The Great Hunger remembered

Marianna O’Gallagher, who has played an integral role in Canada’s commemoration efforts since the 1980s, remembered a similar sentiment when President Mary Robinson spoke at Grosse Île in 1994. “She made it very clear that famine, our famine, should not be forgotten, but much more — that we must realize that famine still exists around the world today, and for many of the same reasons: the heartlessness of governments with regard to care of their people.”

Of course, many groups in Ireland, Canada and America have been commemorating the Great Famine long before their governments recognized a day in its memorial. “Certainly here in Canada we have been remembering 1847 for a hundred years … now the world is getting into the act,” said Marianna O’Gallagher. “The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) has been holding pilgrimages to Grosse Île almost continually from about the 1890s. In 1909, in a ceremony that drew thousands, the AOH unveiled a 46-foot-high Celtic cross on Grosse Île atop Telegraph Hill, the highest point on the island. In the 1920s and 30s the pilgrimage was an annual affair from Quebec City.”

The Ancient Order of Hibernians will host a three-day celebration of the Centenary of the Cross on August 14, 15 and 16, 2009. AOH members from across Canada, the United States, Ireland and Europe are expected to attend.

The New York Consulate General of Ireland held a series of lectures by prominent writers, professors and scholars of the Famine in correlation with the National Famine Memorial Day. The series reflected on the role of the Famine in drastically and permanently changing the history of both Ireland and New York, where many Irish emigrants sought refuge.

Cathal Póirtéir, an expert on the Famine, drew from folklore to detail memories of those terrible times as they were kept alive in Irish-speaking communities. Christine Kinealy, author of The Great Calamity, spoke about the international response to the tragedy (see page 73), while Professor Maureen Murphy, Hofstra University, talked about the Great Irish Famine Curriculum and the pedagogy that was developed to teach the curriculum in New York.

Mary Pat Kelly drew from her book Galway Bay, which tells the story of the Kelly and Keeley families of Bearna, County Galway and the challenges they faced when they settled in the Chicago area.

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Nster.com