Mar

Memories of St Patrick’s Day In and Out of Ireland

by Joyce McGreevy on March 15, 2021

Ireland’s blue sky and green meadow in March evoke memories celebrated with cultural authenticity on St Patrick’s Day in Ireland. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Before the pandemic, March was a popular time for travel to Ireland . . .
© Joyce McGreevy

How Real Was My Cultural Authenticity?

What could be more Irish than memories of St Patrick’s Day in Ireland? Picture it: County Limerick, March 17. Sunlight illuminates my boarding school overlooking the banks of the River Shannon. Such cultural authenticity! We’ve the day off from classes. Cue the festivities!

The Dripping of the Green

Ah, but this is 1970s Ireland. St Patrick’s Day is a holy day, not yet a holiday. To “celebrate,” we each pin a clump of sodden shamrocks to the front of our school uniform. At Mass, I watch in dismal fascination as brackish liquid oozes along the wool grain of my personal upholstery.

Not how I’d imagined “the wearing of the green.”

My classmate Eileen sighs, “If only we were in Dublin gawking at the Americans.”

“Why Americans?” I ask.

“Ah sure, nobody celebrates St Patrick’s Day like the Yanks. They do go mad for it.”

Ireland’s Lismore Castle with spring flowers evokes memories celebrated with cultural authenticity on St Patrick’s Day in Ireland. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

. . . but late spring in Ireland is lovely, too.
© Joyce McGreevy

The Wearing of . . . Whatever

Picture it: St Patrick’s Day, 1980-something, California. As I enter the office, our receptionist looks up. An expectant smile lights up Barb’s face. It dims when I remove my coat to reveal a black ensemble.

“Shoot,” says Barb. “I thought you’d be wearing your national costume.”

Gently, I break it to Barb that people in Ireland do not wear national costumes.

“What do they wear?” says Barb, aggrieved.

“Um, just . . . clothing. Like anybody else.”

“Oh.” She looks crushed.

“Also, Barb? I was born in Phoenix, Arizona.”

Crane Bar in Galway evokes memories celebrated with cultural authenticity on St Patrick’s Day in Ireland. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Then again, Irish summers delight locals and visitors alike . . .
© Joyce McGreevy

Festivity to “Dye” For

Until recently, the way Ireland and the U.S. celebrated St Patrick’s Day was markedly different.

St Patrick’s Day American-style was an all-day Lucky Charms commercial. Suddenly the air was thick with “Sure ‘n begorrah!” and “Erin go bragh!”—words never uttered in Ireland.

Nationwide, green snack foods proliferated in breakrooms. Green bagels, green cupcakes, green cookies. If you didn’t wear green, people would pinch you. Green socks, green sunglasses, green badges emblazoned “Kiss me! I’m Irish!”

Oh, the indignity to a sensitive soul such as I.

An outdoor table set for dinner in County Cork evokes memories celebrated with cultural authenticity on St Patrick’s Day in Ireland. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

. . . and by late summer, life in Ireland moves outdoors.
© Joyce McGreevy

Joyce McGreevy, Cultural Policewoman

Raised in two cultures and the mother of an Irish-born son, you’d think I’d have relished any chance to celebrate my heritage.

Hah!

In those days, the most Irish thing about me was my curmudgeonly attitude, my utter refusal to abide “such nonsensical carry-on.” No, I would NOT like a Shamrock Shake. No, I would NOT like to put on a plastic green leprechaun hat. No, I would NOT care for corned beef and cabbage. None of these things pertained to the Real Ireland.

So fierce was my commitment to cultural authenticity, that in contrast to all the green, my St Patrick’s Day face was forty shades of red.

As self-appointed cultural firebrand, I made it my mission to douse any outbreaks of fun with the cold water of clarity. Did people not know that St Patrick was born in France? That he came to Ireland because he was kidnapped by pirates?

