Éireann go Brách - Ireland Forever

I've lived the majority of my life with people either calling me "Erin Kelly" or "Erin go Braugh," so I thought this was an appropriate topic for the season as well as my birthday!

Erin Go Bragh (also commonly spelled Erin Go Braugh and technically pronounced: Erin guh brawk) is the Anglicization of a Gaelic phrase used to express allegiance to Ireland. That's about all the consensus I can dig up.

I wasn't even going to look up the phrase: Éireann go Brách because I've always heard it means 'Luck of the Irish' (at least that's why my parents told me they called me "Erin go Braugh," so I just assumed that's what it meant). So you can imagine my amazement to find as many different meanings as there were pronunciations. The truest translation I've come up with in my research, is 'Ireland Forever.' However, some research says that 'Ireland Forever' is actually 'Erin go deo.' Some other translations I've found say that it may mean 'Ireland be Free' or 'Ireland go Brave.'

In my research, no argument is raised that the phrase, Éireann go Brách, was at one time a battle cry, so most of those translations make sense in some way, with the exception of what I thought it was originally. I'm glad I looked it up!

Just as any other nationality, Irish culture and allegiance to our 'birth' place means something different to each of us. I hope you've enjoyed my tribute to Ireland...one more posting all about St. Patrick's Day and I'm done. I've enjoyed the experience and think it may be valuable for me to become passionate about something else so I can learn as much as I have over the past couple of weeks.

Sláinte!

Some additional random fun images of Ireland:

Temple Bar, Dublin

A street in Galway after wee bit o' rain

Kilkea Castle, Co. Tipperary, one of the oldest

castles that is a hotel in Ireland. Built over 900 years ago.

Street signs in the Connemara (Clifden to be exact)...
perhaps my lack of decision making skills are in fact inherited!