You Can't Beat an Irish Funeral

The Irish are well-known for their joy, belief in good luck, and uplifting spirits, especially when it comes to enjoying a party. This spirit continues even surrounding death and funerals. The most well known is the 'Irish Wake'. A wake used to be the custom in Celtic countries for mourners to keep watch or vigil over their dead until they were buried - this was called a 'wake'. This is where the term comes from. Often the wake is a party, a true celebration of the life of a person, as people gather to eat, drink, and share memories. 

A traditional Irish custom is to display the body of the deceased in the family home. Wakes started with a neighbor women washing the body of the deceased and preparing it to be laid out on a bed or table, often in the largest room of the house. 
- The body was covered in white linen with ribbons, or flowers for a child. 
- Candles were placed around the body
- Clay pipes or tobacco were placed in the room. Every male visitor was expected to take at least a puff. The smoke kept evil spirits from finding the deceased. 
- Clocks were stopped at the time of death.
- Mirrors were turned around or covered. 

The old-fashioned wake was a hybrid of paganism and Christianity and is still practiced today, but in a very toned down way. 
- The body must not be left unattended for the entire wake.
- On entrance, the mourner makes their way to the side of the body, kneels down and silently recites a few prayers for the departed soul.
- The mourner is offered food and drink for hours spent at the wake.
- If the weather is good the men congregate outside - if not, they go to the kitchen. 
- The body is often in the front room of the house.
- The Rosary is recited once or twice - at midnight and then towards morning, along with traditional prayers. 
- Most visitors leave at midnight, but there will be a few that stay until the morning. 
- They drink tea, whiskey, and beer, and share stories with quiet laughter but a solemn mood. 

I have only been to an Irish funeral once in my life. It was back in October 2008. My aunt died (she was my mothers oldest sister). I was picked up at the airport and driven to my aunts house. I walked in and there in the front room was my aunt laying in the coffin in her best dress. Could someone have warned me about this? I did not know that the Irish did this. Everyone had cups of tea in their hand, standing around the coffin telling stories. There was a bunch of food in the kitchen that neighbors had brought by for guests. Guests were coming in and out of the house all day long. This whole thing was definitely strange to me but I have to admit it was actually really nice and peaceful. Its not like our American wake where the family has to stand for hours while mourners come through, sometimes rushed because of the hours. The Irish wake was definitely more relaxed and I loved hearing all the stories about my aunt. There were many times we were all in tears from laughing. 

The body is kept in the house for a few days so that everyone can come by and pay their respects to the family. There was also a lot of talk of who was spending the night at the house so my aunt was not left alone. After about 2 days of this then I started to hear questions - are you going to the removal, or the mass, or both? The removal...what is this? On the day of the funeral close family meets at the house before the funeral. When I got to the house that morning the priest was at my aunts house. They did a few prayers and everyone pays their last respects before they close the coffin. This part is called the removal. Then the coffin is carried out to the hearse and the flowers are placed around the coffin in the hearse. The priest got into one of the cars and we all went to the church. Except there is one person that will stay behind in the house to ward off the robbers. Yes..robbers! Usually its one of the neighbors that will stay in the house after everyone leaves. Everyone in Ireland knows that would-be-burglars listen to the death notices to see where there might be an empty house. I find this all hilarious! 

My aunt's mass was at the Whitehall Holy Child church which was the family church. This is where they all were baptized, 1st communion, etc. The mass was nice and was just like a funeral mass at home. Except everyone waits outside of the church until the coffin arrives and then everyone goes in together. After mass everyone got into their cars. The funeral procession then drove by my aunts house and the hearse and cars paused. We all made the Sign of the Cross and bowed our heads in respect. Then we all drove off to the cemetery.

The priest did the prayers for the burial and my aunts coffin was lowered into the ground. There was a shovel there and everyone was told to take a scoop of dirt and throw it on the coffin. You always see that in the movies but I never seen it actually done at a burial.

