An Irish folk song with hazy roots and several meanings–“Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile”

Oh man! Have I chased down a number of rabbit trails about this seemingly-simple song.

Here’s what seems to have happened: The inestimable Wikipedia says, “Similarly to many folk songs, the origins of this song are obscure.” To put it mildly! However, it seems to be the case that sometime in early Irish/Celtic history (and who knows what time period this actually was) a tradition developed of “hauling the bride home,” which took place a month after the original wedding and consisted of the new bride’s being “hauled” to her now-husband’s house. It isn’t clear to me where she’d stay for that month–at her father’s house, one would guess, but who knows? It’s important to note that the original folk song (if there is indeed such a thing) consisted only of the chorus.

Anyway, here’s how (we think) it went, again from Wikipedia:

The “Hauling home” was bringing home the bride to her husband’s house after marriage. It was usually a month or so after the wedding, and was celebrated as an occasion next only in importance to the wedding itself. The bridegroom brought home his bride at the head of a triumphal procession—all on cars or on horseback. I well remember one where the bride rode on a pillion behind her husband. As they enter the house the bridegroom is supposed to speak or sing:
“Oro, sé do bheatha a bhaile, is fearr liom tu ná céad bo bainne
Oro, sé do bheatha a bhaile, thá tu maith le rátha.“
Oro, welcome home, I would rather have you than a hundred milch cows:
Oro, welcome home, ’tis you are happy with prosperity [in store for you].”
The piper, seated outside the house at the arrival of the party, playing hard [i.e. with great spirit]: nearly all who were at the wedding a month previous being in the procession. Oh, for the good old times!

Nuthin’ says love like being favorably compared to a milch cow, don’t ya think?

I think that it’s perhaps not unfair to say that this tradition grew out of a desire for an excuse to have another party. I was reminded of this passage from Gone with the Wind which describes typical antebellum South post-wedding festivities:

If there had not been a war, there would have been a week of visiting about the County, with balls and barbecues in honor of the two newly married couples before they set off to Saratoga or White Sulphur for wedding trips. If there had not been a war, Scarlett would have had third-day and fourth-day and fifth-day dresses to wear to the Fontaine and Calvert and Tarleton parties in her honor. But there were no parties now and no wedding trips.

(And yes, I have great swathes of GWTW committed to memory.)

Well, such a rollicking refrain cried out for some verses, and so sometime around 1745-46 the song was re-written (and the milch cows were removed, alas) with verses added that referred to Bonnie Prince Charlie, the grandson of the deposed English king James I. I simply can’t go into all that complicated history in this post but would recommend, if you’re interested, that you read the post I wrote about the Prince of the Flying Curls and Feathers. (That’s what I call him, anyway.)  Just keep in mind that there were Irish troops fighting alongside the Scottish ones in support of BPC, which helps explain why there’s an Irish song about a battle that’s strongly associated with Scotland fighting against England.

But the Jacobite version (James=Jacob) has been supplanted by a much more interesting and romantic story about a legendary female Irish pirate/patriot, Grainne Mhaol, who was a symbol of the Irish thirst for independence. This set of verses was written by our good friend Padraig Pearse, one of the main leaders of the Easter Uprising in 1916. You can read all about that dreadful, doomed event by going to my post about the song “Grace.” Since this version is the one most often performed today, and since my own choir, the Cherry Creek Chorale, is singing it in our March 2025 Celtic concert (get your tickets now if you live in the area), I’m sticking to that version for this post. Ms. Mhaoi was a real person who lived at the time of Queen Elizabeth and had a very tempestuous life. You can watch the video below by a charming young Irishman and get a good, brief overview of her significance. Then I include a great performance of that version of the song, and below that a full version of the lyrics, with the original Gaelic, a phoneticized version for us ignorant non-Gaelic speakers, and then an English translation.

Have at it! 

copyright Debi Simons