Chainmaille Night

On November 9 and 10, 2009 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. in Marrs Mclean 177 the Gaelic Cultural Society held an event called Chainmaille Night. This was an event where the officers taught all who came how to make projects, mostly jewelry, out of chainmail. Pliers and many different colored rings were provided. There were videos with history and descriptions of different styles of chainmail and there were plenty of examples laid out for everyone to look at.


Chainmaille, or chain mail, or chainmail, was originally used to make a type of armor formed out of the little links to make a mesh. The word chainmail is recent; it has only been used since the 1700s.


To start, I used black and green rings to make one of the easier patterns called European four in one. I started with the idea of making a necklace. However, I was unable to attend the second night so I’m not finished yet. I’d done some beadwork before, but I found this more time consuming and repetitive. This is not a negative; this activity was really fun! It does, however, usually take a while to complete a project. There has been a recent increase in interest in chainmaille projects, so there are some books out if you’re interested in trying it.





Irish fact of the day: Ireland really doesn’t have snakes (except in zoos and such). Personally, this pleases me. However, they also don’t seem to have hummingbirds.

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Highland Games

Lads and Lasses, as promised, I return with news of the Gaelic Cultural Society’s Highland Games. It was held on October 24, 2009 at the jogging trail behind Laurie Auditorium and ‘twas a bonny day indeed. Anyone could participate, and the volunteers were divided into groups. Many games were held of both traditional and modern type. There was “sheep herding”, which was trying to roll a group of balls up a hill. There was the typical caber toss, which involves throwing a log in a particular vertical fashion. There was the stone toss, which is pretty self explanatory. There was also sheep tossing, in which no sheep were actually harmed. In this a weighted pseudo-sheep is picked up with a pitchfork and flung over a goal post. There was also a fierce bout of tug-of-war and at the end a creative performance of group war cry by each team.

My favorite, dear readers, might have been yours too had you attended. This was the feeling of men’s knees. Yes, you heard me: the men’s knees were felt and judged on “bonny-ness”. The female judges were from all teams and they all seemed to have a particular quality in mind. Some felt for bone structure; some for hairiness; some for definition. In each case, the ladies were blindfolded and the men scrambled and placed in random order in a line of chairs. The men could not talk or give away their identity. The ladies’ hands were guided by the officials so that there was no unnecessary caressing. In the end, the vote was unanimous for one of the two brave lads who had shown up in a kilt.

Overall, I found this to be a pleasant event. The day was nice, the games fun, and the company quite cheery. I wholeheartedly recommend your attendance in the following years.

Irish word for the day: Dia dhuit! (pronounced “dee-uh whit”) This is how you say “hello”. Literally, it means, “God be with you.”

Heidi Lawn

Ireland is called the “Emerald Isle” for a reason: it is, as they say, fifty shades of green. Coming from the desert, greenery is always amazing to me; everything is greener (and more humid!) compared to El Paso. As much as I have traveled, it amazes me simply when there are more than three trees in a row. However, in all my travels there has never been anywhere as breathtaking as Ireland. It seems to me, then, that Heidi Lawn is the perfect place to hold meetings for the Gaelic Cultural Society.

Heidi Lawn is green, grassy, and of course, outside. In fair weather it is perfect homage to Eire. In foul weather, the Heidi patio must suffice, marked by a giant inflatable leprechaun. Either way, the Gaelic Cultural Society staff always manages to bring up topics that lead the mind to Ireland. They are adept at making the meetings worth attending and I have no doubt there meeting place was picked with a specific purpose in mind. Rest assured that any meeting with the Gaelic Cultural Society will be worth going to – there is no unnecessary information and there is always a purpose. I find that their organization lends a deal of quality to the club, making it doubly enjoyable for me.

It is of note that the Highland Games will be coming up this Saturday. This was the topic of the most recent meeting. I will attend, of course, and I will be sure to report on it in a later blog.

Photo: Heidi Lawn

Irish fact of the day: In Irish, craic (pronounced “crack”), means fun. Thus, when something is “Good craic!” it was a lot of fun. A party can also be advertised as having “craic agus ceol,” or fun and music.

We’re halfway through the first semester of this year and there is something on all the clubs’ minds: T-shirt designs. The Gaelic Cultural Society fortunately has a variety of past designs that they can reprint, so they are not scampering for a design quite as feverishly as some other clubs. However, it is noted that all their designs have something in common – sheep. Yes, sheep. Sheep flung from catapults, sheep jumping walls, sheep in a stout, and sheep holding signs. The Gaelic Cultural Society likes sheep.


Sheep may seem like a stereotype of Gaelic icons, but having been to Ireland and Scotland I can tell you that sheep really are there en masse. I have seen the infamous traffic jam of sheep stop our tour bus, just as it is depicted on the comedic postcards. With all those sheep from different farms together on unfenced government land, you may wonder how the farmers tell the sheep apart. I can honestly tell you that to differentiate sheep they spray-paint them.


Yes, you heard what I said – er, wrote. They spray-paint them.


In Scotland it is simple as picking a color and then spray-painting a large “X” on the behind of the animal. In Ireland, however, it is much more colorful. There are different combinations of colors that distinguish one set of sheep from the other. For example, Farmer A’s sheep may have a blue back, green sides, and a red behind, while Farmer B’s sheep may have a green back, red sides, and a green behind. It is all very interesting to see.


So, if you ever go to Ireland, Scotland, or somewhere similar, keep your eyes peeled. Meanwhile, the Gaelic Cultural Society will stay here and remind you every e-mail: “we like sheep.”



Irish fact of the day: The symbol for the Republic of Ireland is, not the shamrock, but the harp.

Kilt Night

There were many interesting and varied cultural events at CAW, or Cultural Awareness Week. One of particular importance to this blog was Kilt Night, held on Thursday, September 17, 2009. Kilt Night taught all who came a little about the history of the kilt, how to make one now, and why you should always bring your camera with you.

Coming from the sister city of Juarez, Mexico, it was hard for me to find others with my interest in things Gaelic. How my own interest prevailed I’ll never know, but I was ecstatic to find others at Trinity with the same taste and I am proud to say I am already a member of the Gaelic Cultural Society. When I heard GCS was hosting Kilt Night, I was not going to miss it.

I started off mingling, accompanied by Irish music, apple cake, and Reuben sandwiches, but it wasn’t long before the photographic fun started. All were told that kilts weren’t originally made of fabric with tartan print and that while kilts were common dress they were not worn with the feeling of national pride until the wearing of kilts was banned. We were then told that the kilts we were allowed to try on were made of plaid fabric seven yards long. The fabric was to be pleated and rolled around the person lying on the floor before tying it around their waist with rope, making what was affectionately called a “Scottish Burrito”. There was another option made with four yards of fabric that entailed tying it so that it made a type of cape. Almost everyone tried at least one type of dress on, and all felt their “ability to wield a sword increase.” Needless to say everyone had fun, and seven lucky winners took a kilt or cape home. (I was not one of these lucky winners.)

Below you will find a picture of two GCS administrators (in the middle) and two volunteers, one wearing a cape (left) and the other a kilt (right).

Irish fact of the day: Contrary to popular belief, that national color of the Republic of Ireland is not green, but blue.