St. Patrick’s Day Confession
Today is a sort of all purpose Celtic Sunday. We usually will do this a couple of times a year at our church according to what is happening in the local community. Just about everybody here is Scots or Irish somewhere along the way even if they have a German or Danish or Cherokee last name. Of course, we talked about St. Patrick, and St.
Columba and their contribution to the early Christian Church, with Irish and Scots hymns, in between. The Scripture Interpretation (Presbyterian speak for sermon) began with a nod to tough economic times, the woes of society, fears about the future, Terrorism, A decay in moral values, and then the Vicar alluded to the fact that he was talking about life in St. Patrick’s day, not today…..
I was assigned to a Celtic Prayer of Dedication: my pick. I chose a few passages, then realized that converting them into Irish would not be easy since I am not trained for this but I did “know people,” so this is what the paperwork looked like behind the scenes.
This isn’t written in Irish but phonetically….so it sounded smooth to the listener, with the right rhythm/tones. I tried to do a direct translation from English into Irish but it didn’t work.
Our friend and Irish Instructor, Leigh, helped sort through translating the old words into modern Irish, and changing the sentence construction into something that would work for an Irish speaker/listener. (I figured that since we were the only folks in the congregation that knew any Irish at all, any slips wouldn’t be noticed but we did try to do our best, and it was fine. Please do not show this to any nit picky Gaelic teachers, God bless them (Dia Duit, Y’All!) as it is a tough language to learn, if it is a second language…)
Even the most simple sentences were a trial: Deep Peace of the Running wave to you…Pronounced (Shaw-ken) (dow-in) (tonn) (egg-gree) (ditch)…..Deep peace of the flowing air to you…..(Shaw-ken) (dow-in) (phone) (shrew-hock) (ditch)…..Deep peace of the quiet earth to you……(Shaw-ken) (dow-in) (tolive) (que-in) (ditch)……Deep peace of the shinning stars to you…..(Shaw-ken) (dow-in) (ray-al-tee) (lawn-rock)……Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you, forever…… (Shaw-ken) (dow-in) (mac) (hockin) (ditch) (guh-joe)……..
Alone with none but Thee. ……(Eh) (mayner) (luh) (ain) (doon) (yah)……My God, ……(Mo) (Yee-ah)…… Journey on my way…. (shoo-luhm) (ehr) (mo) (vall-ick)……What need I fear, When Thou are near, O King of Night and Day?....(Neal) (egg-el) (or-um) (new-er) (tah) (too)…….(In) (eck-aye) (lahv) (ah) (ree) (ee-hah) (ahh-gus) (lay.)…….More safe am I within Thy hand….than if a host did round me stand.” St.Columba…….(Tah-may) (niece) (sal-vole-cha) (ih) (doo-lahv) (nah) (mah) (has-finn) (Slew-ah) (ih) (mo) (hemple.)…………
My friend, Christopher, (Gilliecriosd) has the good Irish (or Scots) Celtic accent, so thanks to Chris, it sounded okay. (He is gifted with languages, speaking Cherokee, Chinese, German, Spanish, Irish, Scots Gàidhlig, Spanish, and Esperanto). I limp along with English and fluent Photo Shop, so I did the English bits, the intro, and the prayers. BTW: The reason that I am not in Irish class, these days, is that I don’t have a good ear for pronunciation. I am terrified when anyone who is fluent in Irish talks to me as if I know what I am doing. I don’t. I know a few words but I try…..So we dressed up in our finest kilts and jackets and tried to promote homage/honor, to the most famous of Saints, that “Elvis of the early church, “ (I mean what other male saint has parades in their honor, in every nation, on earth? ) In all truth: As it was, we put enough hours into this project. I am ready to move back to my artwork; but it was an interesting experience for novice speakers/translators. Afterwards, the church men put on a fine Saint Patrick’s Feast. Lovely food all home cooked.
The daffodils, forsythia and oriental cherries are in bloom. My tulips are about to pop! Everything is turning green at the tips.
It’s one of those cold, rainy, chilly afternoons where you want to curl up next to the fire with a good book and a cup of tea laced with strong spirits. You know that warmer weather is on it’s way. This is my favorite kind of weather, after all, I am a Celt. Life is good in North Carolina! Hope Y’all are well! Have a great time on the 17th!To all of you, my friends, at Irish Abroad, Slainte!
McKai :^)