It’s certainly a more professional look with than without.Ī few weeks ago I popped a question about it on my Facebook page. The old Argyll jacket does look smart though. Pipe bands don’t bother with them now unless the weather is awful and, as a veteran of some of the worst weather you could experience in a pipe band arena, I’d like to say that under those conditions nothing short of being inside a luxurious stately house with the heating on full bung and Ferrero Rocher scattered about the place could make the situation any more comfortable. Outside of the big contests, much like Phil Collins’ third solo album, there’s “ no jacket required”. The fact is that playing with your jacket on is not commonly done anymore. Here’s the rub: I’ve started practicing with my jacket on.Īll together now … “ What do you want to do that for?”. Why am I telling you this? Because of this dreaded question, “ What do you want to do that for?” No series of words has ever sucked the wind from my sails in the way this one does. Now that I’m content with my place in the strata of life I no longer give a monkey’s about what anyone thinks about me. I’ll not be caring, as my spirit will be living it up in Valhalla. Now in my 30s, I have realised that I am a roaster, I have always been a roaster and will likely be a roaster until the day my deceased face is contorted into a quizzical look, my body coated in Lucite ®and I am shot into orbit holding a map to haunt and terrify astronauts until the Earth herself pulls me into that fiery, final embrace and my mortal remains burn up in the atmosphere. Started in New York, they now have over 7,500 members around the country.When you’re a teenager you are obsessed with fitting in. In true Irish tradition, it was founded on St. The Emerald Society is a group of Irish public safety officers with the main goal of protecting Irish firefighter traditions, as well as keeping the culture alive in other areas of public safety. A group of Scots Guards adapted the hymn to bagpipes when they toured America in the 1970s. “ Amazing Grace” is now a popular hymn for firefighter funerals, but it’s not considered traditional. The answer to why the Great Highland bagpipes are used over the traditional Irish uilleann pipes is easy – they’re a lot louder when playing the traditional hymns such as “ Flowers of the Forest” and “ Lament for Children.” The tradition soon became engrained in our society as the melancholy soundtrack to the funerals of our fallen heroes. One source suggests that the somber Irish music also served as a reminder to those who rejected that the Irish were protecting the community – and dying in the process.Įventually, the families of firefighters who were not Irish asked that the bagpipes also be played at their funerals. The families of the fallen firefighter immigrants would pull out all of the traditional stops when one of their own was killed as they would have if they were in Ireland. And because the firefighting industry was heavily saturated with Irish immigrants, an Irish firefighter funeral was a normal occurrence. One of those happened to be the playing of bagpipes at weddings, dances and funerals.Īt the time, on-duty deaths were commonplace for firefighters. Irish firefighter funeralsĪlong with their other belongings, the Irish brought their deep-rooted Celtic traditions with them. To put it frankly, Irish immigrants were able to apply for these positions because of the extreme dangers and the high death toll. Oddly enough, some of the only jobs that were easily accessible to the new Americans were the ones that we consider heroic today – firefighters and police officers.
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