A sunset in County Cork evokes memories celebrated with cultural authenticity on St Patrick’s Day in Ireland. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Mind you, Ireland’s autumn has a poetry all its own . . .
© Joyce McGreevy

Snakes on a Plain

As for Himself “drrriving the snakes out of Oyrland,” honestly! Beautiful as Ireland is, would any self-respecting reptile choose to live in a cool, rainy climate? Those “snakes” were actually eels found in pre-Christian sacred wells. Patrick didn’t drive them anywhere. He simply blessed the wells while doing his bit to spread European culture.

Indeed, Palladius of Anatolia likely arrived before Patrick, having been sent by Pope Celestine in 432. Yes, the first bishop of Ireland was Turkish, yet does anyone throw poor old Palladius a parade?

My smoldering umbrage was not without fuel. Back then, we were all less savvy about each other’s cultures. As late as the 1990s, I was still fielding such questions as: “Does Ireland have electricity?” “Do people there just eat potatoes?” And my personal favorite: “Do people talk normal there—you know, do they say stuff like awesome and cowabunga”?

Totally, dude.

By the 2000s, the Internet and affordable travel were replacing stereotypes with cultural authenticity. We could see more clearly a culture’s everyday realities and thus appreciate it more.

Hunter’s Hotel, Enniskerry in winter evokes memories celebrated with cultural authenticity on St Patrick’s Day in Ireland. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

. . . and Irish winters are festive.
© Joyce McGreevy

Real Ireland, Revisited

Picture it: Galway, Ireland 2013. My college friend Brendan invites me to the St Patrick’s Day parade. This, I trust, will reflect the Real Ireland.

And it does. Just not as I’d expected.

Yes, there are traditional Irish dancers and musicians. And floats commemorating Irish history. But there is also a diversity of cultures, immigrants from all over the world who have made their home in this “Ireland of the Welcomes.” As parade groups are announced, they present performances that artfully combine Irish elements with elements of their origin cultures.

In movement, music, costumes, colors, voices, and vibe, a magnificent chorus of cultures creates a mood that ripples through the crowd.

It is joy. The joy unique to something we all deeply miss these days: community. Not as a concept, but felt, lived, shared.

And the parade watchers? A sea of goofy green accessories. Neon as all get-out.

Oh, I see: In 21st century Ireland, there’s room for silliness along with solemnity. For pride with a dash of self-parody. For transcending stereotypes by sharing a laugh at them.

So, here’s to new memories. Picture it: St Patrick’s Day 2021, everywhere if not in Ireland. Instead, on Zoom with family, friends, and neighbors around the world. Ditching my narrow notion of cultural authenticity as we celebrate the many meanings of “Real Ireland.”

Now pass me that green bagel.

An Irish road in March evokes memories celebrated with cultural authenticity on St Patrick’s Day in Ireland. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Meet you in Ireland in March 2022?
© Joyce McGreevy

Tourism Ireland invites you to virtually visit Ireland this Wednesday, March 17. Join #StPatricksDayAtHome, here.

Comment on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Ireland/Travels to the Past

Jan

Art Discoveries: The Mystery in the Ceiling

by Meredith Mullins on January 25, 2021

A Humbert painting unveiled via curtain, showing art discovers that can inspire travels to the past. (Image © Meredith Mullins and Charlie Meagher.)

What treasure is hidden in this Paris ceiling?
© Meredith Mullins/Charlie Meagher

Follow the Clues & Travel Through History

The world loves stories about surprising art discoveries—treasures that are unearthed via bizarre circumstances and that send the finder on a compelling journey, perhaps including travels through history.

In 1940, four teenagers followed their dog down a narrow cavern and found cave walls filled with hundreds of prehistoric paintings—the now famous Lascaux caves in France.

Cave painting of a horse from the Lascaux caves, showing that art discoveries can lead to new adventures and travels to the past. (Image courtesy of the French Ministry of Culture.)

A dog discovered the famous Lascaux cave paintings.
(Photo courtesy of the French Ministry of Culture)

An Arizona man sorted through things as he was getting ready to move to a retirement home. He found a few posters that he thought might be valuable and invited an appraiser to take a look. The appraiser’s eye wandered to a painting in the corner that had belonged to the man’s sister, a New York art collector. The discovery—a Jackson Pollock—perhaps worth millions once authenticated.
The photographic talent of eccentric nanny Vivian Maier was discovered when a storage locker was auctioned off after her death. It was filled with negatives she had never shared with anyone—street photography of New York and Chicago that captured the stark and beautiful reality of an unposed world.

