If we were to take a few moments and dig through the United States’ history, we would surely find many Irishmen that were essential in transforming the country in its current form. There’s no secret that many Irish people left Ireland seeking a better life and that it’s happening to this day.
There’s nothing wrong with moving to another place to find a better life, but it would be a shame not to hold on to your heritage as time passes. There are several ways you can do this. For example, you can try to incorporate the Irish traditions into your new way of life, you could bring family heirlooms and hand them down to your children and grandchildren, making sure they know the full story.
Unfortunately, one’s heritage connections tend to break as time passes. There are several reasons why this would happen but we’re not here to discover why that is. We’re here to tell you that there are ways to reconnect with your Irish heritage using the Irish Gaelic language.
It will depend strictly on you if you’re up to do this and you’ll achieve success only if you will give it your best. We’re here to help and we’re going to introduce you to Laurie Holmes. She is a Bitesize Irish Gaelic community member and she’s trying to reconnect to her Irish heritage using the Irish language. Go ahead and read her story below. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn some new methods to reconnect with your Irish heritage or to learn Irish Gaelic.
Bitesize: Where abouts in the world do you live?
Laurie: I live in the southeastern United States in North Carolina. Onslow County is one of the coastal counties and home to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, and New River Air Station.
My husband is a retired Marine originally from Minnesota, and I grew up in upstate NY. We have a small farm with several animals: four horses, five hens, six cats, two dogs, a tortoise and a chameleon.
Bitesize: What got you wanting to speak Irish Gaelic?
Laurie: I wanted to learn to speak Irish Gaelic because it sounds beautiful. Growing up I did not realize that there was an Irish language. Several years ago, I became very interested in Irish history because of my ancestry, and decided I really wanted to learn the language.
Bitesize: Do you have Irish ancestry? Tell us about it.
Laurie: I do have Irish ancestry. After losing my dad in 2000, it became very important to me to learn about his family. I am descended from Irish Catholic immigrants who settled in Queens, New York, where my father was born and raised. I have been researching our family for many years, traveling to the Archives in NYC three times and to Ireland.
I hope to find the Munster birthplace of my great grandfather John J Hayes and locate family that stayed in Ireland. Irish documents aren’t exactly easy to find, but I haven’t given up. My mom also has a grandfather from Dublin.
Bitesize: How do you use Bitesize Irish Gaelic?
Laurie: I have used Bitesize Irish audio lessons more than the written, and go back to the written so I know how the words are spelled. I liked the audio because I stay quite busy and I could learn and listen in the car, while I am mucking stalls, or doing other farm chores.
Bitesize: What advice would you have for a total beginner of Irish Gaelic?
Laurie: My advice to a total beginner would be to make it relevant to one small part of your day, like saying the date, the time, or the weather, even if only to your animals.
Take Laurie’s advice and make the first step of learning Irish Gaelic – singing up for a free trial. The Bitesize Irish Gaelic method of learning Irish doesn’t stop here, though!
Enjoy the experience, learn at your own pace, be confident, get in touch with your Irish heritage, and sign up for Bitesize Irish Gaelic.