We are on board the ferry to Holyhead! I purchased our tickets in advance and decided to upgrade our seating to the Stena Plus area. There are complimentary biscuits, fruit, juice, water, tea, coffee, cereal – along with a menu for real breakfast. Patrick and I seated ourselves by the front window and spent our morning sipping coffee and juice looking out across the ocean. About half-way through our meal I paused… This is the same route many Irish had to take on what they called “coffin ships” to escape persecution, the famine and to hopefully find their way out of their current situations. The coffin ships were small sea vessels where they crammed immigrants into the hold usually only into a space as big as a coffin… (Hence the term) It was in this inner area that they lived, ate, relieved themselves and sometimes died before arriving to their destination.
The famine times of Ireland hit me the hardest of all our class lectures. I have mentioned this before in a few of my blogs but the reality of this situation was dire. They did not have the option to upgrade their tickets… They paid a cheap fare and were treated horribly, sometimes even being seated on deck while the waves were crashing over them. They were not served breakfast and sometimes ate the rats on the ships to survive. They did not have complimentary biscuits and tea… It is here I am catching a glimpse of how desperate the situation had to have been. To leave your entire family behind while heading to a foreign shore, not knowing if you will ever see them again – which most would not.
My ancestors left long ago… On a ship no doubt and landed in New York. No peanuts to eat, no movie to watch, no Wi-Fi in the upgraded lounge… just the rocking of the boat, the wailing of children, the stench of human feces and death all around them. I wonder what my ancestors went through. How they struggled…
As we make our own pilgrimage back home, to the land of our ancestors, I am still wondering what a pilgrimage is. Is it to walk in those places where others have stepped? Is it to visit holy places and receive divine spiritual guidance? Or is it the journey of the mind as we walk backwards through time?
I am sure, as my daughter has said many times, I will find the answers along this path. Today we land in Holyhead which was the last stronghold of the Welsh Druids. The final place they were taken by the Romans. What will I find in this ancient, unknown land? I am thankful for the friends we have just met. For along this journey they have helped my feet to become sure-footed and readied my mind for the task ahead. I am ready Universe… Ready to journey home…
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