CATCHING UP IS HARD TO DO

One of the problems of my recent medical problem is that I’ve fallen behind on researching
and writing articles for upcoming editions of the Carnival of Genealogy and the Carnival of
Irish Heritage and Culture. I was optimistically thinking I could turn out entries for both
today but came to the realistic conclusion about ten minutes ago that it wasn’t going to
happen. So Jasia and Lisa, to quote Jethro Tull(since I’ve already paraphrased Neil Sedaka
in the article title) “hope you don’t mind if I sit this one out.”

On the other hand I’ve been able to catch up on posts from other geneabloggers and
just this morning read Randy Seaver’s post over at Genea-Musings from his Amanuensis
Monday series which this week is the will of our mutual ancestor John Prescott. I thought I
hadn’t known of that connection between Randy and myself but now I’m wondering if
I might have forgotten a previous mention, At any rate, if you’ve been following my series
on my Lancaster, Massachusetts ancestors you should go to Randy’s blog to see John
Prescott’s will.

THE MCFARLANDS OF PARKER STREET, BOSTON, MA.

I don't have many pictures or documents from my Mom's Irish-American
family. But this particular document and Federal census records helped
give me a bit of insight into the Mcfarland family history here in America.
It's a deed from my granduncle Frank ceding his rights to my grandmother
Agnes (McFarland) White to a building at 946 Parker St in the Jamaica
Plain section of Boston,Ma. It had been owned by their mother Anna
(Kelley)McFarland and this deed was one of the last stages of the family's
presence on Parker St that spanned almost forty years.

The earliest record I've found of the family being there is the 1910 census.
Ten years earlier they'd been recorded as living on Albert St. But in 1910
my great grandparents and eight of their children were residents of 950
Parker St, not 946. Oldest son Michael apparently was already out living
on his own.Great grandfather John McFarland was an employee of the
City of Boston and with that pay and doubtless contributions from his
children who were old enough to work, he had gotten a mortgage to
purchase 950 Parker St.

There were quite a few changes by 1920. The 950 Parker St address
had been sold outside the family. Son Michael and his family were renting
at 948 while son Robert and his family rented the adjoining 946. Only the
four daughters were still living with my greatgrandparents, who now
lived at 942 Parker upon which they were paying a mortgage.

Still more changes took place over the next ten years, the most important
being the death of my greatgrandfather John in 1924. The 942 Parker St.
house had been sold and the 950 Parker St repurchased and valued at
$2,800. Greatgrandmother Anna lived there with her youngest daughter
Winifred. The next youngest daughter my grandaunt Peggy had married
Leo McCue and they apparently rented a floor at 950 for $15/month.
Michael and his family were still at 946, paying $21/month rent, and
Robert was still in the other part of the building $12/month, although
both families were enumerated as living at the 946 address.

Based on the deed from my Granduncle Frank to my Grandmother, it looks
as though my greatgrandparents were also the owners of the 946-948
addresses and rented them out to their children and their families.
Eventually all of them would move out on their own, perhaps financed by
their inheritance when Anna McFarland passed away in 1945. I've no
idea what my grandmother Aggie did with her share of 946. Perhaps she
used it to help her own chiildren buy the house on Beach St in Malden
where my Uncle Ed and his family lived on the first floor and we lived on
the second floor.

Nothing remains of the houses the McFarlands once owned and lived in
on Parker St today. In their place stands the Bromley-Heath Playground.

Written for the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture.

BLOGGING BRUNCH 22

First day of vacation!

I'm looking forward to the trip up to Maine and the Ellingwood family reunion
at the end of the week. Meanwhile I'll try to keep myself occupied and out of trouble
until then.

I spent sometime reading the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture 14th edition
over at Colleen Johnson's CMJ Office blog and enjoyed a vicarious trip to Ireland!

