Aynvaul
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Micronational Government of Aynvaul Áinnebhaul (Irish) | |
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 Coat of arms
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| Anthem: The Voice - Celtic Women | |
 Outer Lands Archipelago | |
| Location | Predominantly the western Stirling Islands / Outer Lands Archipelago |
| Official languages | Irish Gaelic, English |
| Recognized languages | American Sign Language, Spanish, American German |
| Demonym(s) |
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| Government | Absolute Monarchy |
• Impire I Áinnebhaul | Gordon III |
• Aceship |
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• Heir Presumptive | Eric Patrick Gray I |
| Legislature | High Parliament |
| Establishment | 1 February 2006 |
| Currency | United States dollar |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
Aynvaul (Irish: Áinnebhaul), also known as the Micronational Government of Aynvaul or The Aynvaul Micronation, is currently the oldest extant micronation active on Long Island and Southern New England, It is also likely the oldest extant Irish-American micronation. It consists of a handful of 'incorporated Kingdoms' that are intended to represent the various areas of 'Insí Fada' or 'Innis Fada' likely modeled after the ancient kingdoms of Ireland. While legally an absolute monarchy much like the ancient kingdoms of Ireland there are a series of councils and legislative bodies in place to allow for participation, making it a Transitional Semi-Constitutional Monarchy with an elective tanist succession in practice. The most powerful body in Aynvaul is the Aíship, a High Council that governs through influence of the Impire, who serves as both Highest King and Highest Druid. The Power of the Aíship can also be checked by the other legislative bodies or High Parliament of the Aynvaul Micronation which consists of three 'Halls.'
As a micronation, Aynvaul was probably founded sometime in February 2006, based on material evidence perhaps dating back to autumn of 2005 or spring of 2006 when the first known flag was design by Gordon III and some classmates (such as the Glorious Banner). During its early years it existed as a typical ceremonial backyard micronation consisting of friends representing their own countries with Gordon III being elected as a King of Kings by this now defunct body of preppers sometime in June 2006, which in its heyday had monthly Aynvaul Fire Parties, a type of céilí or Irish gathering. Gordon III has since remained 'Impire I Aynvaul' to this day. In 2019 Aynvaul became Long Island's oldest continuous extant micronation with the dissolving of Cesidio Tallini's micronations over the course of that year. Aynvaul, in addition to its Long Island status, is also the oldest active micronation in Southern New England on record.
Aynvaul notably does not offer any citizenship statuses, instead recognizes its people as denizens to a cultural identity that they may or may not be aware of, making accurate calculations rather difficult even to its own micronational organization. However using the US census[2020], 13.1% of Long Islanders claim Irish heritage; with a population of 8,063,232 [US census 2020], just over 1 million of Long Islanders would claim Irish Heritage. Therefore a maximum estimate of some 1,0560,000 Long Islanders could electively consider themselves Aynvauls based on this denizen policy. However it should be noted that the real numbers are likely not exceeding more than a few hundred.
History
Aynvallic, or Ainnegic, culture like other Irish Diaspora communities traces its origins to emigration from Ireland which peaked during the great famine in the nineteenth century. Irish immigrants faced discrimination in New York and Long Island, forming their own enclaves which fostered an environment that allowed for multigenerational traditions to continue. Since the start of the 20th Century local Irish culture in the Long Island Irish diaspora community has been in steady decline, accelerating by the 2010's. This decline prompted the founding of the Aynvaul Micronation in 2006. With this micronation's foundation, a starting point for the Aynvaul demonym and therefore identity can be established, the foundation of the Aynvaul micronation eventually lead to the foundation of the Aynvaul Community which focuses on serious revival efforts as its own entity despite frequent confusion.
Geography
40°48′N 73°18′W / 40.8°N 73.3°W
Geography
The Outer Lands Archipelago which forms the insular northeastern most extension of North America's Atlantic coastal plain. The islands of the Outer Lands were formed by the effect of the recession of the Laurentide ice sheet during the Wisconsin glaciation.[1] Each island of the archipelago was formed by this ice sheet depositing Terminal Morraines onto a series of cuestas during the last [Wisconsin] glaciation.[2][3] Not every island south of the New England coast is part of this archipelago, most notably Manhatten and Staten islands which instead belong to a different geological feature known as the Manhatten Prong and thus constitute a separate archipelago. These islands once formed an ithmus that held back two large glacial lakes called Lake Connecticut and Lake Narragansett until about 5,000 years ago when the banks of these lakes burst and spilled into the Atlantic ocean carving out the bays and channels that separate them today in a deluge event known as a Glacial lake outburst flood.
