Earrach & Roll 🐣🌱

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back, cartwheeling into February like a mad ‘un, bringing you news and views from Ireland and the Irish around the world. The Craic is the big-gobby mouthpiece of Shift, the app for the Irish and Irish Lite worldwide. Want the Shift in your life? Find out more here. Want this slightly cheeky email in your friend’s inbox every week? Send ‘em this way to sign the dotted line.

News from Home

Cheers, Brigid. February 1st marks the kind-of-sort-of-wee-bit start of spring in Ireland, punctuated by the Feast of St Brigid, whom we now regard as one of our top-tier Saints, alongside yer man, Patrick. Anyway, the Irish Government decided that St Brigid deserved to be honored even further, deeming her big day a public holiday from 2023 onwards. That means we are set to enjoy a long weekend, for which we are especially grateful for it after a long, cold January that has lasted approximately 85 days.

Angry Hibernians. Not so much news from home here, but The Ancient Order of Hibernians has lashed out at boardgame maker, Compass Games, for releasing a game that trivializes the Irish Famine. “The Great Hunger” game does seem to belittle a human catastrophe that led to an estimated one million deaths, as well as mass emigration from the island.

Indo-Gaeilge. Irish Twitter had its collective mind blown earlier in the week when Narendra Modi, i.e., the Prime Minister of India, sent out a tweet in perfect Irish. It was surreal, though it later emerged that he had sent the same message in over 20 other EU languages after the signing of a major trade deal between the Bloc and India. Still, he COULD have chosen English, but his choice to go as Gaeilge was very well received.

The Craic Recommends. The big game featuring men chasing an egg-shaped ‘ball’ (hmmm) around a field next week? No, not Super Bowl 60, but the start of the Six Nations Rugby Championship. It’s as much a herald of spring as St B in these parts, and you know, you won’t need to use a VPN or any dodgy mucking about with streaming sites to see it in the US, as NBC/Peacock is going to be broadcasting it again this year. If you like gridiron, tune in; you’ll love it. It kicks-off Thursday with a blockbuster – France vs. Ireland.

The Irish Influence

This week’s Irish Influence is – YOU. Well, maybe not every single one of you (we still think you’re class, though), but the Irish artists and musicians who make a living from their craft. As such, we wanted to use this space to let you know that you can make your very own artists’ profile and directory listing on Shift. You’ll be able to showcase your upcoming gigs, link to examples of your work, and get discovered by all the lovely Irish and Irish-interesters (isn’t a word; don’t care) who use our lovely app. If you’re an angel of the easel or a bandit on the bodhrán, or anything else in the cultural spectrum, from YouTube creator to mime artist, you can learn more about creating an artist’s profile on Shift here. 

Cúpla Focal

Earrach – (Ar-Rock) – Spring. It’s not really spring, is it? But the Ancient Celts went by what the land was doing - or threatening to do - birds returning, lambs a’ lambing, and little daffodils peeping their heads out of the grass, so they deemed that the 1st day in February was the first day of spring, and that’s good enough for us. Maybe not time to put the big coat back in the closet yet, though, right?

Blast from the Past

As St Brigid’s Day has also become a national celebration of Irish women, we wanted to take you back 30 years to the creation of a song that embodies the festival, Mná na hÉireann (Women of Ireland). The song itself comes from an 18th-century poem of the same name by Peadar Ó Doirnín, but in 1996 Kate Bush took her own spin on it, recording with the beloved and legendary Donal Lunny. The composition complementing Bush’s vocals is by Irish composer Sean O'Riada. We aren’t trying to nick Kate from the English (she is English), but she’s proud of her Irish roots (her mum hails from Waterford) and has never been shy about celebrating this side of her heritage.

And One Last Thing….

People Power does work. For months, a massive increase in the way the Northern Irish government calculates business rates (you might call it commercial property taxes) was hanging over the heads of businesses across the region, hitting struggling pubs and restaurants particularly. (Civil) protests erupted across NI, with people flocking to pressure the government to relent, forcing a dramatic U-turn this week. The battle is not over yet, as the new calculations are just being postponed for now, but it was brilliant to see people rally around their local pubs and eateries. We’ve said it numerous times here: The Irish pub is an endangered species, and it’s important we all do our part to keep them in rude health.