I've held off on posting the next part of my series on Susannah since I think
I'm one generation off on how we're related. The William Buswell I'm descended
from was born in 1692 and too young to be Captain William Buswell of the court
case. There's several Williams and Isaacs in the family around that time so I'm
doublechecking who was who and should have the next part of the series available
either tonight or tomorrow.

Something to keep myself occupied, right?

THE CARNIVAL OF IRISH HERITAGE AND CULTURE NEEDS YOU!

If you are a geneablogger of Irish descent, or non-Irish descent for that matter, have
you ever visited Ireland? Or have you ever just thought of taking a "dream vacation"
in Ireland? If the answer to either question is yes, that the Carnival of Irish Heritage
and Culture needs you!

The topic of the 14th edition of the Carnival focuses on those real or dream vacations.
The deadline for entries was July 26th and so far there's been only one post submitted.
Now I KNOW there's a lot of talented geneabloggers out there and I'm a bit gobsmacked
that I was the only one who sent a post.(and in the interest of full disclosure I sent it in late.)

So please help Colleen Degnan Johnson who's hosting this month's IHC. Post your real or
imagined Irish vacation to your blog and then send the link to Colleen or to the
Carnival submissions link.


As an aside, I don't know if it's just me but I've noticed there's fewer new blogposts lately
from the blogs I follow. I don't know if it's folks being caught up in enjoying summer, or
busy with research, or with social networking. I'm hoping that it's a temporary thing
and it'll pick up again.

A TRIP TO IRELAND

I've had to wrestle a bit mentally with the topic of this edition of the Carnival of
Irish Heritage & Culture, which deals with what place I would like to visit on a
vacation in Ireland. The first obstacle is that I've never flown, and have no intention
of starting now. I fear the struggle of just getting myself into an airplane would
at the very least make it an unpleasant trip where all I'd remember would be the plane
ride!

But let's say I could use some sort of transporter beam and make that trip. I'd want to visit
Kiltrustan in Roscommon, My great grandmother Annie (Kelley) McFarland was born
there and probably her husband John McFarland as well. Annie's mother was named
Anne Byrne. I noticed recently on a website about Kiltrustan that two of the most common
surnames there in 1857 were Kelley and Beirne and I'd certainly want to investigate the
records and graveyards to see if I could find family members.


And of course I'd then look for living relatives. Although I sometimes wonder if the native
Irish ever tire of the returning descendants of long ago relatives showing up at their front
door? ("Mother of God, Patrick, it's another 5th cousin!")


I'd like to see the rest of Roscommon as well, such as Loch Key, and then travel further
afield to see Dublin and Limerick.

I'd like to visit both the eastern and western shores of Ireland, to stare across the English
Channel towards England, the source of so may struggles for the Irish, and then
look out over the Atlantic towards America, the source of so much hope.

I saw a show on cable once about the canals of Ireland. I'd like to take a slow trip on
one of those canal boats and be able to stop along the way to visit the towns and
villages that line the canal.


I know the topic said to pick one place, but that was the second problem I had in writing
a post for this, because I just couldn't pick just one place. I'd want to see it all. I might be
like poor "Charley on the MTA" and "never return."

But luckily for me, I suppose, I don't fly, so it's all academic, isn't it?

Written for the 14th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture

MY MCFARLAND QUANDRY

One day years ago I was listening to David Brudnoy's talk show. It was around St.
Patrick's Day time and David had some expert on Irish history and genealogy on
to answer questions from callers about their Irish ancestry. I decided to call and
ask about the McFarlands, my Mom's maternal line. When I got on, Mom
listened in on the radio out in the kitchen.

I can't recall exactly what he said. All I do recall was that he said McFarland was
from Northern Ireland, probably Scottish in origin and many of the name were
Protestant. He theorized that some of the name emigrated to Ireland when the
British settled Scottish Protestants in the Ulster area and later converted to
Catholicism for convenience.

What I DO recall was my Irish Catholic Mom's vivid remarks after the call was
over and I walked out to the kitchen!