Unexpected Surprises Close to Home

Often for such rewarding journeys, there’s no place like home.

Douglas and Claudie Hawes were about to move into a house that had been built in 1854 in the New Athens area of Paris.

This corner of the 9^tharrondissement was an upscale neighborhood with Greek-inspired mansions established around 1820 on the slope of the Montmartre hill. The area gained fame for celebrity inhabitants, including George Sand, Chopin, Delacroix, and Gustav Moreau.

As part of the house remodeling project, Claudie’s son removed a large white plastic sheet from the ceiling of the bedroom.

The uncovering revealed a sweeping overhead painting of a nude woman, reclining somewhere between earth and heaven, painted in the romantic realism style of the late 1800s. The painting had been hidden by the previous tenants—an order of monks.

A ceiling painting by Ferdinand Humbert in Paris, showing that art discoveries can lead to new adventures and travels to the past. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

The mystery painting in the ceiling
© Meredith Mullins

The signature in the corner of the painting was barely visible, so the artist remained a mystery—a puzzle to be solved years later by a local gallerist who confirmed the signature as F. Humbert. Not a familiar name . . . but an open door to an adventure of discovery.

The ethereal Venus had landed in the right house. The Hawes were an inherently curious couple. They loved the art of research—where each fact discovered leads to several new paths. Where puzzle pieces begin to fit together. Where, as with today’s internet rabbit holes and hours lost in click-frenzied treasure hunts, a dramatic story can unfold and characters emerge.

Claudie and Douglas Hawes, showing that art discoveries can lead to new adventures and travels to the past. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Claudie and Douglas Hawes embark on new adventures in their search
to discover more about Humbert.
© Meredith Mullins

Discovering Humbert: A Noted Artist of His Time

A google search of Ferdinand-Jacques Humbert (1842–1934) does not reveal much. Such a short bio seems strange for an artist whose work was commissioned for some of the most famous buildings in Paris.

Ferdinand Humbert Self-Portrait
(Public Domain)

This lack of documentation made the Hawes’ research more difficult but also inspired them to write a book that would pay tribute to his contributions. They felt he was unjustly forgotten.

Pantheon Panels by Ferdinand Humbert, proving the value of art discoveries. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Pro Patria, commissioned murals by Ferdinand Humbert in the Paris Pantheon
© Meredith Mullins

Humbert’s eight panels in the Pantheon are in a place of honor. He captures the history and spirit of the Republic in the work titled Pro Patria (For the Homeland). The paintings took more than 25 years to finish, completed in 1900, because Humbert had to change the designs multiple times to meet the government’s changing priorities.

Idée de Famille, One of the Humbert murals in the Pantheon in Paris, proving the value of art discoveries. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Idée de Famille (Idea of the Family)—One of the Humbert murals in the Pantheon
© Meredith Mullins

Humbert reaches great heights in the Petit Palais, with two triumphant ceiling paintings—“The Triumph of Paris” and “The Triumph of the Intellectual.” This project took many years as well, interrupted by WW I. He completed the project when he was 81, with the help of his artist son André.

Paintings by Ferdinand Humbert in the Petit Palais in Paris, showing that art discoveries can lead to new adventures and travels to the past. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Humbert’s paintings reach new heights in the Petit Palais.
© Meredith Mullins

Humbert’s paintings also oversee marriage after marriage in the Salle de Mariage in the Mairie of the 15^tharrondissement in Paris (the City Hall of the 15th arrondissement).

A painting by Ferdinand Humbert in the Salle de Mariage of the 15th arrondissement in Paris, showing that art discoveries can lead to new adventures and travels to the past. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

The Salle de Mariage in the Mairie of the 15th arrondissement of Paris
© Meredith Mullins

More Art Discoveries: The Women in Humbert’s Life

The Hawes continued their research and discovered Humbert’s talent for painting portraits of women as well as his unique teaching role as a supporter of women artists (not so common in the early 20^thcentury), including students Marie Laurencin and Marguerite Carpentier.

