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Saint Patrick's Day
in the Carolina Piedmont
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Saint Patrick's Day is traditionally a religious holiday in Ireland, but in America, it has become a day of fun and celebration. To those of Irish descent, the roots of St. Patrick's Day are not forgotten, but they enjoy the parades and holiday fun as well. Many take the opportunity to share the wonderful culture of Ireland through their talents as dancers and musicians.
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This Irish dancer in Hickory, NC, is doing the traditional set dance Saint Patrick's Day. If you're listening to the MIDI, this is the first tune in the medley. She's doing a movement called a "rock" where the dancer stands on tiptoes and flexes crossed ankles from side to side. Irish dancing is over 200 years old, and includes dances in ballet-like slippers called gillies and in "hardshoes", which have fiberglass tips that make the sound. Appalachian clogging had its roots in Irish hardshoe dancing. If you're lucky, you'll see (and hear) some Irish dancing this Saint Patrick's Day!
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Young Irish dancers who have reached a certain level of proficiency wear colorful dresses embroidered with designs from the Book of Kells, an ancient Bible illustrated by the Celts after Saint Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland. Girls choose designs for their dresses with their teacher's approval. The dresses usually cost several hundred dollars. Boys wear black pants and solid-colored shirts.
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Many familiar Southern Appalachian tunes came over to us from Ireland. The jigs and reels have been passed down from generation to generation, and are still enjoyed as they were two hundred years ago. The pipes, fiddle, and tin whistle or flute are usually joined by the guitar, banjo, or mandolin, and occasionally by a harp. Keyboards or an accordian are also frequently heard at a Saint Patrick's Day session. And there's nearly always a bodhran, or Celtic drum.
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Musicians playing in the Irish pub Ri-Ra in Charlotte, NC. L-R: Jason Dulin, Dan Bright, and John Trexler.
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So many of the early settlers in the South were of Scots-Irish descent that it is little wonder that some of the Irish traditions, Saint Patrick's Day among them, are still honored today.
"May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings,
Slow to make enemies,
Quick to make friends.
But rich or poor or quick or slow,
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward."
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