Introduction to sequel, "Rapparee"

In my first novel, "The Saints Lost Their Way", the protagonist left the turmoil in Ireland behind him when,. as a prisoner of war he was shipped as slave to Barbados. This left the family to face the spread of the Parliamentarian invasion.

Most history books record warfare by adding glory to massive armies facing each other on disputed lands. Rich leaders on fine horses commanding from the high ground, while the foot soldiers fight hand to hand to the death. These soldiers were rarely fighting for a cause they held in their hearts. But more likely because of their sworn fealty to a land owner that allows them to rent the land for their farm. And chances are that the land they are now renting and fighting for has been in their family for generations.

                Missing from many history books is the identity of another group of characters involved in the fighting. Not against the feudal landlord’s enemies, but against the landlords themselves. Every historical era had some of these brave committed warriors pushing back against the despots. They had many labels: underground, partisans, resistance, freedom fighters, guerillas, and rapparees.

                Mostly low-key civilians, acting meek and subservient in the presence of the invaders in the daylight.  But after dark, they became saboteurs destroying enemy supply lines, or assassins ambushing enemy leaders. Following the ancient oriental knowledge of Sun Tzu, author of “The Art of War”, they realized the value of accurate intelligence required to weaken a stronger enemy. Winning the trust and confidence of the enemy by assuaging their egos, these patriots were great spies.

                Throughout history many who served as resistance supporters had creative covers. French chanteuse, Edith Piaf sang for Gestapo officers and carried important information back to the French underground. Some, like Piaf interacted with the enemy. Others just avoided contact to achieve their goals. Consider the Dutch family who hid Anne Frank and her family, or Harriet Tubman who led escaped slaves to go North.

                When the English Civil War spilled over into Ireland, many Irish soldiers could not support either side. They opted to fight for Ireland against both King Charles and Oliver Cromwell. These, like Ronan O’Doole were Rapparees.

 

 

 

 

 More merging cultures

Late into the night after Christmas, reminiscences sweeping over me like the gentle waves of the Patuxent, turned on PBS. I had enjoyed an extended nap on my new bed in the late afternoon, so not really sleepy. A time warp back to the 60’s when I stayed up late doing my night school homework, after the family was asleep. I haven’t changed much. Still a night owl.

Anyway (an old Ruark quote), Looking at late night PBS TV turned into a serendipitous moment. In my novel, “The Saints Lost Their Way”, I found a time and a place and a reason for numerous cultures to meet and merge into a strong relationship. PBS was airing a documentary on their ‘Independent Lens’ series, entitled, “Rumble: The Indians who rocked the world”.

You know the back story. Generations of arrogant racist Europeans continued to invade the Americas, attempting to annihilate the indigenous people. Needing a work force in order to profit from the stolen land, they began to import and enslave African captives.

Over the years, Americans, white, black and native, found each other, and the smart ones accepted the others and learned the values that each brought to the relationship. Over generations a population emerged that had an exotic genetic cocktail of genes. Society and Hollywood attached many labels to the progeny of this culture.  ‘Creole, Mulatto, Quadroon, Octoroon, Half-Breed. Squaw-man’, and many other derogatory terms.

But the documentary gave evidence to the amazing amalgam of the arts; music, wardrobe, dance, décor. Fred Lincoln Wray, known as ‘Link” on stage, was classified as 45^th in ‘Rolling Stone’s’ list of top 100 rock guitarists. Link is a Shawnee. He invented new methods for rock guitarists. Jimi Hendrix coming on stage at Woodstock wearing a fringed shirt as a symbol of his Cherokee heritage and playing the national anthem on guitar. A rendition that was both angry and mesmerizing.  And drummer, Randy Castillo who played with Motley Crew, Ozzie Osborne and many other rockers. His father had a tribal and Hispanic heritage, but he died when Randy was young, and he never learned the details of his native tribal history.

Over all, as a writer who found a long list of similarities between the Irish and the Choctaw nation, and a musician, I felt a deep connection to this production.