As the Hawes worked to identify the subjects of the portraits, they met a gallerist who knew the goddaughter of one of the most frequent subjects. They visited the goddaughter, Monique Bouvier, in the Loire Valley and learned the story of her godmother Geneviève Dehelly, a well-known pianist.

Portrait of Geneviève Dehelly by Humbert
© Meredith Mullins

Monique provided photographs and letters showing the friendship of Dehelly and Humbert. In true soap opera form, Humbert was in love with Dehelly, but Dehelly loved another.

A old photograph in the foreground and Douglas Hawes in the background, showing that art discoveries can lead to new adventures and travels to the past. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Finding clues in old letters and photographs
© Meredith Mullins

Dehelly’s soulmate was the poetess Jehanne d’Orliac. They worked together as a creative literature/music team, writing and performing together. They are buried together in Tours.

Another piece of the puzzle arrived in the form of the play “La Massière” (Translation: “The Treasurer”). The playwright Frédérick Lemaître was a good friend of Humbert. He wrote about Humbert’s artistic life and added insight into his character (if the dramatic interpretation is to be seen as based on some truth).

Portrait of Genevieve Dehelly with dramatic hat by Ferdinand Humbert, showing how art discoveries can lead to new adventures and travels to the past. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Humbert’s tribute to his love and favorite portrait subject
© Meredith Mullins

The Mystery Portrait

The Hawes interest in Humbert grew with each new discovery, so they decided to acquire their own original work. A portrait, “Young Woman with Pipe,” came up for auction in Germany. The Hawes were the winning bidders.

They believed the model to be perhaps a prominent subject for painters of the day. But who is it? The mystery, for the moment, remains.

Young Woman with Pipe by Ferdinand Humbert in France, showing that art discoveries can lead to new adventures and travels to the past. (Image © Douglas Hawes.)

“Young Woman with Pipe” is now a part of the Hawes collection.
© Douglas Hawes

The Adventure Continues

The Hawes continue with their treasure hunt, but will bring these first chapters to a close as they finish their book for publication this year.

Ferdinand Humbert's painting on the ceiling of the Salle de Mariage of the 15th arrondissement, showing how art discoveries can lead to new adventures and travels to the past. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Oh, I see. As proven here, art discoveries can spark a journey and can open up worlds that have not yet been explored.

With that inspiring goal, let’s celebrate the start of 2021. Here’s to a new year, full of adventures, intriguing discoveries, and exploration both virtual and real.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 6 Comments

France/France (Paris)/Travels to the Past

Jul

Let a Tune Transport You!

by Joyce McGreevy on July 28, 2020

Travel Memories Inspired by Music

Imagine a melody with the power to recreate worlds. The cocoa-butter scented breeze of a beach in Maui in 1979—when it’s 2020 and you’re in Montréal. The soaring elegance of a train station in Leipzig—as you drift off to sleep in Lincoln City.

That’s what happens when a tune, any tune, becomes travel music. Oh, I see: When it comes to modes of travel, nothing transports us like music.

The influence of music on our memories has long been established by science. Music lights up the visual cortex like a rainbow-colored disco ball, spinning emotions into motion. One moment you’re pushing a shopping cart down a grocery aisle, the next moment you hear that song—and suddenly travel memories inspired by music come dancing out, whirling you along with them.

A woman exuberantly enjoying the beach reminds the author of the transportive power of travel memories inspired by music. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

At the office in January you hear a certain song, and suddenly it’s summer
and you’re barefoot on a beach in July.
© Joyce McGreevy

“Magical Mystery Tour”

Travel music can be a trickster. Like the time a song from a passing car in Chicago whisked me back to a village in France.

A basket of croissants symbolizes the way travel memories inspired by music often include vivid sensory details. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

So what was the song? Something iconic like “La Vie en Rose”? Pas du tout.