I didn't really think much about it again until I started researching the family tree.
I know that my great grandfather John McFarland' s wife Annie Kelley was born
in Roscommon which is in the north central part of the island (or so I've been
told by family tradition) but I've no idea where he himself was born.

The website Irish Surnames says the name originated from the Gaelic name
of the "...Mac Parthalain Sept that was located in County Armagh in the North of
the country..." and that many of the descendants can be found in Ulster. Apparently
"Parthalain" is the Gaelic form of "Bartholomew" and a mythological figure who
led an invasion of Ireland from Magna Graecia (Sicily) 300 years after the Flood.
"In the 16th century MacParlan appears chiefly in Co. Leitrim where, along with
Armagh, it is principally found today." (The Surnames of Ireland by Edward
Neafsey, p. 6)

Every source I've found online gives a similar history and origin. Of course, the
Scots were originally from Ireland, so ultimately there is an Irish origin for the
name. But if I accept that, there are a questions that need answers. Michael
McFarland and Annie Kelley were Irish and married in the Catholic Church but the
marriage took place in Edinburgh, Scotland. Did Michael look for work in Scotland
because he had Scottish kin? If Michael was Catholic, did he convert or had one of
his ancestors converted after coming to Ireland(if indeed his ancestors were Scots).
And of course, I've yet to discover where and when Michael McFarland himself was
born.

Hmm. My late Mom wouldn't be happy about this! I better find some answers!


(written for the 13th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture)

THE 12TH CARNIVAL OF IRISH HERITAGE AND CULTURE IS UP!

The 12th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture is up over at
Lisa's Small-leaved Shamrock. This edition was the Carnival's 2nd Annual
St. Patrick's Day Parade of Posts. 19 writers contributed articles from their
blogs covering all sorts of aspects of their Irish heritage, so read and enjoy!

The next edition will be on Irish names:

"Share with us the surnames in your Irish family tree, but don't just stop there.
Do a little research and tell us the origin of one or more of those surnames,
the stories of how they might have changed over the years, or tales of how
they've been mixed up and misspelled, etc.

Want to focus on your family's given names instead? Share with us the
story of your ancestors' Irish first names (given at birth or nicknamed later),
the "grandparent" nicknames in your Irish family tree, or any other Irish
name stories that you'd like to share.

Deadline for submissions to the Irish Names edition of the carnival is Sunday,
May 24, 2009. This edition will be published at Small-leaved Shamrock on
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 ."

Hmm. I'm going to be doing some McFarland research!

"HONEY FITZ"

In Boston when St. Patrick's Day rolls around you'll sometimes here the stories
about the legendary Irish politicians of the city's history, and among them none
loom larger than James Michael Curley and John Fitzgerald. Both of them were
political bosses of the old school, always ready to help a friend or exact revenge
on an enemy. I've written a bit before about Mayor Curley, so in this post I'll
talk a bit about "Honey Fitz."

John Fitzgerald rose first to prominence in Boston's North End in 1892 when he
ran successfully for the state senate. He was keenly aware of his constituents' lives,
their weddings and funerals, and he mingled with them at dances and dinners. His
supporters were known as "Dearos" because he frequently referred to the "Dear Old
North End" in his speeches. Two years later he won election as congressman and served
three terms before running for Mayor of Boston and defeating an opponent from
the old Yankee establishment in 1905. His administration was famous for cronyism,
and Fitzgerald lost his bid for re-election but regained the office two years later when he
defeated another "Yankee", James J. Storrow. (I'm not certain but I think Storrow Drive
is named after him.)

One night during a rally of that campaign, a band was hired to play during Mayor
Fitzgerald's entrance. They finished two songs, "The Star Spangled Banner" and
"The Wearing of the Green" while Fitzgerald tried to make his way to the platform
through the crowded hall, then began playing "Sweet Adeline". When Fitzgerald
finally climbed up on the stage, he led everyone in singing the song and it became his
trademark. He'd perform the song at every event or rally he was invited to speak at.

