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Courtesy of Alta Vista |
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Click on the Speakeasy logo to check out who is playing tonight at Ponchatoula’s hottest live music venue |
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Monster Truck Rodeo coming to Florida Parishes Arena July 13-15 See story on Auto Page |
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The Armagh Rhymers – Ponchatoula to The Smithsonian By BRYAN T. McMAHON Publisher In 1998 and again in 2006 the Krewe of Erin brought to Ponchatoula a trio of mummers, famous in Europe but unknown at the time in Louisiana -- the Armagh Rhymers. On both occasions they dominated the St. Patrick’s celebrations in Ponchatoula, taking to the main street to parade in costumes stranger than ever seen here, horse heads woven of reeds, oat straw masks that recalled haystacks, different colored shoes, sackcloth tuxedos, playing the ancient bodhran drum, deftly playing polished and formed animal bones for percussion instruments. They are scheduled to perform June 27-July 8 in Washington D.C. as guests of the Smithsonian Institution for the purpose of capturing their performance art for posterity, as the best possible cultural representatives of Northern Ireland, whose culture is being celebrated at this year’s festival on the national Mall. Those of us who came to know The Armagh Rhymers in Ponchatoula could not be surprised. Dara Vallely, Ireland’s most famous living artist, was the 2006 grand marshal of the Krewe of Erin’s Ponchatoula St. Patrick’s Parade. He and fellow musician/actors Peter Shortall and Brendan Bailey have devoted long years to overcoming the religious segregation tearing at their native Province of Ulster, one of the four Irish provinces. As actors and musicians, they work with schoolchildren of all faiths to overcome religious hatreds, casting the kids in their original plays that emphasize the commonality of man. Think Deep South in the late 1940’s and imagine a group of committed artists bringing black and white children together in the same cast with the task of staging a play based on people of every skin hue getting along. The Armagh Rhymers remind Irish adults of their ancient Celtic roots, predating Catholicism and Protestantism, with performances of the old airs and poetry that for eons has served the Irish as living history. In Ponchatoula they performed several times in different locations during their stay here, (Speakeasy, Le Fleur de Lis, Mr. Jerry’s) and in fact everywhere they went, private home or local pub, a session broke out and locals who had never sang or danced in public got caught up in the spirit. Some are still performing, freed forever of their inhibitions and stage fright. Such is Rhymer magic. The Armagh Rhymers in Ireland tend to pop up unexpectedly in every corner of the island. It is considered the best of luck to have |
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Rhymers (also call Wren Boys, Straw Boys, and Mummers) appear at your wedding. When a Ponchatoula girl was enjoying her Gallier Hall wedding reception a few short years ago in New Orleans, she was suddenly surrounded by chanting Rhymers, some playing bones, carrying a rope woven from straw. Before she knew it, her parents and grandparents, her new in-laws, her husband and herself were encircled by the straw rope. First the grandparents were freed, as the Rhymers continued their chant, then the parents of the wedding couple, then the rope was drawn tight around the couple and a Rhymer “tied the knot” symbolizing that the two were now married, bound together. And yes, that is where we got the phrase “to tie the knot” as a synonym for marriage. It dates back to the centuries-old Rhymer wedding ceremony. That straw rope is today proudly displayed in the Ponchatoula home of the bride’s parents, who are keeping it safe for their daughter until she returns from her travels. |