Update: Heartland Cradlesong 2007
The Irish cultural heritage of Dublin will be center stage the first weekend in August. Almost 100,00 people attend the Irish Festival in Dublin, Ohio, now the second or third largest in the country, featuring Irish history, dogs, food, arts, and vendors of everything conceivable that has an Irish connection from Celtic harps to clothing, tea from Ireland to ceramics and crystal. Even Fighting Irish gear is available for Notre Dame aficionados. Although our town’s only real historic tie to the old country is the surveyor who laid out the town ca 1817, the entire focus is on Irish culture. As on St. Patrick’s Day everyone in Dublin and at the festival becomes Irish. The crèche tradition in Ireland will be part of the Heartland Celebration at the 2007 convention here in Dublin.
Also to be featured at this year’s convention is the role of ancillary figures. The robin has been part an important Christmas symbol in the British Isles for centuries. In an exhibit of the history of the Christmas card at the Victoria and Albert museum at Christmas, 1990, our 10 year old daughter and we were entranced with the concept that the first commercially available cards in London featured the robin.
The Legend of the Robin or How the Robin Got its Red Breast
We all know that the night the Christchild was born, the winds howled and snow lay deep on the hillsides surrounding Bethlehem. The animals in the stable gave Him straw to lie on and wool for a blanket. However, the air remained frigid. St Joseph tried desperately to keep a fire lit to warm the newborn infant and his mother. The task seemed impossible. Just as a flame would flicker into life, a gust of wind would put it out. The robin sitting on her perch in the stable rafters watched in dismay. Realizing the desperation in St. Joseph, she flew down over the glowing coals and began to fan them with her wings as she hovered over the embers. In her zeal to beat the fire to life, she flew ever closer to the heat source. Disregarding her own comfort and safety, she used her wings as a bellows, providing the necessary fanning of the embers until they burst into flames.. In the meantime, her own breast was scorched by the heat and her normally brown breast had burned to scarlet. God the Father declared that forever more, the robin should be marked with a redbreast so that all the world would recognize her sacrificial service to the Infant Jesus at His birth.
The European robin, related to the wren, is smaller than the American robin. The breast is tomato red rather than the buff orange breast of our much larger robins. This past week as I wandered into our living room, my eyes fell on one of my favorite recent additions to our collection. It ties into our convention theme in several ways, not the least is having been made in County Kerry and found in Adare, Ireland last autumn... To my delight, perched on the roof of the stable are tiny robin redbreasts. (Come to hear Father Roten speak on Ancillary figures and see the Marian Library exhibit of them.)
This past week on a shopping visit to Ha’Penny Bridge in Dublin, we spoke to Al Gleine. He told us of his excitement in locating many Nativities to offer at the Manger Mart on their January trip to Ireland. Ann Gleine will speak to us on the Irish celebration of Christmas in November.
Also to be featured at this year’s convention is the role of ancillary figures. The robin has been part an important Christmas symbol in the British Isles for centuries. In an exhibit of the history of the Christmas card at the Victoria and Albert museum at Christmas, 1990, our 10 year old daughter and we were entranced with the concept that the first commercially available cards in London featured the robin.
The Legend of the Robin or How the Robin Got its Red Breast
We all know that the night the Christchild was born, the winds howled and snow lay deep on the hillsides surrounding Bethlehem. The animals in the stable gave Him straw to lie on and wool for a blanket. However, the air remained frigid. St Joseph tried desperately to keep a fire lit to warm the newborn infant and his mother. The task seemed impossible. Just as a flame would flicker into life, a gust of wind would put it out. The robin sitting on her perch in the stable rafters watched in dismay. Realizing the desperation in St. Joseph, she flew down over the glowing coals and began to fan them with her wings as she hovered over the embers. In her zeal to beat the fire to life, she flew ever closer to the heat source. Disregarding her own comfort and safety, she used her wings as a bellows, providing the necessary fanning of the embers until they burst into flames.. In the meantime, her own breast was scorched by the heat and her normally brown breast had burned to scarlet. God the Father declared that forever more, the robin should be marked with a redbreast so that all the world would recognize her sacrificial service to the Infant Jesus at His birth.
The European robin, related to the wren, is smaller than the American robin. The breast is tomato red rather than the buff orange breast of our much larger robins. This past week as I wandered into our living room, my eyes fell on one of my favorite recent additions to our collection. It ties into our convention theme in several ways, not the least is having been made in County Kerry and found in Adare, Ireland last autumn... To my delight, perched on the roof of the stable are tiny robin redbreasts. (Come to hear Father Roten speak on Ancillary figures and see the Marian Library exhibit of them.)
This past week on a shopping visit to Ha’Penny Bridge in Dublin, we spoke to Al Gleine. He told us of his excitement in locating many Nativities to offer at the Manger Mart on their January trip to Ireland. Ann Gleine will speak to us on the Irish celebration of Christmas in November.
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