"Honey Fitz" was also well known as a man with an opinion on nearly everything. In fact,
someone even wrote a poem about it:

"Honey Fitz can talk you blind
On any subject you can find.
Fish and fishing, motor boats
Railroads, street-cars, getting votes
Proper ways to open clams
How to cure existing shams
State Street, Goo-Goos, aeroplanes,
Malefactors, thieving gains,
Local transportation rates,
How to run nearby States;
On all these things, and many more,
Honey Fitz is crammed with lore."

There were other Irish political bosses in Boston. One was P.J. Kennedy from East
Boston, with whom Fitzgerald had ties through the marriage of his daughter Rose to
Kennedy's son Joseph. Another was James Michael Curley from South Boston who
eventually challenged "Honey Fitz" in 1913. Curley ran a tough campaign and
spread a rumor that Fitzgerald had an affair with a cigarette girl named "Toodles".
He even scheduled a public "lecture" entitled "Great Lovers from Cleopatra to
Toodles". Rather than put his wife through the wringer of such a campaign, Mayor
Fitzgerald withdrew from the race. He never again held an elective office.

But he did live long enough to see his grandson John Fitzgerald Kennedy win the
Congressional seat he himself once held. And when JFK was elected President of the
United States, he named the presidential yacht the Honey Fitz in honor of his beloved
grandfather.

Written for the 12th edition of The Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture.

THE CARNIVAL OF IRISH HERITAGE AND CULTURE IS UP!

The 11th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture
is up over at Lisa's Small-Leaved Shamrock.The theme this
time is "My Key to Ireland" and 16 genea-bloggers(including
myself) wrote about things that have helped or might help
them discover more about their Irish heritage. It also
features an interactive map of Ireland designed by Thomas
MacEntee featuring the locations mentioned by the bloggers
in their posts!

Here's Lisa's call for submissions for the next edition, which
will be a "St. Patrick's Day Parade":

"As you probably know, March is Irish heritage month in many
places, thanks to the feast day of St. Patrick, beloved saint of
Ireland. Our "parade", the 12th edition of the Carnival of Irish
Heritage & Culture, will be open to anything and everything
about Irish heritage, genealogy and culture. Posts about St.
Patrick will be appreciated, but posts related to any meaningful
aspect of Ireland's heritage are welcomed.


The deadline is March 14, 2009. Submit your parade entry here.
Then come join us for the parade on St. Patrick's Day, March 17,
2009. On the feast of St. Patrick, everyone likes to be Irish,
at least for one day. Hope to see you at the parade wearing your
green!"


There's plenty of time to think about what you want to
write about for this next edition, so I hope to see a lot of
entries for the parade!

Now I just need to think about what I'm going to write about!

IRISH MYTHS

There are two things that drew me to Irish culture years before I began
researching genealogy: its music and its mythology. I'll most likely be
discussing the music in a future blogpost, so this post will focus on the
latter subject.

I've written before about the oldest book in my bookcase, an edition
of King Arthur and His Knights that my parents purchased for me
when I was around 8 years old. It sparked an interest in history and
mythology that continues to this day. By the time I'd entered college
I'd read every book I could get my hands on about classical mythology
or medieval epics but I knew very little about Irish mythology. The
only encounter I'd had with it was a brief article on Strongbow and
Red Eva in a childrens' book of world mythology.

Then I found two books in the college bookstore: Irish Sagas edited by
Myles Dillon and The First Book of Irish Myths and Legends by Eoin
Neeson. Neeson retells four stories:


"The Fate of the Children of Tuireann" in which three brothers are
assigned eight impossible tasks by Lugh to atone for the killing of his
father Cian.

"The Wooing of Etain", the story of the Sidhe Lord Midhir and his lost
wife Etain.

"The Combat at the Ford", the tale of Cuchulain's epic battle with his
friend Ferdia, the champion of Connacht.

