During my travels this summer I made my way across Ireland and Scotland and fell in love with the beauty and the rich history of these countries. During my stay, by far my favorite evenings were the ones where we were treated to nights of songs, dance, and stories. While every nation in the world has its traditional culture that is worthy of celebration, there is something special about this region that stands above the rest for me. Part of the reason is that there is a familiarity with this culture, and historically speaking it comes from a good reason.There is something enchanting, almost romantic, about these nations. I’m sure that for Americans’ part, some songs are in Gaelic, while most today are in English. Other nation’s folk songs and stories can lose something in translation. Ireland and Scotland’s difficult histories play a part of their culture as their people have had to endure struggles including occupation from the Vikings, the Normans and most recently the British. Possibly Ireland’s greatest struggles came in the 1840s and ’50s with the Potato Famine. During the Great Hunger, more than a million Irish died and dropped the population by 25% as another million fled the island for greener pastures.Our tour guide commented that the Irish population has only recently reached pre-famine numbers. Whatever the reasons, the Irish have produced some of the world’s greatest poets and authors, William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, and Samuel Beckett just to name a few. They have folk songs that can soothe even the most savage of beasts and a dance style that has captivated Americans since Lords of the Dance burst on the scene in 1997.In Dublin, we were entertained at Taylors Three Rock Inn and had a wonderful evening. The lead singer of the show we watched had just come off a stint on the West End playing Jean Valjean and had an amazing voice. He sang many traditional Irish songs like “Molly Malone” and “I’ll Tell Me Ma” and I am even manly enough to admit I became a bit misty eyed when he sang “Danny Boy.” It was my late grandma’s favorite song, and she loved it so much that she named my father Dan.While the Irish songs are better known than the Scottish ones, attending the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh Castle and hearing 100 bagpipes, including pipers from the ...
