An Irish tour guide's simple yet thoughtful gift has reinforced the centuries-old notion of 'kindred spirits' between Irish and Choctaw people.
Jasmin Lyon, who lives in Arkansas, took to TikTok this week to explain the special encounter that her mom, sister, and niece recently had with a tour guide in Ireland.
"The guide was giving some great history about the Trail of Tears and the relationship between the Irish and Choctaw people," Lyon said in her video.
The Irish tour guide explained how during the Great Hunger, the Choctaw people sent a donation of $170 to the Irish people.
"We in Ireland have never, ever, ever forgotten this gesture of kindness, of generosity," the Irish tour guide said.
"We hold the Choctaw nation, all the Choctaw people, in very, very high respect and regard."
Unbeknownst to the tour guide was that attendees on his tour had Choctaw connections.
Lyon said in her TikTok: "Of course, my mom had to tell the tour guide, my late husband and my daughter are Chickasaw and Choctaw.
"And he wanted to give me a gift. Someone from across the pond, who he's never met, just because he respects Choctaw people and what they did for Ireland."
Lyon shared a screenshot of the text her mother sent her from Ireland which said: "He gave you this from his hat. It shows that he speaks Irish."
Lyon was particularly touched that the tour guide was learning Irish, an indigenous language, as she is also learning the language of the Chickasaw and Choctaw people.
She said she will be paying her Irish gift forward to her language teacher.
@arkansasn8v Replying to @It’s Jasmin ????? #irelandtiktok #nativetiktok #historytok ♬ original sound - It’s Jasmin ?????
Lyon's story was met with a flood of comments from Irish people who explained more about what she thought was a hat pin but is actually a Fáinne, a pin worn by Irish language speakers to signal that they speak the language.
As interest grew in her amazing story, Lyon appealed to her TikTok followers to help track down the generous Irish tour guide; all she knew was that he went by the nickname Quiggs and worked for Finn McCools Tours.
With the help of the Irish Independent, she was able to identify him - Mark Ó Coighligh.
"When people are on holidays here, they like to hear stories about history, so I try to give it a human element, and what the Choctaw people did is a real example of that," Ó Coighligh told the Irish Independent.
"I had no idea that there were people on the tour who were related to Choctaws, and it had always been my intention to give my Fáinne to one if I met one, and here was my opportunity.
"It was cool to see Jasmin’s video. My message really is to be kind to each other. You don’t have to be connected to someone to make a difference, and that can have a ripple effect."
In a follow-up post on TikTok, Lyon said she is "humbled to have been the mouthpiece of a story that should be taught in schools and maybe one day I'll have the opportunity to incorporate it into my own curriculum."
She said she is working with enrolled Choctaw citizens who are working hard to create gifts to send back to Ó Coighligh and that she's hopeful she can visit Ireland one day as well.
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