"Deidre and the Sons of Usna" which is about the doomed lovers Deidre
and Naisi, one of the great love stories of medieval literature.

Professor Dillon's book is a collection of lectures on Irish epics such as the
"Fionghal Ronain" (How Ronan Killed His Son).a tale of a wicked stepmother
and her doomed stepson, and "Tain Bo Cuailnge"(The Cattle Raid of Cooley)
in which the teenaged Cuchulain withstands the army of Connacht.

I was hooked. There weren't many books easily found on Irish mythology
at the time but my search led me to Joseph Campbell's books. And now with
the advent of the computer age there are hundreds of websites and entries on
the internet.

The Irish epic myths are beautifully lyrical works and reflect, I think, that
love of language that runs through all of Irish literature and song. So while
I love Irish music, my first love of Irish culture was for its mythology.

Read the story of Etain or Deidre, and I think you'll see why.

Written for the 10th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture.

LUCK OF THE IRISH: 9TH EDITION OF THE CARNIVAL OF IRISH HERITAGE AND CULTURE

It's Halloween and instead of tricks we have some treats for you in the
9th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture. In keeping with
the holiday, this time the theme is on Irish superstitions. You'll find that
some of them are mentioned in more than one post. So take a seat, ignore
that scratching at your windowpane, and prepare to be mesmerized by
our geneabloggers!



Jessica over at Jessica's Genejournal tells about a "volume of forgotten
lore" in her article "Irish Ghost Stories: A Book..."It seems this particular
book gives Jessica a "creepy feeling." Read the article and find out why!


Melody Lassalle of The Research Journal gives us "Laughter and Superstition
During An Earthquake". It's a story of her family in the San Francisco
Earthquake that shows how strong a hold superstition sometimes has on a
person.


Colleen M. Johnson presents "Do I Have Any Superstitions?" posted at
cmjoffice.com Blog, saying, "Do I have any superstitions? Read on and
discover some chills."

Thomas MacEntee presents A Wee Bit Superstitious posted at
Destination: Austin Family, saying, "it is great to be back participating
in this carnival!" And it's good to have you back, Thomas!

Lisa presents"Black cats, lucky pennies and troublesome fairy folk" at
Small-leaved Shamrock saying, “Superstitious lot, those Irish!
Small-leaved Shamrock takes a look at some of the concerns that many
centuries of Irish people had to face on a daily basis.”

Elizabeth at Little Bytes of Life tells us about her family's list of superstitions
which she thinks of as "rules-orientated". I grinned reading "The Bad Luck of
the Irish" and I think you will, too!

Finally, my own Irish American family shared many of the same superstitions
as our other geneabloggers' families did and I talk about the ones I can recall
my Mom telling us in "SUPERSTITIONS OUR MOTHER TOLD US" here
at West in New England.

So that's it. I hope you enjoyed the 9 Edition of Carnival of Irish Heritage and
Culture. Please join us for the next edition. Here's what Lisa has to tell us
about it:

"Irish culture is loved worldwide. It is no secret that the love of Ireland
is not exclusive to those with Irish blood running through their veins.
For this edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture, Small-leaved
Shamrock invites you (whether you have Irish heritage or not) to share
what you most love about Ireland and the Irish people."

Check out Lisa's new Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture blog for all the
details!

Say, is that a raven gently rapping, rapping at your chamber door?

SUPERSTITIONS OUR MOTHER TOLD US.

Although my Mom was second generation Irish American and had heard
many Irish superstitions and sayings growing up with her family. While
she wasn't overly superstitious, I can recall her saying some things which
she'd learned from her mother:

If your palm itched, you were going to receive money or find it.

If your ear itched, someone was talking about you.

A bird flying into the house was a sign of death.

Rain on a wedding day was a bad omen for the marriage.

Shoes on a table was bad luck.

Warts could be removed by rubbing them with a raw potato.

