DURANT, OK – The Choctaw Nation and Choctaw Cultural Center will hold special events honoring the Choctaw-Irish connection. The Choctaw Cultural Center will host a Choctaw-Irish Connection Celebration on Thursday, August 29, featuring the story of the Irish gift, traditional Choctaw dancing and a concert by the acclaimed Celtic roots band RUNA. Free admission can be reserved by visiting https://chocta.ws/irish-connection.
On Friday, August 30, the “Eternal Heart” sculpture will be revealed at an unveiling ceremony on the Choctaw Capitol grounds in Tuskahoma, OK. The ceremony will pay tribute to the two nations forever entwined because of an act of kindness. The sculpture, created by Choctaw Nation tribal member Samuel Stitt, stands 8 ft. tall and combines a Celtic trinity shape with a heart, positioned to face Ireland. This sculpture commemorates the enduring connection between the Choctaw Nation and the people of Ireland.
The Choctaw-Irish Connection Celebration will feature Ireland Minister of State, Thomas Byrne and the Celtic band RUNA and the Eternal Heart Unveiling Ceremony will include Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton; Assistant Chief Jack Austin, Jr.; Choctaw Tribal Council; Ireland Minister of State Thomas Byrne; and RUNA.
The Choctaw-Irish Connection Celebration will take place on Thursday, August 29, 2024 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Choctaw Cultural Center and the Eternal Heart Unveiling Ceremony will take place on Friday, August 30, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Tribal Council House.
Choctaw and Irish History
The Choctaw/Irish relationship began in 1847, when the Choctaws, who had only recently arrived over the ruinous “trail of tears and death” to what is now Oklahoma, took up a donation and collected over $5,000 (today’s money) to support the Irish during the potato famine. The famine ravaged Ireland during the 1840s. The Choctaws’ donation was sent to the town of Midleton in County Cork, south of Dublin. Many decades later, the townspeople realized their aid had come from a people who were themselves in a very unique set of circumstances – reestablishing their society and their government after the long and painful migration.
Irish President Mary Robinson visited the Choctaw Nation in 1995 to rekindle and reestablish the friendship, and thank Choctaws for their aid to Midleton. Some years later, in 2017, a sculpture commemorating the Choctaws and their gift, known as “Kindred Spirits,” was dedicated in a beautiful park in Midleton.
In 2018, Ireland’s prime minister, or Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, visited Choctaw Nation headquarters to thank the Choctaws and initiate the first of a continuing series of yearly scholarships for Choctaw students to study in Ireland. Ireland’s Consul General visited the Choctaw Nation a year later.
In 2020, during the COVID pandemic, the death toll was particularly acute in the Navajo Nation and the Hopi reservation. The Irish, stating that they were “paying it forward” with their aid from the Choctaws in mind, took up a sizeable donation with which to aid and assist the Navajo and Hopi.
“Adversity often brings out the best in people, said Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton. “We are gratified, and perhaps not at all surprised, to learn of the assistance our special friends, the Irish, are giving to the Navajo and Hopi nations. Our word for their selfless act is ‘iyyikowa’ – it means serving those in need. We have become kindred spirits with the Irish in the years since the Irish potato famine. We hope the Irish, Navajo and Hopi peoples develop lasting friendships, as we have. Sharing our cultures makes the world grow smaller.”
