The point of our journey to my home country was to meet and greet with a few members of my family with whom I have not met and gret in decades. And many members of my family whom I have never met.
My mother's cousin, Joe, who lives across the pond from the American contingent has been the instigator for the past few decades for large, extended family gatherings taking place on various continents. I attended one in the US many years ago, and my parents both traveled to Ireland a few times.
When word came that there was going to be the first gathering in a decade in Ireland and that my dad was planning to attend, we added a swing through my Home Country as part of our travel planning for the summer.
And indeed we were welcome. The Cousin festivities occurred over two nights, one at the Golf Club in Enniscrone, and the second, here at the Kennedy family pub in a small town about 45 minutes outside of Enniscrone proper. The photos are a hodgepodge of both events, and in no particular order.
Here young Tom is examining the family tree. This document goes back to my great-great grandparents and forward to Tom and Hope. I'm the oldest child of the oldest cousin, so Jeff and I fell about in the middle of pack as far as age. We are younger than my mother's cousins, but older than all of their children.
My grandfather was born and raised on the homestead you see below. In the interests of verisimilitude, the structure in the photo is the barn. The actual house was demolished a few years ago and snug modern home was built on the property.
The most fabulous part of any authentic Irish gathering, apart from the Guinness, is the singing and dancing. The American contingent have clearly had their genetics diluted too far to participate in any meaningful fashion, but the Irish cousins have really astonishing talent. I grew up with Irish music in the household, so the songs are all familiar to me, and I do love to listen to the joyful/mournful melodies of the Irish pipes.
Overall, a grand time was had by all.
Tomorrow: Ceide Fields, a bit of history
I love Irish music! And are you saying the American contingent can't sing? Or dance? Or both? *tisk, tisk*
Posted by: Debbie Hanson | August 18, 2011 at 06:34 PM
Neither and either! ;-)
Posted by: Ellen | August 22, 2011 at 06:41 AM