cuireadh < invitation >
Marion Gunn (mgunn@irlearn.ucd.ie)
Mon, 15 Jun 1992 16:34:50 GMT
This is a dual posting to NATIVE-L and GAELIC-L. The first few lines are in
Irish Gaelic. Please skip to ****** for English version of this invitation.
Marion Gunn
Ta/ siu/lo/id fhada a/ beartu/ ag muintir Choctaw Mheiricea/
agus muintir na hE/ireann chun caradas a dhearbhu/ agus chun
teacht i gcabhair ar dhaoine ata/ ag fa/il bha/is den ghorta
san Afraic. Is maith is eol da/r dtreabhanna cad is cruatan,
cad is ocras ann. Dha/ ghru/pa a bheidh ag fa/ga/il na ti/re
seo 6ix92, 20ix92. E/inne ar mhaith leis a bheith pa/irteach
san fheachtas seo, is fe/idir leis dul i dteagmha/il le
hAFRI ag an uimhir seo: +353-1-966880.
******
The word "deor" in Irish means a tear, so the Gaelic for the Choctaw
Trail of Tears is "Cosa/n na nDeor". We in Ireland know little about
Choctaw history, except that in 1832 Andrew Jackson decided that the
best interests of the majority (white) population would be served by
forcing the Choctaw to walk from Mississippi to Oklahoma. One in two
of the people who set out on the trail of tears did not live to make
it to that destination.
So what has this to do with Ireland?
In the 1840's Ireland also lost fifty per cent of her population,
by emigration, famine and their associated ills. The Choctaw people
of Scullyville in 1847 contributed as much as they could to feed the
people who were starving to death in Ireland. This summer, the Irish
will be honouring the Choctaw by marching with them. The route they
have chosen is the Trail of Tears in reverse. Our peoples are not in
this out of self-pity, or mutual commiseration. We know that we were
neither the first nor the last minorities sacrificed for the greater
good, variously called "empire" or "democracy", according to fashion.
The principal aim of the march will be to raise money for some of
today's victims of famine in Africa.
If you wish to take part in or support this venture, to be led
/ organised by Donncha O/ Du/laing and Donn MacMullen, write to:
AFRI
63, Harold's Cross rd
Dublin 6
E/ire
(Ireland)
or telephone AFRI at: +353-1-966880.