It was “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes, an alternative rock band from San Francisco.

But to memory, none of that matters. Because of where and when I heard the song, the Jukebox of Memory selected it for my subconscious travel music playlist. Hearing it again, I’m instantly back in Port Launay in 1993:

I taste buttery, cloud-like croissants—croissants so marvelous that I show up at the boulangerie each morning before sunup.
I feel the thrum of my rented Citroën zipping over the back roads—I who haven’t driven in years.
I see primroses around the cottage where my young son and I sit by the fire, reading Breton tales of the sea.

All that joie de vivre and Breton beauty magically preserved in an angsty California rock song. This kind of travel music mismatch, it turns out, is surprisingly common.

A jazz trio in Denmark symbolize why travel memories inspired by music make us feel as if we are re-living, not just recalling, an experience. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

“Come Fly With Me” (and other musical flights of fancy)

Of course, some travel songs are on the nose. And by “nose” I mean the nose cone of a Boeing 707 pointing up at a big blue sky. That’s where I’m transported whenever I hear “Up, Up, and Away.”

Written by Jimmy Webb and popularized by The Fifth Dimension, it became Trans World Airlines’ theme song in 1968. Five notes in, I can practically smell the jet fuel, so vividly does this tune recall the joy of a travel adventure’s beginning.

Oh, I have a whole catalog in my head labeled Travel Music Linked to Airplanes. It’s where I keep travel memories that are . .

Ecstatic: Art Garfunkel singing “Break Away, fly across your ocean . . . to awaken in another country.”
Glamorous: Joe Sample’s jazz classic “Night Flight.”
Wistful: Peter, Paul, and Mary’s “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane.”

Name any mode of transport and you’ll find travel songs for it. “Night Boat to Cairo,” “Last Train to Clarksville,” “On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe” to name but a few. Some travel songs, like “Let’s Get Away from It All,” with its boat to Bermuda, plane to Saint Paul and kayak to Quincy or Nyack, pack in every means of travel but the pogo stick.

“They Call Me the Wanderer”

Some music makes you want to travel somewhere, anywhere, even when you’re toolin’ around town on errands. Many a mild-mannered commuter has experienced raw wanderlust at hearing a classic road trip song like “Route 66” or “Born to Be Wild.”

Then there are songs that evoke longings for places we’ve never been. Like the Faroe Islands, which I researched obsessively after hearing Faroese singer-songwriter, Teitur. Indeed, millions of music lovers felt wanderlust for Cuba the first time they heard Buena Vista Social Club, the musical ensemble celebrated in the documentary of the same name.

“Summer in the City”

You could fill a library with songs about cities—from “Istanbul, Not Constantinople” and “New York State of Mind,” to two entirely different songs with the title “Galway Girl.”

A concert at Lollapalooza taken before the pandemic reminds that author that travel memories inspired by music can be comforting now that such popular events have been canceled. (Image © by Julie Larkin)

With most destination concerts canceled in 2020, we travel via musical memories.
Above: Lollapalooza, Chicago in 2017.
© Julie Larkin

Great cities, in turn, send you home with memories to unpack musically. Any song by the late, great Alain Toussaint or young visionary Trombone Shorty takes me back to New Orleans—wherever I am. And this recently released music video stirs this traveler’s fond memories of a favorite U.S. city, Chicago. Let’s go!

“Take Me Home, Country Roads”

And sometimes travel music takes me all the way home. Home, where childhood memories and my love of travel began. Where my late parents spent evenings planning family travel adventures, as popular French songs floated up from the RCA record player, those Gallic melodies mixing with the aroma of Boeuf Bourguinon from the kitchen.

That’s why whenever I hear “La Vie en Rose” I’m instantly transported . . . to Syosset, Long Island.

To quote French cabaret singer Maurice Chevalier, “Ah yes, I remember it well!” Whether your travel memories inspired by music transport you to a favorite destination or to the land of childhood, the common “chord” is magic—the magic that occurs when travel memories have a soundtrack.

What’s on your travel music playlist? Share a favorite tune and the travel memories it evokes for you in the comments below.