“Rumble: The Indians who rocked the world”, The trailer and the entire show is available on YouTube. Check it out  

A few more chunks

 WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR CREATIVITY

6. Park in a different spot and walk the rest of the way

7, Walk to work

8. Work at home (A necessity in 2020)

9. Watch what children do.

10. Listen to children

THOUGHTS ON CREATIVE LIVING

6. The aim of life is to be fully born, though its tragedy is that most of us die before we are thus born. To live is to be born every moment. Death occurs when birth stops. The answer is to develop one's awareness, one's reason, one's capacity to love to such a point that one transcends one's egocentric involvement and arrives at a new oneness with the world.            (Erich Fromm - Zen BuddHism and Psychoanalysis.)

7. Perfection is the full development of one's imagination    (N. Frye)

8. Creativeness is correlated with ability to withstand lack of structure, lack of future, lack of predictability, lack of control, A tolerance for ambiguity, for planlessness.
                     (Abraham Maslow - Eupsychian Management)

9. I'd rather than rust.     (F. A. Ruark)

10. May the force be with you. (Obi-Wan Ben Kenobi - Star Wars)

 A new feature on my blog: I have experience helping folks to remove self imposed barriers to their creativity. I will be sharing in small chunks, at least 150 ways to increase creativity.

Also, again, in small chunks, a collection of quotes that see creativity through many different lenses. Hope you enjoy.

And feel free to respond and add to either list. Let's see what happens.

Here's the first chunks

WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR CREATIVITY

1. Read a lot 
2. Read outside your field
3. Read in a different language
4. Take a different route going to work
5. Ride the bus

QUOTES ON CREATIVE LIVING

1. Happiness and beauty are the by-products. Folly is the direct pursuit of happiness      (G.B Shaw)
2. Remorse is to discover just before you die that you have been dead for a long, long time                       (C. Fletcher)
3. When the cannons are silent, heaven can be heard
     (Bicentennial Wagon TRain Show -1976)
4. God is always very subtle, but never capricious.
     (Albert Einstein)
5. W can destroy the earth by ourselves, but we can not save it alone
     (Margaret Mead) 

BECOMING BREFFNI BOOKS

    In 1970, The Beatles sang, “Long and Winding Road” which is a convenient description for my journey starting in that same era.to become a writer and publisher. As a cable repairman for the phone company, I was required to keep a daily journal of the time spent clearing circuit troubles. Later, my job on the Engineering Economics Staff was writing explanations to the Public Service Commission about the reasons the company needed to raise the rates. To escape from the complexities of that job, I would go out of the office for lunch and take notes of the sights on the bustling streets of downtown Baltimore. Over time, those notes became poems.

            In pursuit of a management degree in night school at Johns Hopkins I took an elective course in creative writing. I could feel some deep energy growing inside because for that course, I really enjoyed doing the homework. Both the phone company and my college professors encouraged me to pursue leadership roles in the community, both for my own experience and for the public interest in my company and my school. Being a member of the Jaycees at the time, an opportunity to write led me to becoming the editor of our chapter’s monthly newsletter. In addition to reporting on the activity of the chapter, the newsletter offered a platform for my lunch time ‘people watching’.

            The old “Birds of a feather….’Cliché proved true at Hopkins. A cadre of writers I met in undergrad classes reunited in graduate classes in Advanced Creative Writing. It didn’t take long before we started the first literary magazine in the Hopkins evening college. Most of the founders were anxious to submit some of their work for publishing. Since I was the only member of the group with a BS in management, I was voted in as Managing Editor. Two of my bosses at the phone company where also faculty members at Hopkins night school. Turns out that the Dean of the Evening College was an occasional guest on my boss’s boat. Wasn’t long before the “Nocturne” literary magazine had an office with a typewriter at the Hopkins Homewood campus.

            I was well positioned and lucky, but also qualified to find some shortcuts on “The Long and Winding Road” Also, as I moved up the career ladder with the phone company, more writing opportunities came my way. Concurrent with receiving my MS in Adult Education, the phone company was shifting to centralize their training function. At last a door opened that led to my escape from Engineering Economics and I moved into a position in the newly reorganized training department as a course developer, and then a Management Trainer and Organization Development internal consultant.

            With that on my resume, I retired from the phone company, started my own consulting firm. That led to an opening at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant doing basically the same kind of work for the next ten years. With a lot of instructional development experience, I was offered a position on the staff of a consulting firm started by three retired AT&T executives, one of them was a former boss when I worked in DC. He was also a neighbor in Southern Maryland.

