Cuireadh do Mhuire - An Invitation to Mary

The poem, 'Cuireadh do Mhuire' or 'An Invitation to Mary' 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.

Today we see 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. This poem resonated with me today when I read it. I hope you like it. 

The original Irish language version is first, followed by English translation. 

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

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

Idea for this blog post prompted by the Naomh Eanna Trust.

Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to you all.

You can find me any day at Galway Walks - Walking Tours of Galway www.galwaywalks.com, email: galwaywalks@gmail.com phone 086-3273560. Look me up if you ever visit Galway.

 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

Look me up if you ever visit Galway. Walking Tours of Galway

Prayer of St. Brendan, the Navigator

-Prayer of St. Brendan, the Navigator- 

When St. Brendan got back from his travels discovering America in a small wooden and leather boat around 564 AD, he wrote a book in Latin, 'Navigatio Brendani' or 'The Voyage of Brendan', which, some 900 years later (1477) convinced Christopher Columbus that there might just be something out there beyond the western horizon.
The rest is history!

After he got back to Ireland, Brendan, filled with a missionary zeal, sailed from his native Kerry, round by the Aran islands, in by Salthill to Galway and soon founded an Abbey at Annaghdown, five miles up the Corrib River from Galway City (which did not exist for another 700 years). 

Later on, he founded the Cathedral at Clonfert, between Portumna and Athlone, on the banks of the River Shannon. Clonfert Cathedral is still in use as a church today and has a most magnificent Romanesque doorway that attracts visitors from all over the world each year. St. Brendan is the Patron Saint of the Diocese of Clonfert and I suppose, he really is our Irish patron saint of Journeys and Voyages. 

He died at the Abbey in Annaghdown in the care of his sister, Briga and is buried at Clonfert. 

This is his prayer. It can be applied to many journeys, including the spirit and the mind.
It is as meaningful today as it was 1500 years ago.

-Prayer of St. Brendan, the Navigator-

'Help me to journey beyond the familiar
and into the unknown.
Give me the faith to leave old ways
and break fresh ground with You.
Christ of the mysteries, I trust You
to be stronger than each storm within me.
I will trust in the darkness and know
that my times, even now, are in Your hand.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven,
and somehow, make my obedience count for You'.

One of the many stories I tell on my Walking Tours of Galway. If you ever go to Galway, come join me on a wonderful walk of discovery in Galway, the City of the Tribes, European Capital of Culture 2020. Follow me on Twitter @galwaywalks or on Facebook www.facebook.com/galwaywalks/
Photo - Image from 'Navigatio Brendani', St. Brendan encounters a whale.