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Slice of Eire: The ‘Joys’ of Connemara
Dan O’Hara’s original (restored) cottage at the Dan O’Hara Heritage Centre
TravelMole is on the green in Ireland collecting stories and information about the upcoming yearlong "Gathering" festivities in 2013 during which the Irish diaspora (and everyone else) is called "home" to Ireland to enjoy the craic (fun), history and connectedness of being Irish.
Today, we are in Connemara at the Abbeyglen Castle Hotel in the village of Clifden surrounded by the Twelve Bens Mountains.
After a rousing session of music, song and storytelling last night (which we are told is not just for tourists but a regular feature of the hotel) father and son owners Brian and Paul Hughes told us that Connemara will see a host of events and "Gatherings" next year including the Tour de Connemara, a yearly cycling race in May that will expand for the festival year.
The Abbeyglen Castle Hotel lobby with fireplace
Storytelling and song (which the Irish practically own a copyright on) about the Irish diaspora to America and other countries will be on display at the Dan O’Hara Heritage Centre where local farmers and historians Martin and Nora Walsh maintain the house where the legendary Irish immigrant (and namesake of a plaintive folk song) lived before he was evicted by landowners and shipped off to New York.
We visited the house last night in a typical Connemara twilight while the peat was burning in the original fireplace and Martin sang:
Sure it’s poor I am today for God gave and took away
And he left without a home poor Dan O’Hara
With these matches in my hand in the frost and snow I stand
So it’s here I am today your broken hearted
In the year of sixty four I had acres by the score
And the grandest land you ever ran a plough through
But the landlord came you know and he laid our old home low
So it’s here I am today your broken-hearted
For twenty years or more did misfortune cross our door
And my poor old wife and I were parted
We were scattered far and wide and our children starved and died
So it’s here I am today your broken-hearted
Tho’ in frost and snow I stand sure the shadow of God’s hand
It lies warm about the brow of Dan O’Hara
And soon with God above I will meet the ones I love
And I’ll find the joys I lost in Connemara
It is clear that Connemara’s "joys" won’t be lost on "Gathering" travelers who will visit throughout 2013.
For more information go to: www.gatheringireland.com.
Gretchen Kelly
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