            Worked mostly from home but traveled a lot. Their firm had no brick and mortar office, so we had many virtual conferences before they became the vouge recently. It was during that period, the 90’s and early 20’s that I was bitten by the historical fiction bug, and wrapped a story involving two of my favorite cultures; the Irish and the Native American indigenous tribes. Thus, was born “The Saints Lost their Way”, published by Breffni Books through Create Space on Amazon.

Reentry

 Mother Nature, Father Time, COVID 19 and Trump's term in office, and my wife's fatal illness have ganged up on me, and sapped my energy, my creativity, and my ambition. But I reached down into my core values, awakening the spirit of my Marilyn, with my deepest gratitude for the life we had together, and surrounded by her art work in my apartment, have new energy to get busy. I have an extensive body of work that I want to share. I have published my novel, "The Saints Lost Their Way", the sequel is a work in progress newly ignited. I have 60 years of poetry songs, short stories, essays and opinions that I want to share. With some consulting guidance to promote my work, I feel reenergized, anxious to get to work and resurrect my sleeping Muse.MG_4856.jpg

SNL

 A slight departure from my usual kind of posts. I have many opinions to share, and I will begin with this one. I have been a Saturday Night Live fan since it first began. There have been some great casts, and some years weren't worth watching. Watching tonight, 10/31/2020, a great show with meaningful creativity. Some teetering on the edge of controversy. Yet much of the energy was sucked out of the show by the musical guests, the Stroke. The musicians were talented enough, but they should take a vote and get rid of the guy who ate his mic throughout what he might call a song. I listened to two of his numbers and for the life of me I could not repeat even one of his lyrics. He mumbled through both numbers with the mic in his mouth and as far as I'm concerned ruined the performance for the rest of the band, He is that bad.

From the pages of my novel,  "The Saints Lost Their Way"

Finbar, the patriarch of the fictional O'Doole family reads this poem to his grandchildren as they row across Lough Gill in Leitrim.  As they approach the Parke's castle on the shore of the lough, notes that the castle once belonged to the  O'Ruaraic family.  The tale speaks of the family in the distant past.            

Dermott MacMurchad of Leinster, with heart of wood,

Ruled stolen land with cruel blood

Chieftains of Eire who stood to fight,

If they kept their life, they lost their light

Insulted the Abbess of St. Bridgit's Church grand,

Closed her in a cell in the bed of a man.

Lusted beyond the fjords of Wex and Water

E'en to the walls of Dublin's fine quarter

58

In MacLoughlin of Ulster Dermott found a friend

Thought his conquests then would know no end

Set his greedy eyes on Connacht and Meath

O'Connor and O'Ruaraic vowed to stand to the death

The King and the Prince together stood tall

With honor and sword 'neath Breffni's stout wall

Ere the kerns of MacMurchad heard the clarion's call

Had neither stomach nor heart for naught but withdraw

O'Ruaraic's confessor in piety's name

Bade the Prince make a pilgrimage away from war's game

Prince Tiernan, the pilgrim left with the first crow of the cock

Trusting husband saw not the need for a chastity lock

He believed the Bride of Breffni would wait

But the fair Derbforgaill did not lock the gate

MacMurchad came under cover of night

Abducted O'Ruaraic's wife and took flight

T’was a dastardly act, or so it would seem

Yet heard within Breffni's walls, nary a scream

When Tiernan's horse boy gave his account

He swore Derbforgaill was astride the Prince's best mount

And several housemaids reported before the gates closed

She was leading four pack horses carrying all of her clothes

Prince Tiernan returned to find a cold bed

With the fire of vengeance burning his head 

Mustered his army and moved with great haste

Toward a fortress in Leinster with intent to lay waste

Dermott's walls breached, the villain escaped in the end

But in all Erin's Isle he found not a friend

But there were those that owed Dermott an old debt

With his daughter Eva sailed o'er to England without regret

 King Henry had once borrowed Dermott's ships under sails

To suppress a pesky revolution out there in Wales

Finding Henry in England was sure of little chance

Because the King of England spent most of his time in France

But once found, old Henry would not lend a hand

Unless MacMurchad promised fealty and, of course Irish land

Now Henry avowed he could not an English soldier loan

Gave a letter permitting Dermott raise an army on his own

He looked, but could not hire an army anywhere

Until he met a red-haired Earl, Richard de Clare

Now Dermott could not understand, nor would he ever know

How this femme-faced Norman ever earned the title of, 'Strongbow'

