There are only two kinds of people in this world: The Irish and those who wish they were. The Hibernia Irish Society organization is for both.
There are few other cultures as deeply woven into our lives, thanks to the Irish Diaspora. October’s Halloween traditions began, in Ireland, from carving pumpkins, to costumed children roaming the neighborhood, requesting food or coins, bobbing for apples, and merry bonfires, all designed to celebrate the thinning of the veil on All-Hallows-Eve. Even the spine-tingling story of Dracula was told best by Dublin’s son Bram Stoker, in his magnum opus, one of the best known works in English literature, a novel that has been adapted for numerous films, short stories, and plays.

The Hibernia Irish Society celebrates this month, with our October Shenanigans Social, on the Thursday the 24th, at OneThirtyOne Lameuse, in Downtown Biloxi, at 6pm. We would love for you to join us for this free Irish fun and friendship. Wear a costume, if you like, or come Coast Casual!
There is so much to revel in the history and culture of the Irish and our organization, established in 1978, but as our current Board of Directors President, my eyes and thoughts are fixed on the future. We are only three years away from planning our 50th Anniversary Jubilee. My job, as I see it, is to set the groundwork for a celebration fit for that history, and traditions of the Grand Marshalls and Colleens that reigned before us. I dream at my desk, of parades of flags, held aloft by green coated Marshalls, and crowned Colleens, or their chosen emissaries. Toasts made, in Irish crystal goblets, in the poetic style that combines Gaelic wishes and an Irish lilt. Our founding original members of the families O’Keefe, Shaughnessy, Tisdale, Grace, Mahoney, and others, will mingle with the newest generations of members and admire, together the high kicks of the Irish dancers, and then, dance to the Comeallye Ball evening’s entertainment. The St Patrick’s Day parade, a highlight of the city of Biloxi’s calendar, will have marching bands, and green beads flung wide from gaily decorated floats, by riders bedecked in our classic, green, white and orange colors. Tuxedoed men, our traditional Gulf Coast brothers in the Biloxi Marching Society, will stroll the route trading flowers to ladies for a smile or a kiss. Our day will not just be about drinking beer and catching beads, Good Will Be Done as well, in our annual 5k Run in conjunction with the Gulf Coast Running Club, reminding us to run, just for fun and a t-shirt!
I hope you will be curious enough to find out What The Irish Are Up To, to join us at a Shenanigans Social, and then, fall in love with us enough to join the Hibernia Irish Society, and become a part of our legacy, but more importantly, help us plan our future, so that the children, and children at heart, of the MS Gulf Coast will always beg ‘Throw Me Something Mister” on St Patrick’s Day, and that we will gather together throughout the year to share a drink and a joke, and part with blessings to last us until we gather again.
May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.- An Irish Blessing
Margaret Ann Rouse Stafford, President, Hibernia Irish Society
This blog space is dedicated to preserving the memories of Hibernia Irish Society, on the MS Gulf Coast and celebrating Irish culture, past and present, in Music, and Literature and Lore. In the spirit that many voices tell beautiful and thought provoking stories, it will be filled with a curated selection of submissions by HIS Board members, general membership, and the public. We ask that if you have something original you would like to share, you submit it to HMSPres1978@gmail.com. If it is not original content please include attribution. Anything submitted may be reprinted freely, without renumeration.
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