FOUNDING FATHER a sailor stands to attention at the grave of Admiral Brown during a wreath-laying ceremony on March 3. Pic:Keith Heneghan/Phocus.
Lasting legacy Teresa O’Malley
IN BUENOS AIRES TORRENTIAL rain and flashes of lightning greeted my arrival in Argentina on March 1. One of my colleagues on the bus from Buenos Aires airport to the Panamericano Hotel put it succinctly when he observed it was ‘like being in a car wash’.
There was flash flooding everywhere. The normally glorious jacaranda trees with their pink flowers along the Belgrano Boulevard presented a forlorn sight in the thunderstorm. This wasn’t how I imagined the weather to be in the South American summertime. For just a little while, as the storm raged, I longed to be back in chilly but familiar Mayo.
Then, as suddenly as it started, the rain cleared. Glorious sunshine shafted through the clouds. The Avenue De Julio outside my hotel window looked like paradise in the warm brightness as the pavements were refilled with healthy-looking, brown-skinned, Argentinians. Did I still want to be back in Ireland? Not likely.
Normal service resumed’, said Noel Howley of the Dublin Mayo Association, as he took a quick squint at the sky before sticking on his Ray Bahns.
There was just time to splash on some Factor 30 as a precaution against the blistering sun before JJ O’Hara, President of the Admiral Brown Society in Foxford, marshalled everybody onto a bus for a function in Berisso, a suburb of Buenos Aires, to commemorate the late Admiral, who was the founder of the Argentine Navy.
Berisso was the first of many ceremonies held in Argentina in recent weeks to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Admiral Brown, who was born in Foxford in 1777.
Members and officials of Mayo County Council, as well as representatives of Ballina, Castlebar and Westport Town Councils, made the arduous, roughly 30-hour journey, from the west of Ireland for the commemoration festivities.They were joined by up to 100 people from Foxford, the Admiral’s home town.
Major General Dermot Earley, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, whose father Peadar, a schoolteacher, came from Lahardane, and Commodore Frank Lynch of the Naval Service, also attended.
The Irish Ambassador to Argentina, Philomena Murnaghan spoke at a number of the ceremonies but, unfortunately for us Irish, most of her speeches were entirely in Spanish.
Some 100 members of various Mayo Associations around the world, including Dublin, Galway, Sligo, London, New York and Toronto, travelled for the celebrations. The curate in Foxford, Fr Joseph Gavigan, who enlivened many social gatherings with his wit and humour, was also part of the sizeable Mayo contingent in attendance. He concelebrated a special Te Deum Mass at Capilla Stella Maris in Buenos Aires, which has magnificent stained-glass windows, on the 150th anniversary to the day of the death of the Admiral.
In Berisso, prizes were presented to young students who had written essays on Brown, who is much revered in his adopted country. The number of giant statues in his honour spread throughout this sprawling metropolis testifies to the esteem in which he is held.
The suburb where the essayists came from is poor. Shanty towns of corrugated iron and cardboard boxes are dwarfed by skyscrapers. It was heart-wrenching to see the way one young girl fiercely clutched her prize teddy bear to her chest after Cllr Tereasa McGuire, Cathoirleach of Westport Town Council, had presented it to her.
Afterwards, we headed for Escuela Naval School, situated on a small island. Officers from the 10,000-strong Argentinian Navy were in splendid voice but Johnny O’Malley, a member of Mayo County Council, matched them in musical dexterity. He sang ‘’Boys From the County Mayo’’ and followed this up with the ‘’Ballad of Willie Browne’, which was recently released in Ireland by Dave Howley from Foxford.
Saturday, March 3 was the actual anniversary of the Admiral’s death. We were all up bright and early for a wreath-laying ceremony at Admiral Brown’s tomb in Recoleta Cemtery.
The vaults and monuments in the graveyard where the great and good of past Argentinian society lie in eternal sleep are mammoth constructions. Some say that Recoleta is a creepy place, with legions of cats prowling the long avenues to protect human remains from rodents, but I found it fascinating.
Only yards from Brown’s tomb is the vault containing the remains of Fr Michael Fahy (1805-1871), the first chaplain to the Irish community in Argentina.
Fr Michael, who was born in Loughrea, Co Galway, ministered in Argentina from 1844 to his death during the Yellow Fever outbreak of 1871. He was a great friend of Admiral Brown and gave him the last rites on his deathbed.
Another Argentinan legend, Eva Peron (remember that haunting number from Evita) is also buried in Recoleta. If ever I go back to Buenos Aires, macabre as it may seem, the cemetery is one place I will return to.
After a Navy bugler had sounded the Last Post at Brown’s tomb I witnessed a little gesture which demonstrated the special feeling JJ O’Hara has for his townsman. JJ walked over and placed his fingers lightly on the tomb silently uttering something which could have either been a prayer or a message.
Later JJ told me that on his every visit to Buenos Aires – he has now been there 18 times on Brown Society business and speaks fluent Spanish – he always visits the grave and asks the Admiral to help him if there are any intractable problems.
“He hasn’t let me down yet’,” said the determined JJ, who has had more than a handful of skirmishes with officialdom both in Ireland and Argentina as he seeks to perpetuate the memory of his personal hero.
In blistering sunshine on Sunday (March 4) what seemed like the entire Argentinian fleet came up the River Plate from the South Atlantic into Buenos Aires harbour as the Navy paid homage to its founder.
Line after line of white uniformed sailors (with matching white shoes and white caps) made the scene look like a TV advertising shoot for Persil. Many of the sailors were women. All carried old-fashioned rifles with fixed bayonets and stood legs apart in the energy-sapping heat for over an hour.
Our stay in Argentina took in trips (for some) to Iguazu Falls (a worthy rival to Niagara) in the steamy north of the country, and Mendoza in the foothills of the Andes.
For me, the highlights were the pomp, ceremony and stirring music as Argentinians commemorated the death of one of their most important heroes, and the warmth of the people, of whom there are more than 14 million in Buenos Aires alone.
And, oh yes, the steaks there were big, cheap and succulent. I reckon a good night out in BA ( as I heard a gas company worker from Texas describe the city in the hotel bar one night) costs about one quarter of what it would in Ireland.
If you ever get to BA be sure and check out ‘Tango Night’. For €50 you will be driven from your hotel to the venue, get a four-course meal with wine and water, and enjoy probably the best tango entertainment the world has to offer.
Personally, I can’t wait to get back to this magical land beyond the equator. It’s a pity the trip there, even with the benefits of modern air travel, is so long and exhausting.