Opening an umbrella inside the house was bad luck.

Cats suck the breath out of a baby.

It was good luck to pick up a penny.

Four leaved clovers were good luck.

Stepping on cracks in the sidewalk was bad luck.

Death comes in threes.

If you put your broom outside the door on New Year's Eve, you'd have
good luck in the New Year.

Now my Mom didn't go around constantly saying all these things. Most
of the time they were casual remarks, such as "Oh, my palm's itchy, I must
be going to get some money." We heard that and the itching ear one more than
any of the others. And if there had been two deaths recently of people she knew
Mom would say the one about deaths coming in threes. There was only one time
I can recall where something happened which was connected to one of those sayings
that unsettled her. One day a bird flew down the chimney of the house we were
living in and landed in the unlit fireplace. Mom said it was bad luck and stayed in
her bedroom until I managed to get the bird to fly out the front door.

There was another family tradition but I'm not sure it was Irish American in origin.
When one of the family became pregnant, they spit on a penny and stuck it on the
inside frame of a doorway. If it stayed there for the whole 9 months, the child was
going to be a girl. If it fell off, it would be a boy(or vice verse. It's been over fifty
years now since the last time I saw this used).

Mom was red haired and green eyed, and when we were living in Dorchester she
had a reputation among my friends about knowing when we were up to something.
Of course it was because she'd done a lot of the same stuff as a kid herself but one
of the kids said she must be a witch. Ironically it was Jerry Lynch, whose parents
were Irish. A few years back, Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked, was at our
store signing copies of the sequel, "Son of a Witch" and I told him the story.

He signed my copy "To Bill...another son of a witch."


Written for the 9th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture.

CARNIVAL REMINDER

Just a friendly reminder, folks, that the deadline for submissions for the
9th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture is Oct. 25th,
and it's theme is on Irish Superstitions:

Halloween (or Samhain as it was known among the ancient Celts)
is approaching and what better time to tell us about your family’s
Irish superstitions? Perhaps you have stories about strange coincidences
and events that might have been passed down by your Irish relatives,
or even know of some favorite legend or haunted place in Ireland.
Share them with us in the next edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage
& Culture.

Send your submissions here. amd I'll publish them on Oct 31st.

I'm looking forward to seeing them!

THE CARNIVAL OF IRISH HERITAGE & CULTURE IS UP!

Boy, did I goof on this one. Have you ever thought you'd already done
something and then realized you hadn't? Well, I thought I'd written a
blog post about the 8th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and
Culture being up Thursday over at Lisa's Small-leaved Shamrock.
This edition was called "Back To School" and the entries concerned
what steps or methods those of us with Irish roots would take to gain
a greater knowledge of our genealogy or of Irish culture. There were
twelve contributors and some interesting reading and if you haven't
read the CIHC before, this would be a great place to start.

What's particularly embarrassing about my failure to post about
the CIHC this time is the fact that I am hosting the next edition right
here on West In New England, a "Luck of the Irish" edition:

Halloween (or Samhain as it was known among the ancient Celts)
is approaching and what better time to tell us about your family’s
Irish superstitions? Perhaps you have stories about strange coincidences
and events that might have been passed down by your Irish relatives,
or even know of some favorite legend or haunted place in Ireland.
Share them with us in the next edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage
& Culture.

Deadline for submissions for the Irish Superstitions edition of the
Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture is October 25th.

I'll publish the Carnival here on, (when else?) Halloween. I hope
I can do half as good a job of hosting it as Lisa has done so far!

And I promise I'll remember to post it!

THE SISTER FIDELMA MYSTERIES

I like to read mysteries, especially those based in the Boston
area, such as the books by Robert Parker and Dennis Lehane,
but I also am an avid reader of medieval mysteries because of
my lifelong interest in the period. I went through all of Ellis
Peters' Brother Cadfael series and for awhile after that
writer's death couldn't find anything else to measure up to it.
But over the past four or five years the works of some British
authors have begun to be published here in the states and I
now check regularly for books by Susanna Gregory, Bernard
Knight, Michael Jeck and Peter Tremayne, especially the latter
two, since Jeck's characters have connections with one of my
possible ancestors and Tremayne writes about medieval
Ireland in the pre Norman days.