The reception was at a local hotel and they had lunch catered for everyone. I think by this time it was around noon. We did not leave there until midnight! Yes...12 hours later! I think most people left their cars in the parking lot and took a taxi home. It definitely felt more like a party then a funeral. I will admit it was a lot of fun. I think I want my funeral to be an Irish funeral!

It's Not Just a Cemetery...it's History!

Glasnevin Cemetery is the largest cemetery in Ireland with about 1.5 million burials. It first opened in 1832 and its located right down the road from us in Glasnevin. Before this cemetery opened Irish Catholics had no cemeteries of their own to bury their dead, this was due to the Penal Laws in the 18th century that put restrictions on the Catholic services. It was normal for a Catholic to have a limited version of their funeral service in Protestant churchyards or graveyards.

The Catholics started an outcry and this made Daniel O'Connell, champion of Catholic rights to launch a campaign and prepare a battle. He was proving that there is no law forbidding praying for a dead Catholic in a graveyard. O'Connell pushed for the opening of a burial ground in which Catholics could give their dead a dignified burial. 

Glasnevin Cemetery was consecrated and opened to the public in 1832. It was originally only 9 acres of land but now it has grown to 124 acres. They did not allow cremation in Ireland until 1989. The Catholic Mass is celebrated every Sunday at the cemetery and there is an annual blessing of the graves which takes place every summer. This has been done since the cemetery opened in 1832. The cemetery also contains the graves of some of the most important people in Irish history. 

The main gate to Glasnevin Cemetery

The cemetery is a short walk from our house so we have taken many walks here. This particular day we did the Glasnevin museum  and tour which was pretty good. The children got a little bored but I enjoyed it. They also have a big Geneology center inside the museum. They have records from each burial since the cemetery opened. They will give you the exact site of the grave of the deceased. The site though does not always have a headstone. Half of the people buried here are in unmarked graves (paupers grave). 

This is the Glasnevin Cemetery museum and little cafe. Remember the Irish love
their cuppa tea wherever they go. You visit your loved one in the cold and rain and
then you go indoors to get your cuppa! I love it!

The cemetery was designed to be a garden cemetery, which had become popular in Paris. Paths were created to allow carriages and hearses though. It was designed to be a place to wander and to enjoy the architecture and sculpture. It really is a nice cemetery to walk through and its very peaceful. 

The bodies of the rich were interred in fancy private tombs while those of the poor went into unmarked common ground. There are also special areas for epidemics or outbreaks (smallpox, cholera, typhoid, etc). The last outbreak of Influzena in 1918, the cemetery had 240 funerals in 8 days. The normal would have been 12 or 13 a day. As the cemetery grew, distinct burial areas were created for certain groups of people. There is a lot of College of Surgeons, Jesuits, Dominicans. The most famous area is the Republican plot where many of those who were killed or executed for their part in achieving Ireland's freedom. 

The little bridge over to the island where the private tomb rooms were located

Families had their own door to their tombs

Its neat to look at the the changing style of the grave stones. It starts out as a simple high stone until the 1860's, to the elaborate Celtic crosses from the 1860s-1960's, to the plain marble of the late 20th century. 

My Nanny was one of the first to get cremated as she had a horrible fear of being
buried alive. One of my aunts is thinking of moving her into her coffin when she dies
because this original wall is falling apart. 

Chapel of Glasnevin Cemetery

Tomb of Cardinal McCabe

Jesuit plot

There are pathways all throughout the cemetery

 This is the grave of Michael Collins. He was a hero of the Irish struggle for independence and the first Sinn Féin minister of home affairs. He is best remembered for his strategy in directing the campaign of guerrilla warfare during the Anglo-Irish War (Irish Civil War). He was shot to death in an ambush in 1922. Collins has been regarded as a hero by Ireland for several decades. In 1996 Liam Neeson starred in the movie Michael Collins. Its been many years but I remembered I liked it. 

Michael Collins's tomb in Glasnevin Cemetery

Family tomb - this family must have had lots of money

This is the main flower shop inside the cemetery gates. On weekends you will see up and
down the main road flower stalls. Cars will be parked all over the place as everyone
comes to visit family members especially on weekends. 

