Many scholars contend that our prehistoric ancestors gave up their hunting-and-gathering lifestyle once they learned how to bake bread. Although there is evidence that barley was sown and harvested over 10,000 years ago, why seed was first planted remains a puzzle. In the 1950s, archaeologist Robert Braidwood at Chicago University suggested that discovering bread-making methods … [Read more...] about Sláinte: The Bread of Life!
Culture
Songs of Ireland: PBS Documentaries Celebrate Irish in Music
PBS is celebrating March and St. Patrick’s Day with a series of Irish music specials and documentaries, exploring the history of Irish music in America and offering fantastic in-concert footage of some of Irish music’s all-stars. The performance documentary Music of Ireland – Welcome Home, premiering nationwide on PBS stations in March, is narrated by Grammy Award-winning Moya … [Read more...] about Songs of Ireland: PBS Documentaries Celebrate Irish in Music
Roots: The Extraordinary Crowleys
Derived from the Gaelic O’Cruadhlaoich, Crowley has been a common surname in Ireland since the 11th century. Formed from the words cruadh meaning hardy and loach meaning hero, Crowley exists in many variations of the original Gaelic spelling, among them Crowley, Crowly, O’Crowley, Croaley and Croawley. The first to bear this name was Diarmuid an Cruadhlaoch, a MacDermot of … [Read more...] about Roots: The Extraordinary Crowleys
Sláinte: A Winter’s Tale
Just because I live in Los Angeles doesn’t mean I’m an Angeleno. Natives here love that it’s sunny and quasi-summer all year long. Not me. Locals think I’m crazy. Crazy like a fox, I say. When it’s cold, you can put on a sweater. When it’s hot, you’re out of luck. I pine for seasons. Some of my dearest memories carry me back to the winters of my Philadelphia youth. Sure, it … [Read more...] about Sláinte: A Winter’s Tale
The Moran Clan Reunites in Brooklyn
By Marian Betancourt, ContributorDecember / January 2010
They came from as far as Luxembourg and as near as a few blocks for a reunion and bus tour of the Brooklyn neighborhoods where their ancestors had lived, beginning with 107 Pioneer Street (now Warren Street) in Red Hook where Michael Moran (1834-1906) lived when he founded Moran Towing in New York harbor more than 150 years ago. Everyone received a lapel sticker with the family … [Read more...] about The Moran Clan Reunites in Brooklyn