. And the rest of the day to you...

Draffin Bears said...

Hi Celestina Marie,

I enjoyed your lovely post and reading about your Irish family history.
My Father's family was also from Ireland and my parents went over to visit Ireland and loved the Country so much.
One day I hope you get to visit Ireland and see where your family came from.
Do hope that you are enjoying the weekend

Hugs
Carolyn

Red Rose Alley said...

Celestina,
Oh, that is wonderful that you are Irish! I bet you celebrated the day in a special way. I wasn't aware of the meaning of the Shamrock, and I'm so glad I came over to visit and found out. I have always thought that the Irish were a happy bunch of people. My husband is part Irish, so the girls celebrated and drank green beer. hehe One of my bloggy friends sent me wishes all the way from Ireland, and I was so honored. I loved all the green in your post today and the Irish toast, and I enjoyed reading about your family history.
~Sheri at Red Rose Alley

Creations by Marie Antoinette and Edie Marie said...

wonderful post Celeste!!!
And such gorgeous pictures.
I'm mainly Scot Irish.
I went with a friend of mine to the St, Patrick Day parade Sat.
Had a wonderful time. I caught alot of green beads and even got a couple of kisses with flowers.
LOL...I still got it ...just not all of it...LOL.
XXOO Marie Antionette

Grandma Linda's Daydreams said...

Lovely post! I'm so happy to learn more of the history of Ireland and St. Patrick! It's wonderful that you have a rich family heritage. So many people don't know where their families came from. I, for one, know very little about my great-grandparents, and sure hope to pass along more family history to my grandkids than I got! My maternal grandmother was Irish-German, so thank you for the history lesson! God bless you! Linda

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Celestina Marie
Celestina Marie

Welcome To Rose Garden Market from Celestina Marie Design. It is so nice to meet you. My name is Celestina Marie named after my grandmother and my friends call me Celeste.My creative journey extends over 30 years enjoying the love of painting and redesigning vintage and new treasures. I love to go treasure hunting and the fun of finding great vintage pieces to redesign..