As islands formed by terminal morraines, these islands consist mostly of sandy and clay loams in the south with stony and gravel loams in the north. Normally not conducive or known for its fossils, cenozoic plant fossils have been known to be occasionally be found here, on the north shore cretaceous aged clay could theoretically yield fossil material from the Cretacious period. Because of these sandy loams, sand mining was once common on Long Island, however due to erosion concerns most of these operations ceased by the early twenty-first century with some exceptions.
In the Aynvallic lexicon, some islands have Irish names or even gaelicized indigenous names. "Inisfada" (sometimes spelled "Innisfada"), for example, have a long history referring to Long Island by the region's Irish Gaelic speakers as early as the late nineteenth century and even being used as a name for the gold coast mansion (see: Inisfada Mansion) built for Nicholas Frederic Brady and his wife, Genevieve Brady|Genevieve Garvan Brady|Genevieve Brady (née Garvan) in 1920.[4] "Pomanoc" and "Samhanace" are gaelicizations of "Paumanok"(Alonquin) and "Sewanhaka"(Lenope) which translate to "Land of Tribute"[5] and "Island of Shells"[6] respectively.
Climate
Under the Köppen climate classification, Aynvaul would fall in a transition zone between a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) and a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa).[7] The region's climate experiences hot, usually humid summers with occasional thunderstorms (mostly in August), mild spring and autumns, with cool winters featuring a mix of snow, rain, and stormy conditions. Thunderstorms usually do not form over the western archipelago, however will often form on the mainland before drifting east over Long Island and onwards to Nantucket. Storms will often weaken due to influences by the Atlantic ocean, which tends to bring afternoon sea breezes to the immediate southern halves of these island with the South Shore of Long Island often being significantly cooler than the rest of the island during the spring and summer months. The archipelago has a moderately sunny climate with an average range from 2,400 to 2,800 hours of sunshine annually.[8] Because of these conditions, Martha's Vineyard was selected to be the setting of the film Jaws which was originally supposed to be filmed on Long Island but was moved due to its remoteness better matching the fictional Amity Island.
Culture
Aynvallic or Long Island Irish culture is predominantly contemporary with the broader Irish-American (or Naish) culture, while featuring a number of endemic traditions both extant and defunct. One tradition of note were "Fire Parties", these bonfire ceílis were an important form of social gathering that can trace their roots back to Ireland[9][10] but have mostly been replaced with typical bonfire practices more or less similar to the ones of surrounding areas. Like many other diaspora communities in the Americas, Aynvallic culture has experienced influence from other immigrant-descended communities, as well as its own ancestral heritage and subsequent anomie, or loss of older traditions since the start of the twenty-first century. Like some other communities, there have been flags created to represent the community such as the "Aynvaul flag" or officially the "Aynvaul Cultural Flag", [see below], which some Irish Long Islanders do fly or possess.
Languages
Historically their ancestors, like most Irish-Americans would of spoken a form of Irish Gaelic, while if distinct or a conservative derivative of an extant Irish dialect can be addressed the results are the same, despite this regional subgroup once hosting the first Irish Language newsletters such as An Gaodhal, any local traditions of Irish spoken by this community saw rapid decline during the mid 20th century and was likely either replaced by modern standard Irish or had already been extinct for a number of decades by the time of modern revival efforts. If a multigenerational community dialect did exist, it was very poorly attested given most speakers would of been illiterate in Irish[11]. Organizers of the Aynvaul Community on Facebook had continuously expressed interest in any examples of historic home Irish within the historic Long Island Irish community and even mainland communities.
