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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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Dan McFeeley

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Hello all -- Happy St. Patrick's day everyone . . .

For those who may not have noticed, the GotMead site has been using traditional Celtic colors of green and gold, and the font is also Celtic. The knotwork around Vicky's Meadwench logo is taken directly from the Irish book of Kells, a composition by Irish monks.

Myself, I've had a pint of Guinness (I'm a third shift worker, so this morning is my evening) in honor of the day, shared with my rescue hound who also favors the black stuff. Poor pFredd! Oskaar needs to share . . . I swear that's a pleading look he's wearing.

Time to go walk the dogs -- I'll be listening to a Chieftains CD on the walkman. Happy St. Patrick's day everyone!

Back to mead -- there is a mead tradition in Irish tradition, but it's way way back in the mythic cycles. It seems mostly connected with the Iron age Celts -- an example, Finn MacCumhail was served a goblet of mead on arrival at a Celtic stronghold, very similar to traditions touched on in Germanic and Norse stories. Another very intriquing reference in Joyce's translation of the story of the Children of Lir to hazel mead. The hazel tree is is symbolic of wisdom in the ancient Irish myths. . . .

Gotta go! The dogs are wanting their walk.
 

Dan McFeeley

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Over on the Nomenclature thread, Oskaar posted:

Oskaar said:
"Éireann go Brách"


Sretan svet Patrick dan! ;D


Back from walking the dogs, making up a batch of boxty, an Irish potato pancake, for the ER and mental health unit crews tonight. Corned beef is in the 'fridge, ready to be sliced. Hopefully it won't be too busy, we're going to have a good time.
 

Miriam

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Well, my maiden name was O'Meara...Grandma's family sat shiva for her when she married Grandpa. I maintain that the drop of Irish in us shows up in our fondness for the drop.

Miriam
 

Dan McFeeley

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Miriam said:
Well, my maiden name was O'Meara...Grandma's family sat shiva for her when she married Grandpa. I maintain that the drop of Irish in us shows up in our fondness for the drop.

Good on you!

So . . . have you brewed a kosher Guiness yet? ::)
 

Miriam

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Ha ha, Dan - Guiness is kosher!! Why re-invent the wheel?

But I confess that I stopped drinking beer several years ago...got to keep the profile elegant, you know.

Miriam
 

Dan McFeeley

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Miriam said:
Ha ha, Dan - Guiness is kosher!! Why re-invent the wheel?

But I confess that I stopped drinking beer several years ago...got to keep the profile elegant, you know.

Well, Guinness is kosher. I had no idea. Must be good news for the Irish Jews living in Israel. ;D

Beer may not be as much a factor in weight gain as has been supposed. Take a look here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3175488.stm

And of course, there's Charlie Papazian, a long time beer drinker and beer lover, but still thin as a rail, even in his mid-fifties.
 

Miriam

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Well, there is a pub in Tel Aviv called Molly Bloom's, but never having visited, I suspect that most of the Irish frequenters are tourists of the non-Jewish variety. Irish Jews?! Dublin, Cork and Belfast have all had Jewish Lord Mayors. Chaim Herzog, who was one of the Presidents of Israel, was born and brought up in Dublin. But I don't count as an Irish Jew: the one grandparent of Irish ancestry was a failed Catholic. The other three, Jewish grandparents (and my own folks) were a good Eastern European/Sephardic mixture. I grew up hearing both Yiddish and Spanish in the house.

Significantly, the only word I know in Irish is, er, "Slante!"

The problem with drinking beer, stout, and all those is that one tends to nosh a little of this and that while sipping away - I have to say that since renouncing the grain-based drink, the ability to stick to the diet has improved.

Miriam, fan of carbohydrates, Yeats, Keats, Oscar Wilde and James Joyce
 

Oskaar

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Sephardic/Eastern European? As in Bosnian/Sephardic Jewish?

It finally snapped into place after the Spanish kept coming up!

Do you know of Flory Jagoda?

Cheers,

Oskaar
 

ancjr

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Ja sam crnacki peder patuljak!

Ok, I must admit, I'm a bit rusty...
 

Miriam

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Oskaar, I could stand on one leg and lecture for a couple of hours on Jewish geneology, but it would probably fail to interest you after the first couple of minutes.
About myself - Eastern European in my background means Russian - my grandmother's parents immigrated to the States out of Odessa speaking Ukranian, Russian and Yiddish about 120 years ago. Although Grandpa wasn't Jewish, my late Dad decided to return to the Jewish way of life in his late teens; thus his marriage to my Jewish mom. Sephardic in my case means that my mother's family left Spain in 1492 and migrated through the New World, followed always by the Inquisition, till they settled in Nicaragua - too distant and the Jewish community not rich enough to interest those who enjoyed organizing autos da fe.

I don't know any Bosnian Jews, but I would assume that older ones speak Ladino, an archaic Spanish mixed with some Arabic and lots of Hebrew vocabulary.

Hope this off-topic post is acceptable...

Miriam
 

Oskaar

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Miriam,

We're in the hive so everything is pretty much on topic!

I'm familiar with the Sephardic Jews flight from Spain and Portugal to various parts of the Mediterranean and specifically from Bosnia (a family of Sephardic Jews helped some of my very dear friends escape Sarajevo when the Serbs moved in and were killing people door to door) Also, my friend's mother is a Professor of Ethnomusicology and she did a wonderful documentary (The Key from Spain) on Flory Jagoda, who is a world renowned Sephardic folksinger.

I always say Eastern European when I meet folks since the family is from Croatia, and we hold our traditions close and dear as well.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 

Miriam

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Oskaar,

Wince...yes, we are familiar with that sort of hatred...I am glad your friends escaped into safety.

I confess I don't know Flory Jagoda, although I've probably seen her on TV as Israel Television often has programs featuring Ladino culture and music.

So you know what a wide geographic and cultural range the word "Sephardic" covers. I think of my son-in-law, whose family comes from Jerba: a tiny island off Tunisia where the Jewish community abides by customs ancient indeed. (If all those Jerbim are as wonderful as that boy, I would recommend every Jewish mother to get her daughter's husband there.) Be that as it may, this is a very distinct kind of Sephardi, speaking Arabic and Hebrew rather than Arabic and Spanish or French as Sephardim from Morrocco, or only Spanish as my Latin-American mom.

One advantage of have a North African family is having learned to make the best couscous. :D

Miriam, whose gefilte fish isn't bad either
 
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