 He was far from manly, never mistaken for a swain

Some say of him was written, "His blood is better than his brain"

But 'twas falsely accused, Strongbow had a clever plan

His price for aid, an Irish estate and the daughter Eva's hand

The pact agreed for Irish land and Eva as his bride

Strongbow set out to hire some men to fight for Dermott's side

Dermott for Éireann sailed with Norman knights and gallowglasses

O'Ruaraic and O'Connor greeted him and kicked some Norman asses

 To buy some time and for his kidnap crime Dermott offered Tiernan gold

Tiernan took the bribe and set the stage for history yet untold

Irish troops fell back, laid down their arms hoping to fight no more

But now Strongbow and his Norman knights stormed onto Éireann's shore

With a thousand men at arms to recapture Dermott's land

His promise kept, Strongbow could now claim fair Eva's hand

The wedding assured Strongbow became Dermott's heir

A Norman on the Leinster throne was a curse on all of Eire

Excited to announce a book signing and discussion on March 16 from 11 to 1 at St. Inie's Coffee House, 46915 S. Shangri La Drive in Lexington Park Maryland

 
A little more about the Creevelea Friary.  Yeah, I think old Hank # 8 might have had something to do with the fire.  I remember the skeletons of some Scottish churches that he had torched.  Anyway, back to Ireland. It was rebuilt by another O'Rourke, Brian, who, being a good Catholic, sheltered some survivors of the Spanish Armada.  Henry's daughter Elizabeth I, of course, had issues with Brian. She invited him to London.  He never came home.  His castle on Loch Gill outside of Leitrim was confiscated and given to the Parkes family.  I've read that several O'Rourkes are buried at the Friary, but as I inspected graves there in 2016, I failed to find them.  The last Franciscan Friars were driven out by Cromwell's soldiers in the 1650's.  A sequel work in progress will drill down into that action.  Stay tuned

Well, had a nice day at the Mid-Maryland Celtic Festival in Mount Airy in June.  The folks from the St. Andrews Society were great hosts, very helpful and cooperative.  Met lots of fine and interesting people.  Many stopped by the author's tent to chat, ask questions, and some even bought a book. Sharing the tent with other authors made for an interesting day.  Learned some by watching their approach to bookselling.  I felt that my approach was more successful.  Most of the others sat behind their desks and waited for visitors to approach.  I stood outside the tent inviting people to view my display and engage them in conversation.  I believe I sold more books than the others.  if not, I know I met more people and increased my network of followers of the Celtic festival circuit.

There was one incident that I regret.  A kilted father and son engaged me with some banter.  The son challenged some of my historical notations.  No problem, I enjoy dialog about things that are matters of opinion.  I was happy when they wanted to buy a book.  They were short of cash, (I would wager they spent a lot of it on the pints they carried).  And I had a problem getting to the WIFI at the site to be able to take their credit card on my tablet.  The son, a self-proclaimed IT expert tried but failed to help me get online. A bit embarrassed and frustrated at my failure to make the sale, I offered to sign a book for them on credit, gave them my address, and asked them to send me a check at their convenience. They agreed but did not offer their contact information, and I failed to ask for it.  Guess I should know better than to fully trust men in kilts with pints in their hands.  Needless to say (but I'll say anyway), to date, no check.  They stiffed me!

Cost of doing business and being too trusting I suppose.  I hope they enjoy the book enough to send a check when they finish reading it.

Oh well, on to the next venue, Timonium in November, the Maryland Irish Festival at the fairgrounds.  Perhaps they'll stop by and settle up.

Book Promotions

As a prelude to the Annual Celtic Festival in Southern Maryland, I was invited by my friend Jennifer Cooper to work with her and her guitarist Carl Reichelt (known professionally as 'GrooveSpan duo), to fill in when they took a break.  I know a couple of chords and sing a few Celtic songs, so I welcomed the opportunity.  The venue was a popular local winery called Perigeaux, and the manager invited me to promote my book while I was there.  The event was most enjoyable and several books were sold.

The festival was the next day.  I had paid to be a vendor and to sell my book there, so I arrived early to set up next to another author I met a last year's festival.  Ben Anderson has a series of fantasy books called "The McGunnegal Chronicles" Considering that Ben had much experience selling his books at similar venues, he was very helpful to me in succeeding at the festival. We are friends and not really competing for readers.  Ben's books are targeted t younger readers than my target audience.  His books are magical, check them out.