This is Éamon De Valera's tomb and members of his family. De Valera was the head of Sinn Féin, and the 3rd president of independent Ireland. In 1913 he joined the Irish Volunteers, which resisted opposition to Home rule. In the anti-British Easter Rising in Dublin, he commanded an occupied building and was the last to surrender. De Valera was then made head of Sinn Féin, and although he was opposed to the partition of the country, he became president of Ireland in 1959.

Éamon De Valera's tomb and his family members

The biggest tomb here is Daniel O'Connell's. You can see his tower from all over the place. O'Connell, is known as 'The Great Emancipator'. He is famous for campaigning for Catholic Emancipation and the repeal of the Act of Union with Britian. There are many streets named after him in Ireland. O'Connell died in Italy on a pilgrimage to Rome in 1847. He requested that his heart belonged in Rome, and his body in Ireland, and soul in Heaven. There are ten members of the O'Connell family that are buried in his crypt.  His tomb has recently been refurbished from a bombing in 1971 by a group from the North. It is said to be good luck to touch his coffin. The Irish are so superstitious. 

Daniel O'Connell's tomb

This is Charles Parnell's grave (1846-1891). His grave is just a simple stone with his name. Parnell was an Irish landlord, and the founder and leader of the Irish Parliament Party. He implemented the idea of Home Rule to the British Parliament. Parnell is considered one of the most important figures in the 19th century by Great Britain and Ireland. At the time Parnell died body snatching was at its peak in Ireland so they decided to put his grave in the middle of the cholera burial grounds so it would not get touched. It worked because his body was never snatched. 

Charles Parnell's grave

There are many towers like this around Glasnevin Cemetery. Body snatchers would watch the obituary list to see who had died in the last few days. At night they would snatch the body for medical use. They were also paid for each body that they brought in..the fresher the better! Ugh!

This is my grandfather's grave who is also buried with two of his daughters. I have no idea where the other children are buried that died at a young age or birth. 

Glasnevin is one of the few cemeteries in the world that allowed stillborn and miscarried babies to be buried in consecrated ground. This area is called the Angels Plot. They have a few big sections like this. It is a beautiful area with names on plaques, park benches, windmills in the grass, etc. I really wish our country would have one of these in our area. It would be wonderful to have a place to grieve and pray for your child. 

Angels Plot in Glasnevin Cemetery

I've sure you have heard of the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland and all the scandal that came from them. There is even a new movie called Philomena that is very good. There was a laundry and orphanage right near my mothers house where she grew up in Whitehall. We used to walk by it all the time when I was a child. My mother even went to school with some of the children from the orphanage but they never talked to them, they were very quiet and kept to themselves. In the early 1990's they found a mass grave of 155 women, and only 75 of them had death certificates. They moved all these remains to a plot in Glasnevin Cemetery near the other mass graves they found from orphanages, work houses, and laundries. It really is all just so sad. There are so many books and movies here about the women and men that suffered when the Church had too much power in Ireland and tried to cover up everything.

High Park Magdalene Laundry Grave

The cemetery is just so peaceful to walk through

When the cemetery opened they had ten men employed for maintenance and digging. The first grave on a plot was dug to a depth of 12 feet, which took up to 8 hours, while second or later graves were more shallow and took at least 3 hours. There is a lot of history with the gravediggers for the cemetery. There is a pub right next to the gates called John Kavanagh's. The gravediggers would pop in for a pint after a hard day's work. There are also stories that coffins were seen outside the pub while workers went for a sneaky pint! 

This pub was founded in 1833 by John Kavanagh, and still to this day remains in the same family (6 generations later...wow!) Many say this pub is one of the best in Ireland, and is unchanged in 150 years. It is best known for its nickname, "The Gravediggers Pub".

Gravediggers Pub - you can see the cemetery gates to the left of the pub

The local Glasnevin Football Club was established by the employees of the cemetery in 1881. It is one of the oldest Irish soccer clubs. The club's nickname is, 'The Diggers'. 

