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SALT LAKE CITY -- Celtic music can bring tears to the eyes or make you tap your feet. Either way, being part of the Irish is an emotional experience most people look forward to.
"You've got the really intense stuff, you've got the really nostalgic, beautiful love songs, and we do it all. And this is what draws us to the music. And I think it's what draws everybody into the journey. But then, so many of us are Irish anyway in descent. I think more in this U.S. than anywhere else," said Cynthia Douglass, of Celtic Harpistry.
You know the saying: "On St. Patrick's Day, everyone is a little Irish." Well, nowhere is it more apparent than this year at the Hibernian Society luncheon.
The Hibernian of the Year is Ying Houang. Born in China, a refugee from Vietnam, she came to Utah more than 20 years ago. Since then, she has worked to make the annual parade and other gatherings a success.
"The Irish culture is a very rich culture. The poetry, I love the poetry. I love the dancing and music. It's fantastic," Ying Houang said.
Her family had converted to Catholicism in Vietnam, so when she and her brother arrived, she was thrilled to meet Father Patrick Carley of St. Joseph Worker Parish. He took the young people under his wing and taught them all things Irish.
"We loved them. They were just frightened kids, separated from their family, having risked the horrors of the ocean to escape. So, we just loved them the moment they walked off," Carley said.
Ying Houang loves America and its Irish culture, which she believes envelopes us all.
Celtic Harpistry will perform tonight at 7:30 at the Grand Theatre on the Salt Lake Community College South City campus on State Street.
E-mail: cmikita@ksl.com