I next will be at the Mid Maryland festival on June 16, 2018.  If you're in the area of Frederick, MD, stop by the author's tent and say hello.

Well, we're going to give a book signing another attempt.  My scheduled book signing at the Fenwick Street Used Books and Music Store in March was a victim of March coming in like a lion and blowing away the plans.

So a new date:  The first Friday in April 4/6/2018  from 5 to 7 PM at the same place in Leonardtown:

 Joe Orlando's Fenwick Street Used Books and Music Store

If you've not been to the store before, you should come.  It is a destination in Leonardtown for bibliophiles, writers, and music lovers, specifically, vinyl jazz collectors.

Hope to see you there 

FAR

I've told you a lot about the book.  Take a look for yourself. .  Check it  out

It costs $18.85 on Amazon

 Here's a link



https://www.amazon.com/Saints-Lost-Their-Way-ebook/dp/B075VGFQ6D/ref=pd_rhf_pe_p_img_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5JK2X779VASC8BAN1KFF

WHY WRITE?

To write demands recall. Recall of the minute details of all experience.  The look on the face of a man who is hungry; the smell of the wind s a new day is born; the feel of a velvet milkweed leaf in the hot summer sun; the touch of a woman who can look into your mind; the pain of despair or the wonder of loving. Each detail must be observed, analyzed, categorized and recorded with the rhythm of sensuous prose. A challenge that few stand to meet it.

To be a chronicler of life is an ambitious calling, but who is qualified? Every person has their own interpretation of what’s really going on. Every eye sees a different world.  The music sounds different to each ear. What is perfume to one is air pollution to another. Every personality exists in a different reality. The willingness to accept everyone’s reality is the first step toward creating an accurate set of minutes to life’s proceedings.

Take every sight, sound, smell, taste, feel, emotion and sensation, and multiply by the number of beings that have ever been or will ever be in reality or fantasy, and you have touched on the possible variations on a theme. How can writer’s block exist? The number of definitions is a number that defies definition.  Infinity?

Where to start? Which direction? Any adjective can be the launching pad, any verb the plotted course, any noun can be the passengers and crew or the destination, any adverb can describe the trip. Any word in any language can be the cosmic center of an ever-expanding or diminishing spiral of consciousness that can encompass the lives of all creatures, real or imagined, everywhere for all time. The secret is the catalyst the prime mover that sets the spiral in motion.  Once it starts, it can grow to universal proportions, touching every sense that has or will or should exist. Add sensations to moods, personalities, causes, goals, laws, and morality and you have a formula for writing.

What senses then should exist for a writing foundation? Would we be better off without pain, sorrow, worry, regret, loneliness, complacency, boredom, torment, misery, distress, anguish, vexation, irritability, woe, affliction, suffering, and on and on? Could the good be measured without the bad? Is there a high without a low? Would pretty be prettier without ugly? Hot without cold? Up without down? Love/hate War/peace death/life crime/laws sin/punishment /universe/GOD? Four simple words, “what senses should exist?”.

The spinning starts, slowly at first, then quicker.  The spark is lit!  The specter is illuminated!  Spiiinnninngg, spewing fire to the far corners of the dark cool niches of your being. Starting a hundred fires that can rage to consume all or quickly die. The fire needs fuel if the spiral is to grow. Add something familiar. People. Let them spin and see what happens. Some will surely be consumed, while others hold the spark and are flung to new experiences. They glory in the light of the funeral pyre.  The burning bones of the weak and unimaginative light the way through the darkness. New inspirations rise from the ashes of old ideas. This is what creativity really is.

How can such awesome power be controlled? Who can harness the whirlwind? Everything spins. The nucleus of the atom, the orbiting electron, chains of molecules, the vital juices of living organisms, planetary satellites in solar circles endless galaxies spinning through the black vacuum of the cosmos, billions of spirals, eternal and now. Pick on an unimpressive star. Elect one inconsequential planet, Single out one solitary creature. Assess its condition. Who cares?

Writers care. I care. Sometimes I care so much it hurts my insides. I see some solitary creature in some state of despair and I want to weep, but weeping does no good. I want to reach out and let it know that it is not alone. Be it a person, animal, tree or the single flowery polyp of coral on a dying reef. But then again, often I feel a cold distance about the problems of others, and it makes me question the apathy. I question who or what I am.  What business is it of mine to impose my values.  What the hell?  I’ve got problems of my own.  Who reaches out to help me?  If I can hack it, damn it, so can you.

