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Bonfire to burn at wake
for Young Irelander
20.05.08
Canadian Ambassador to
return to Inishowen
A TRADITIONAL Inishowen wake will be held next month
to commemorate the death of a Young Ireland rebel -
140 years ago.
The late-night 'wake' in Culdaff and Carrowmena will
be held for Thomas D'Arcy McGee, an active
participant in the 1848 uprising. After hiding out
in the Carrowmena area, the Louth-born 23 year old
made his escape disguised as a priest on a ship that
left Tremone Bay bound for Philadelphia on September
1, 1848. D'Arcy McGee would go on to become one of
the founding fathers of the Canadian Confederation,
a member of the Canadian parliament, a champion of
Irish immigrants, poet, journalist and Irish
historian. He was assassinated after an early
morning session of the parliament in April 1868 at
the age of 42. |
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His Inishowen 'wake' on
Friday, June 27, 2008, will coincide with the launch
of a new biography the same evening in McGrory's,
Culdaff, at which the Canadian Ambassador Patrick
Binns and Nobel Laureate John Hume will be among the
distinguished guests. Other participants will be
Carrowmena-born local historian Sean Beattie; a
number of D’Arcy McGee's descendants; the Irish
Ambassador to Switzerland, James Sharkey and Thomas
D'Arcy McGee biographer Professor David Wilson from
Canada. One of the organisers of the wake and book
launch, author Hazel |
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McIntyre, invited
everyone to "pay their respects" at the wake. "The
wake will coincide with the launch of a new
biography written by Professor David Wilson which
captures D’Arcy McGee's early rebel years in
Ireland," said Hazel. "It will be a lovely evening
of music, craic and poetry and we hope to light a
small bonfire at Tremone Bay where D'Arcy McGee left
from Inishowen." The special evening will kick off
in McGrory's at 7pm and at 9pm, weather permitting,
there will be a two-hour ceremony and celebration at
the famous escape place near Tremone Bay, five
minutes drive from Culdaff. Festivities will resume
at McGrory’s afterwards.
Hazel refers to a passage about the fateful night he
left Inishowen: "With guns to his back and a failed
Young Ireland rebellion...D’Arcy hurried down a
coast path near Culdaff to a small inlet where he
was rowed out by Robert McCann to an awaiting ship
and escaped across the Atlantic." "This wake is long
overdue." For more information about the event,
contact McGrory's on 074 93 79104. |
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