Peter Tremayne is the pen name of Peter Beresford Ellis, a
Celtic scholar and a prolific writer. His detective is Sister
Fidelma, a nun in seventh century Ireland when both Ireland
and Britain were divided into small kingdoms. She also
happens to be a dalaigh, or in more modern terms, a lawyer
of sorts, and an administrator of justice for the King of
Cashel who is her brother. All these circumstances combine to
put Fidelma in a position to investigate mysteries involving
religious communities and/or political intrigue.

But it's not just the mysteries that fascinate me, it's also the
unique presentation of the Irish and Anglo Saxon cultures of
the time. For one thing, Fidelma is able to do things women
in other medieval countries were not permitted to do, and this
is because of the rights women were entitled to under Irish
laws. In no other country in the medieval period would you
find women judges, for example. Ireland was a beacon of
learning in these "Dark Ages" and women scholars studied
beside and argued with their male counterparts, again
something women were seldom allowed to do in other
countries.

Tremayne also uses the relationship between Sister Fidelma
and the Saxon monk Brother Eadulf to examine a conflict
between the Celtic Church and the Church of Rome. One
major difference was Irish clergy were allowed to marry and
often times there were religious houses inhabited by both
men and women, while Rome at the time of the novels was
beginning to try to enforce celibacy among its clerics.
As advocates of Rome's view pressed their case with the
rulers of the various British kingdoms, politics became
entangled with religious debate as kings tried to determine if
accepting Rome's view had advantages for them in advancing
their own agendas. And as the attraction between Fidelma
and Eadulf grows in each book the reader wonders how the
pair can resolve the conflict between their Churches'
viewpoints.

So far there have been over twenty novels in the series with
most of them made available herein the states in the smaller
paperback size. I've enjoyed the exploration of Irish and
Anglo Saxon cultures as well as the mysteries and characters.
Fidelma is a bright, intelligentwoman but is no saint, and Eadulf
is a not just a "Watson" to her "Holmes" as they conduct their
investigations.(although I must confess I root for Eadulf. He
doesn't have an easy time of it as an Saxon living in Ireland.)

All in all, a very enjoyable way to learn more about my Irish
heritage!

Written for the 7th Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture

A ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE OF POSTS

I hope everyone had a Happy St. Patrick’s Day, and that you
aren’t celebrating the day after with a green tinge to your face
due to making one too many toasts to Ireland and her blessed
saints.

And a good way to keep your Irish spirits up is a reading of
the St. Patrick’s Day Parade of Posts edition of the
Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture over at the Small-Leaved
Shamrock. Lisa’s done a great job as usual and there’s a lot of
good writing to enjoy, so go on over and check it out.

While your at it, you might consider submitting an article to the
next CIH&C. :

The 5th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture
will honor the beauty of the Irish language with a focus on
Irish Gaelic names and words.

Has the charm of the name of a place in Ireland always
called to you to visit someday?

As a child did you secretly wish you had the Irish name of
a great-grandparent instead of the name you were born with?

Do you have a story to tell about someone with an Irish surname?

Is there an Irish proverb that you have always loved to let
slide off of your tongue in its original language?

Join us for the 5th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage
& Culture. The only prerequisite is that your post must tie
in with our focus on the Irish Gaelic language.
Posts for this edition of the carnival are due April 27.
Submit your entries here. The carnival will be posted at
A light that shines again on St. Ciarán's Day, April 30.
(Well, one of the St. Ciarán's days - there are actually 14
in the calendar of Irish saints. Now there's one popular
Irish Gaelic name!)

So dust up your Gaelic and send in a post to the Carnival!