Celebrating Celtic

Check out my very lovely fairy harness, or fairy saddle as some call it.

Hi all, Lily the Corgi here; how has life been going for all of you? Things here have been pretty good and we are preparing for a nice time to come.  In a couple of days, my humans will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day.  Since my mama's ancestors are Irish, she takes her Irish heritage seriously and treats this day as a time to honor all that is Irish.  I myself have the lovely Irish middle name Roisin (pronounced like Ro-sheen).  My mama wanted me to have a good Welsh name, but my daddy wasn't going for it, so they compromised on Irish.  

You see, the history of all the countries of the British isles are intertwined and interrelated and, frankly, just mixed up.  As peoples were conquered and enslaved and forcibly resettled from place to place, it became harder and harder for even these people themselves to keep things straight. Today, people still honor their Irish or Scottish or Welsh backgrounds, but also lump themselves into a larger category of "Celtic."  It is in that spirirt of Celtic unity that I am taking the opportunity of St Patrick's day to pass on a little knowledge about Welsh things...because, after all, I am a WELSH corgi!

Wales is a small country on the same island that houses Great Britian.  Wales is a part of the United Kingdom, but retains its own national identity.  About 20% of the people in Wales still speak the native Welsh language--and wow, what a language it is!  All of the Celtic languages are difficult to learn and master; Welsh is just a linguistic wonder!  My mama had a professor in college who did some of his studies in Wales; he told my mama once that he could no more pronounce Welsh words when he left school than the first day he went.  

Back in the 12 century or so, the people of Wales were introduced to a wonderful breed of little herding dogs who came with Flemish immigrants. These amazing dogs were short and stocky and funny and brave and you might have guessed, these were corgis.  The name of the breed comes from 2 Welsh words --cor meaning dwarf and ci meaning dog.  The Cardigan Welsh Corgi comes from the region of Cardiganshire (now renamed) and we Pems come from the region of Pembrokeshire, just south of the Cardigans.  

Just behind my shoulders, you can again see my fairy harness. 

While those are the official origins of the corgi, this time of year makes us think of the more romantic, more adventurous, and more popular story of our beginnings.  The myth tells the story of the fairy people, claimed by the Irish and the Welsh, who rode corgis, because they were too small to handle horses.  According to legend, the fairies eventually left a few corgi puppies at the edge of the woods as a gift to the humans who inhabited their land.  While corgis no longer haul around fairies, many of us DO still have a distinct marking across our backs or shoulders that some swear look like saddles or harnesses.  Check out my pictures above...my markings are a bit small for a saddle; I think I have the imprint of a fairy harness (certainly hope that doesn't mean I am descended from some sort of common draft corgis!)

I think our legend is quite lovely, so to celebrate I'll try to hang around the kitchen this week and see if mama shares any of our Irish (Celtic) feast.  I've seen a nice brisket in the refrigerator and there's a cabbage on the counter, so I'm hopeful for some corned beef and perhaps a nice pot of colcannon.  Or maybe soda bread; mama makes a pretty good soda bread.  The Irish also do a great cheese, so cheese would be appropriate to the occassion.  Have I mentioned that I SO enjoy a nice cheese?

 

Okay, so enough about the Irish and Welsh things.  Let's talk about my life.  I told you last week that we have a new foster; well, she's still here but should be shipping out later this week.  I know as a former foster myself, I should always be supportive of rescue dogs, but this girl is wearing me out.  Lord, save me from a puppy!  We dodged a bullet this past week when mama found a little corgi mix she fell in love with; thankfully she was able to get him to a rescue so he didn't have to come live with us.  I know I have to share, but seriously, there has to be a limit to all things.

We got word the other day that our former foster, Bernie, has found his new forever home!  Congratulations, Bernie; enjoy your new life.

That's all I have for this time, everyone.  Til next time, take care of each other and celebrate the Irish responsibly!

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

Hoping I find a little Irish bacon in my dish this week!

    Facts in this blog post come from Wikipedia, the AKC website, and www.wales.com.