But if I didn’t care, why the hell am I writing this? Why go through the trouble of trying to express the confusion that has a hold on me? Is it a substitute for real-gut level involvement? A copout on reality? What I can’t say to an individual face to face, I can say to the whole world on paper.  Could be if I didn’t express myself on paper, I wouldn’t express at all.  Then I surely would implode or explode as the weight of confusion crushed my mind.

So, writers, write. Justify it. Even if writing as a vehicle of expression feels like non-involvement. Write!

IRISH – NATIVE AMERICAN PARALLELS
VALIDATED IN NOVEL

PARALLEL	IRISH	NATIVE AMERICAN
1. Constant foreign invasions	Gauls, Milesians, Galacians , Norsemen, Normans, English Saxons	Spanish, French, English, Dutch
2. Land stolen by Imperial Europeans	Vikings took over coastal areas for ports.  Normans bargained for it.  English rewarded soldiers and investors with Irish land.	Expatriates and explorers from Europe “discovered” the new world and took it by force or treachery.  Called it “Manifest Destiny”
3. Defeat by superior weaponry	Norman knights in armor. Tudor navy.  Parliamentarian siege guns	Guns, cannons, swords, later repeating rifles
4. Invaders brought disease	Dysentery, flu	Typhoid, measles, alcoholism
5. Slavery	Sold to West Indies sugar plantations	Same (Pequods) Caribes enslaved in Jamestown.
6. Native language forbidden	Forced to speak the language of the invaders	Same
7.Family names Anglicized	Eg. Gráinne Ní Mháille to Grace O’Malley	Metacomet to Phillip
8. Place names changes	e.g. Cloneen to Manor Hamilton, Learga to Blacklion	Arbitrarily named land based on where invaders came from, New York, Jersey, Hampshire, or named it after royalty, Maryland, Virginia
9. Lacked unity	Old clan rivalries impeded ability to fend off invaders	Ancient differences between tribes blocked any unity to stand together
10. Assimilated invaders into culture	Norseman and Normans slowly became “new” Irish.	The opposite, native peoples were ‘civilized’, but never assimilated, except by intermarrying.
11. Duality beliefs	Druidic influence about separation of physical and spiritual lives.	Shamanic influence about dream state and physical state
12. Sanctity of trees / wood	Oaks held ancestors ghosts and rowan had mystical protective powers.  Walking sticks and shillelaghs and St. Patrick’s staff.  Druid practice of raising staff to speak at gatherings	Coup stick of northern plains, and talking sticks to maintain order at meetings.  Red stick for protection
13. Bread without yeast	Irish soda bread	Wood ashes used by woodland tribes in bread making
14. Social gatherings	Ceildhs	Pow-wow
15. Hospitality	Expected and delivered. Never turn away a traveler, particularly from your clan	Similar within tribe or neighboring tribes / clans     potlatch traditions
16.Spiritual leaders	Celtic druids and later Catholic priests interpret and explain experiences as messages from god	Shaman / medicine man/woman as messenger of spirit
17. Conversation and oratory	Celtic / Irish national pastime	Important part of socializing and communicating oral history
PARALLEL	IRISH	NATIVE AMERICAN
8. Myths and stories	Oral process from generation to next about heroes and saints, fairies and banshees	Stories help to ‘shorten the night’. Oral process of tales of ghosts and spirit animals
19. Music	Embedded in culture a higher, singing is sophistication to storytelling.  Harps and whistles, bodhrans and fiddles. An outlet for joy or rage Celebrate life and mourn death, keening	Drums, flutes, rattles and chanting part of spirituality and celebration and awareness elevation and motivation to hunt, fight. Funeral chants telling stories of departed.
20.Value individuals	Recognized talent, courage, and status. All social levels had a currency value according to Brehan law.  Had rules of engagement	Would sing songs of brave warriors.  Valued individuals but not arrogance or fanaticism.
21. Guerilla war tactics	Rapparees or Tóraighs and later IRA and UDL	Evident in most areas of U.S.  Particularly with Comanches
22. Respect for enemy	If he fought bravely he was recognized in story and song	Higher honor to touch an armed enemy with coup stick than to kill him.  Courageous enemy might be spared after battle.
