SUMMERTIME!

By Caroline Clemmons

The song “Summertime” keeps playing in my head. I love the song, but I’m puzzled as to why the living is easy in summer. If you love the sun and hot weather, you’re in luck. As for me, I whine, “It’s hooottt” and remain indoors as much as possible. Here in North Central Texas, it is not as overwhelming as in some parts of the country. I pity construction workers, road crews, landscapers and others who have to work in these temperatures.

You probably know I’m fascinated by Ireland and the Irish. One of the groups from that culture that fascinates me is the Irish Travelers or Tinkers. The Travelers are an ancient group of minstrels who traveled from kingdom to kingdom back when Ireland was ruled by multiple kings or queens. They sang, juggled, performed acrobatics, and entertained the royalty.

When the English took over and booted many Irish tenants off their land with nowhere to turn, they were given help by and joined with the Travelers. They speak—in addition to English—a language called Shelta or Cant.

Irish Travelers are disliked—even hated—by many. Although often confused with them, they are not Romani gypsies, who originated in India and have their own religion. Travelers are originally Irish and are predominantly Catholic. Many of the children do not attend school, due in part to the mobile nature of the families. They have now crossed the ocean and colonized in the USA in several places. One is in White Settlement, a suburb of Fort Worth. Most live in mobile homes or RVs and travel around the country. You may have seen them featured on a television show about their lavish weddings dresses.

Interior of restored caravan

from Irish Heritage Park

This is from the gypsy travellers (British spelling) organization at

https://www.gypsy-traveller.org/

For Irish Travellers, the language you speak can have varying names according to the family to which you belong. Mincéir Thari can be called Shelta, Cant or De Gammon. It is an ancient indigenous language formed using the Ogham technique that gradually developed towards its present form under the pressure of contact with Irish and Hiberno-English. Mincéir means Traveller and Thari means talk, so this might be translated as ‘Traveller talk’. The closest living language is old Irish, which was spoken in Ireland pre 1200s. While the language is practiced mainly through oral tradition, with very little written history of it, the words for ‘priest’ and ‘God’ shown in old, pre-Christian documents in Ireland show shared lineation between the languages. The language is widely used today and the majority of people who speak it also speak English. There are different dialects of Irish Cant and in Ireland alone, there can be differences in words commonly spoken across the country and differences in spelling between people.

ARE YOU GOOD? Ar munya dil? /Ar munya hu?

WHAT NAME DID YOU TAKE? Munika Bug astúrt, lit?

I’M GOOD Mydil Tome/Munya

ONE, TWO, THREE Ain, do, tré

In 2017, Irish Travellers were recognized as a distinct ethnic group in Ireland, and recognized as Ireland’s only indigenous community.

The reason for my telling you about this is that the heroine in THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE and her family travel with a group of Irish Travelers. THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE is the first of five books in the popular McClintock series.

Here’s the book description:

Cenora Rose O’Neill knows her father somehow arranged the trap for Dallas, but she agrees to wed the handsome stranger. She’d do anything to protect her family, and she wants to save herself from the Irish Traveler bully, Tom Williams. A fine settled man like Dallas will rid himself of her soon enough, but at least she and her family will be safely away from Tom.   

Texas rancher Dallas McClintock has no plans to wed for several years. Right now, he’s trying to establish himself as a successful horse breeder. Severely wounded rescuing Cenora from kidnappers, Dallas is taken to her family’s wagon to be tended. He is trapped into marrying Cenora, but he is not a man who goes back on his word. His wife has a silly superstition for everything, but passion-filled nights with her make up for everything—even when her wild, eccentric family drives him crazy.

I love the hero, Dallas, so much. He is such a good and generous man. I know you’ll love him, too, if you haven’t already read this book. You’ll find it at

https://www.amazon.com/Texans-Irish-Bride-McClintocks-Book-ebook/dp/B008V1UG54/

Stay safe and keep reading!