Tomorrow, the 6th of January, is the feast of 'The Epiphany'. It's better known in Ireland as 'Little Christmas', or 'Nollaig na mBan' - 'Women's Christmas'.

It was a day in the calendar when our women-folk were 'given the day off' in their honour. Such a holiday belongs to another era perhaps, but I think it's just as relevant today, to recognise the unpaid work that so many women did, and do.

So, to honour the day, here's a piece I was inspired to pen five years ago, for the day that's in it.... and all the trouble in the world. Enjoy the English language version, but if you can, read the Gaelic language version, it's beautifully couched in glorious west of Ireland Irish. Try it...read it aloud, to someone, or yourself, there's no wrong pronunciation, nobody will look at you askance, or give out to you...just say the words, and taste the honey and the humanity! Go on... really, it's both a salve, and a prayer, for all of us. It's short, and worth the read, I promise.

'Cuireadh do Mhuire' was composed by Máirtín Ó Direáin (1910 – 1988), the great Irish language poet from the village of Sruthán, on Inis Mór, (Inishmore), the largest of the Aran Islands, in Galway Bay.

Ó Direáin penned this beautiful and delicate verse at Christmas 1942, when the whole world was at war and his little piece of Ireland, perched on the edge of the vast Atlantic, was helpless to influence the world's powers in any way, save to offer hospitality to the displaced, of whom there were millions.

Five years ago when I first posted this, we were witnessing the terrible effects of war and devastation in the Middle East, with emigrants and asylum seekers in their hundreds of thousands risking their lives to reach safety and peace.

Today we again see fear in peoples eyes as they shun strangers and limit personal contact because if the fear of contracting Covid 19.

This poem resonated with me five years ago and still does today when I read it. I hope you like it.

Cuireadh do Mhuire;

'An eol duit, a Mhuire,

Cá rachair i mbliana

Ag iarraidh foscaidh

Dod leanbh Naofa,

Tráth bhfuil gach doras

Dúnta ina éadan

Ag fuath is uabhar

An chine daonna?

Deonaigh glacadh

Le cuireadh uaimse

Go hoileán mara

San iarthar chianda:

Beidh coinnle geala

I ngach fuinneoig lasta

Is tine mhóna

Ar theallach adhanta.'

--------------------------

An Invitation to Mary;

'Do you know, O Mary,

Where you will go this year

To look for shelter

For your Holy Infant,

At a time when every door

Is shut in his face

By the hate and the pride

Of human kind?

Be pleased to accept

An invitation from me

To an island in the sea

Far away in the west:

There will be bright candles

Lighting in every window

And a turf fire

in welcoming hearths.'

Photo of Máirtín Ó Direáin's house at Sruthán, Inis Mór (Inishmore), Aran Islands is © Photo by and with thanks to Bengt Ason Holm.

Idea for this post prompted by 'The Naomh Eanna Trust'.

Happy New Year to you all.

You can find me any day at Galway Walks - Walking Tours of Galway galwaywalks.com, email: galwaywalks@gmail.com

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