7/29/2019 Ireland's Lost Leprechauns, Magic

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7M 13-19, 2013The WoodsTock IndependenTOpiniOn

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Now that it is over, I am glad PaulLockwood, who is president o own-Square Players, asked me to be a guestspelling bee contestant or the March 9perormances o SPs current produc-tion, Te 25th Annual Putnam County

Spelling Bee. During the week leadingup to the perormance, I wasnt suresaying yes to his request was a goodidea. I awoke several mornings ear-ing I would embarrass my husband,Jim, and our our oldest grandchildren,Calvin, Cameron, J.. and Reagan, whowould be in the audience. I also hadconcerns about being a quality repre-sentative oTe Woodstock Independent.

You see, spelling is not one o mystrengths. I read and spell phonetical-ly, because I was taught to sound outwords. Te English language doesntlend itsel to spelling words by sound-ing them out.

I decided to study. Te morning o

the perormance, I spent a ew minutessearching the Internet or PutnamCounty Spelling Bee words. I paledwhen I saw words like syzygy, strabis-mus, capybara, lugubrious, antediluvi-an .... Undaunted, I studied or about30 minutes.

Later in the day, I showed the list toCameron, 10, and Reagan, 7, and en-listed their help. Reagan really tried to

help, but ater a ewminutes, she said,Grandma, youremissing too manyo these words. Canyou resign rom the

spelling bee?I couldnt resign,

so I arrived at theOpera House 30minutes beore thecurtain as Paul haddirected. He wasthere to greet meand assured mesome o the wordswould be easy. He also told me therewould be a second guest speller Scott Stantis, Chicago ribune edito-rial cartoonist.

Long story short, I had a great time.Some o the words were, in act, easy.I survived the rst round, spelling

Mexican correctly. Te spelling wordsI had ound on the Internet were givenonly to the cast. Whew! Best o all, Idelighted in being on stage with theactors and being pulled into one o themusical numbers.

I went down in the second round. Imstill not certain what the word was. Jimthought he remembered its denition.I didnt. During the perormance, my

mind was xated on the pronunciation.Late Sunday aternoon, Jim suggestedthe word might have been epicalyx. Itsdenition wasnt what he rememberedrom the night beore, but the pronun-ciation was what I remembered.

Scott advanced through rounds oneand two. He correctly spelled his wordin the third round only to be givenanother word, which he misspelled.Obviously, the script called or him togo down in the third round.

When Scott and I met briefy beorethe perormance, he suggested wemeet at Stage Let ater. Trough aseries o events, Scott had been invitedby Paul to participate in the bee andhad accepted. As a result, Scott andhis wie visited Woodstock or the rsttime. In addition to chatting about theun we had in the show, Scott talkedenthusiastically about Woodstock.

Congratulations to ownSquare

Players or lots o laughs and a trulyproessional perormance. Our grand-children quoted lines rom the showall day Sunday, laughing again andagain over the ones they rememberedas exceptionally unny. Congratula-tions to Paul or asking Scott to bea guest speller, which brought himto Woodstock. Check Scotts blog atnews.blog.chicagotribune.com/taking-

a-stantis.I participating in the bee sounds

like un, buy a ticket to an upcomingperormance, arrive 30 to 45 minutesbeore the curtain goes up and enterthe drawing or a spot on stage. You

could be one o our chosen. Te 25thAnnual Putnam County Spelling Beecontinues Friday and Saturday nightsand Sunday aternoons through March24. Te Wormleys and the Stantiseshighly recommend it.

Happy 50th birthday,Denise Graff Ponstein

On my 50th birthday, Denise GraPonstein, co-ounder ohe Indepen-dent, surprised me with a ull-pagebirthday greeting complete with pic-tures rom my childhood through highschool, college and early adult years.Now, its her turn to be eted. Denises50th birthday is Saturday, March 16.

In her 50 years, Denise has won thehearts o and earned the respect ohundreds o people in our communityand McHenry County. She is a civicleader and a compassionate relative,riend and neighbor. Happy birthday,Denise.

column

Congratulating TSP; celebrating DGPs birthday

Declarations

CherylWormley

Cheryl Wormley is publisher ofT W-t It.

column

Irelands lost leprechauns, lost magicDuring a study abroad trip to Irelandin 2007, I spent a good deal o timegathering inormation or a specialproject I was working on or my nalsemester o college.

As Ive always been ascinated withthe world o the airy olk, my projectrevolved around Irish author WilliamButler Yeats 20th century quest todiscover authentic airy and olk taleso Ireland and my own personal experi-ences looking or any remnants o thelegends in the 21st century.

One day while I attended a lectureat Dublin University, my proessor

touched briefy on the role o airy talesin Ireland and o the leprechaun inIrish culture in particular. With the in-vention o the television, Irish countryolk who once entertained themselveswith anciul stories ound somethingnew to provide amusement. It seemedthe leprechaun, like other creatures othe old world, became nothing morethan a misty memory o Irelands past.

I thought it would be wonderul tond locals who could still spin a ew

good yarns.Unortunately, as

one member o theIrish amily I stayedwith explained,thanks to globaliza-tion the years hadaltered Ireland astheyd altered therest o the world.Old ways were otenbrushed aside many times, withenthusiasm. He saidId be hard-pressed

to nd truly authen-tic stories, but, per-haps out in the countryside I woulduncover a ew answers.

I heard a handul o tales as I traveledthrough various counties.

Tere was the one about the witchwho dropped rocks on the hills oLoughcrew to orm the ancient cairns.As I walked through the Hill o arasruins, a guide mentioned the airieswho guarded the burial sites o the

ancient high kings o Ireland.At Blarney Castle, I kissed the Blar-

ney Stone the stone rumored to givethe git o gab.

However, most o the stories wererelayed by guides who viewed thempurely as entertainment or tourists.

I didnt exactly nd what I was look-ing or, though I did get in touch withmy Irish roots and experienced a bito magic along Irelands wild westerncoast. As I stood at the edge o theClis o Moher and stared at a gloriousdisplay o ocean, towering clis, ruinsand undulating green hills, it was not

dicult to believe the airies and lepre-chauns o Ireland were still very muchalive and well.

Ireland, I concluded, always willretain a certain bewitching qualitycapable o convincing even the mostdevout skeptic that airy tales could betrue.

Te leprechaun really isnt lost atall its just that people have stoppedlooking.

In celebration o St. Patricks Day andRhonda Mix is a staff writer forT W-t It.

Mix

Messages

RhondaMix

all things Irish, here is a word o advicerom yourirish.com.

You may end up being the lucki-

est person alive i you ever manage tocatch a leprechaun, but, there again, itcould bring more than enough troubleor what its worth . As a cousin o theclurichaun they are known to [have]inhabited Ireland well beore the arrivalo the Celts . It is said that every lep-rechaun has a pot o gold hidden deepin the Irish countryside. o protect theleprechauns pot o gold the Irish airiesgave them magical powers to use i evercaptured by a human or an animal .[Leprechauns] are known to have wildmusic sessions at night, which in Irelandare known as Ceilis, with hundreds oIrish leprechauns gathering to dance,sing and drink. Te leprechaun is ond

o drinking Poteen, moonshine, butmust not be mistaken by [its] Irish cous-ins the clurichauns, who are drunkencreatures who love to cause chaosaround Ireland at night time.

It is no easy task to catch a lepre-chaun as they remain very well hiddenrom us humans.

Happy St. Patricks Day!