23. Invaders forced religion on ‘conquered’	Catholics persecuted by Protestant Anglicans and Puritans	Spanish, French, Catholic missionaries.  English, and Dutch protestants, all worked to convert natives
24. Invaders forced law systems	English law over Brehan law, an excuse for persecution	European law over tribal values and traditions. Reason behind failure of every so called ‘treaty’
25. Invaders forced ideas of land ownership	Royal grants and payment to ‘adventurers’ over familial or clan ownership	Total foreign concept about ‘owning’ land.
26. Ceded land to survive	Better to give up land than to die trying to keep it.	Overwhelmed by technology and growing white population, little by little they gave in.
27. Destroying food source as a military tactic.	Crops burned or stolen and exported	Crops burned, prairie plowed, and buffalo exterminated
28. Trees destroyed	Harvest Irish oaks for the British navy	Cleared Eastern forests for cultivation, and construction materials
29. Hierarchy ignorance	Invaders negotiating and getting agreement from lower leaders who had no right to speak for all of the people.	Nations would not recognize agreements made by sub-tribe leaders. E.g.  Ogallala could not speak for all Lakota Sioux
PARALLEL	IRISH	NATIVE AMERICAN
30. Broken promises	Regime changes would negate promises of former royalty	Details of some treaties not understood by tribes who did not speak the language of the written treaty.  They relied on the ‘spoken’ promise which the whites did not
31. Sacrifices	Old Druidic practice (assumed)	Northern Plains tribes sun dance
32. Mound builders	e.g. Tara, New Grange	All over the southeast U.S.
33.  Mystical beings	Leprechauns, fairies, Sidhe (fallen angels, harbinger of doom)	Shape changers, little people of the Iroquois
34. Derogatory names	Red legs, Mick, Papist	Savage, red skin
35. Mistrust of ‘mixed bloods’	Irish and Old English Catholics/Norman Catholics/Scottish Presbyterians/Norse pagans	“Half Breeds” Natives and Anglo-white or Natives and Mexican “Comanchroes”
36. Super heroes to save the culture	Cu Chullain, Brian Boru, Gráinne Ní Mháille	King Phillip, Tecumseh, Crazy Horse, Quannah Parker, Geronimo, Ghost Dancers
37. Terrorism	Massacre at Drogheda, Wexford	Massacre at Sand Creek, Wounded Knee
38. Forced to move west, toward the setting sun, the darkness, the unknown and impending doom	‘To Hell or Connaught’ per O. Cromwell  Slaves to West Indies	Trail of Tears.  Andrew Jackson committed to pushing all Eastern Tribes to “Indian Territory” now Oklahoma.
39.  Dehumanizing	Killing a Celt (Irish Catholic)  was not a crime	Similar even to the extent of paying a bounty on native scalps from men women and children.
40. Laws to specifically suppress	Irish couldn’t vote or hold office, own property, become a priest, or own a horse worth more than
41. Celebrate planting and  harvest	Beltane and Lughnasadh festivals	Corn dance, rain dance, dance for a successful hunt
42. Strong family ties but families separated	Captives and kidnapped shipped into slavery or bondage	Children taken and sent to school to “De-Indian them” Punished for speaking native language, required to wear white man clothes
43. Spiritual connection to ancestors	Cairns and burial mounds were holy places	Same
44. Reverence and respect for elders.	Wisdom based on experience led decision making	Elders would hold council to hear problems and suggest (or mandate solutions
PARALLEL	IRISH	NATIVE AMERICAN
45. Folk medicine	Sage-femme as mid-wife, druidic knowledge of herbal medicine	Folk knowledge of using the environment for health
46. Courtship	Intervener, usually the parents of the couple would negotiate the courtship and the dowry	Parents, chief and shaman would be involved to consider the advantage, disadvantage of relationship and the bride price
47. Status	The potential groom evaluated on parent’s wealth and status in the clan.  Land and successful harvests were the currency.	Same, with horses and successful hunts and battles as the currency
48. Signal fires	Along the mountaintops in Ireland to give orders to armies	Natchez tribes kept informed of DeSoto’s movements
49. Sanctity of trees	Matty’s rowan walking stick	Tribal talking sticks, coup stick
50. Little people	Fairies , Leprechauns, etc	Teachers of the medicine men