The seal for the Glasnevin Football Club
 - gravedigger shovels and O'Connell's tomb

I'm almost done with this post. I promise! I just LOVE this cemetery and all the history, stories, etc. 

The last thing here I wanted to talk about are the hearses they use for funerals. They are so nice and I love how they look. It seems like most of them are Mercedes but I have seen a few Fiat hearses.

I just love how the coffin sits up high and its all glass. Loved ones buy flowers to put around the hearse for when it travels from house, to the church, and then to the cemetery. It really is pretty. So I've told Joe when I die I want a hearse like this. Ok?

Here is an old hearse they have on display at the cemetery

After you have walked through the whole cemetery and getting your cuppa tea...if you are not tired the Botanic Gardens are right next door. 

June Happenings...

Today is the children's last day of school and I am just as excited as they are. Its officially Summer and we are still doing the school routine everyday. They got their reports cards TWO weeks ago. The children even spent a whole day in their classroom scrubbing desks, cleaning walls, etc. Gotta love the child labor here!

T's class went to Larch Hill Scout Centre this past week. They hired buses to go down to the centre which is located in the Wicklow mountains. T said he had a fantastic day and his favorite activities were archery and paint ball. It sounds like it was a wonderful place to take a whole class of boys. 

L also had a field trip with her Montessori class. They went to the Fun Galaxy in Ashbourne. Its like one of the indoors play centers we have back at home - ball pit, climbing, trampolines, etc. I was so nervous sending her on a bus and I was going to go with her just so she would not miss out. But to make a long story short I chipped my tooth and had to go to the dentist. Her teacher said they were getting more staff to go on the trip with the children so there would be a 3:1 ratio. I guess that made me feel a little bit better...ohh I have such a hard time letting go! In the end I  decided to let her go. They put stickers on the backs of all the children with a cell phone number. L had a wonderful day and talked about it non-stop for the rest of the day. 

L's class arrived back from the field trip. They all had to line up to do one
 last count to make sure everyone got off the bus. 

This country is World Cup crazy. I love it! They sell jerseys for all the teams in the stores. Houses and stores are decorated for the World Cup. Everyone is talking about it and watching it. I just wish some of the games were not soo late..its killing me in the mornings. I'm so thankful school does not start until 9am here!

Giant World Cup ball in the sports store

I found a few selfies that K had taken of herself on my phone. She probably forgot to delete them so I took matters into my own hand and downloaded the World Cup flag face app. I had so much fun!

Are your tic tacs made in the USA?

Gotta love a coke bottle with your name on it...spelled correctly! 

My newest addiction Matcha Tea! One cup is almost 15 cups of regular green tea. 

Thank goodness I did not find out about this ice cream until last week. Oh my....its fabulous! 

I took all the children to get their hair cut. I could not take T's hair any longer! It was just soo long and it took about a gallon of water each morning to make it lay flat. It was crazy hair. So we went down to the local barber near his school. This is the first time T has got his haircut from a barber. Joe has been cutting his hair since he was a baby. T had his first official haircut in Ireland at the age of 9 years old!

T getting his haircut

Ahhhh...thats my handsome boy!

A few days later I took the girls to the Peter Mark salon to get theirs cut. They both just got a little trim. I would probably get beheaded from Joe if the girls came home with short hair. The stylist blow-dryed L's hair straight. I could not believe how different she looked. I sent a picture to Joe on my phone and said I paid for L to have the hair straightening treatment. Well...my phone rang so fast from Joe! Ha! Now I know how to get his attention. By the time she woke up the next morning the curls were back from the moisture in the air. 

Super straight hair

L's goofy smile!

The girls with their fresh hair cuts

The rainbow loom has finally hit Ireland and its crazy here. I feel like my kids are doing round #2 of the rainbow loom. The have been bringing them to school and they take them out to the green and make bands with the neighborhood kids. 

The weather here is now back to normal again! Hopefully we will get a few nice days so we can do some fun things before we leave to go back to the US. We only have ONE more week!