Much like with the Irish Constitution, the Aynvaul Micronation describes Irish as the "national language" and the "first official language", and much like in Ireland, English (the "second official language") is the dominant language by a long-shot with Irish speakers being uncommon and fluent speakers being rare. Despite this, there are a number of private language services on Long Island that do teach Irish available to the public such as the one at Molloy University and the Gerry Tobin Language School in Rockville Centre and Babylon, New York respectively. By the 1910's, English replaced most usage of Irish for the community and the language was likely functionally extinct even as a household language by the mid-twentieth century due to a combination of anti-gaelic sentiment both in and out of the community in spite of several revival trends and efforts.
Since the mid twentieth century, English, specifically the Long Island Sound sub-dialect of the Southern New England dialect, has been the majority language of the Irish diaspora on Long Island and subsequently the Aynvauls. Besides English, some Aynvauls are familiar with Spanish and ASL thanks to availability in the US education system as second languages.
Traditions
Aynvauls had a number of traditions both contemporary with the Irish diaspora and local. One such of note were "Fire Parties", which according to Impire Gordon III, would of been large bonfire gatherings where participants would play music and socialize similar to other instances of céilídh in other Irish communities. Hosts would have a large tub filled with firewood and invite extended family, friends, and neighbors. The practice died out along with other older traditions in the early twenty-first century, although some occasional instances might still occur further out east. The "Fire Parties" probably died out due to concerns of congestion as suburban sprawl increased in density. Another tradition associated with Aynvaul is Aynvaul Stake Toss, otherwise just called stake tossing, is a sport similar to javelining however with much shorter sticks that rarely exceed a meter in length. The throwing motion on them is better described as a sort of twirling called "casting" in English, where the objective is to have the pointed end pierce firmly into a target or more often loam where the "throwing stake" is able to stand up on its own in English called planting. Ideally played a day after a rainstorm, the game has two objectives in winning, first in constantly exceeding the distance of the previous planted stake in meter units where each meter adds a pre-agreed number to a tally score. Stakes that fail to plant result in a point deduction to the caster. At the end of the game the player with the highest score wins, however there exists a maximum distance previously agreed upon where if a plant is made here the caster can also win the game or at the very least deny victory to the player with the higher score.
Politics
Tanistry
Aynvaul, in observation of ancient gaelic rites of tanistry, has elected monarchs that are voted in for life or abdication. The highest monarchal title is the Impire which is inspired by Brian Boru's unique status during his High kingship. While these titles do hold meaning in the micronation, outside in the community they are largely ceremonial. With the Impire being able to nominate and appoint kings of the "incorporated kingdoms"should a tanistry fail to meet and elect one. Also appointed by the Impire is a court of influentials known as the Aísip, which serve more-or-less similar to secretaries of a cabinet that act with the Impire's authority within micronational matters.
Claims
The Micronation of Aynvaul claims the entirety of the Outerlands archipelago as the homeland of the Aynvauls it claims to represent. The claims do hold significance in the event of macronational fragmentation, however the Aynvaul Micronation does not express, promote, or press for any serious secessionist movement for this region. There is however an express interest in promoting the establishment and continuation of a distinct Aynvallic identity endemic to the Irish diaspora found in Lower New York and Long Island, as well as Nantucket and other parts of the Outerlands Archipelago., effectively sponsoring a sort of cultural distinction. This includes the establishment of a cultural figurehead in the form of an "Impire" to continue the micronational legacy of the identity, the declaration of tiny kingdoms bases around the historic localized kings of Ireland, and a push for the prominence of family clans bases around the idea of tanistry. Effectively promoting and reestablishing the ancient traditions of their Irish Gaelic ancestors.
Media
Aynvaul was featured in the Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfiction series "Penelope'sCharacters" as a young girl with blue jean shorts and white shirt as a reoccurring minor character, also in this series was North Dumpling Island which played the role of her older sister.[12] Aynvaul has also been mentioned in various papers and articles most recently including an article by Gary Bennett under Litmore Publications, mentioned in "Pseudo-States and Sovereign Citizens" on springer as well as some school projects by various model UN groups.
References
- ↑ http://www.projo.com/extra/2005/blockisland/images/pdf/bi-glacier.pdf
- ↑ Davis, Richard A. Jr (2012-12-06) (in en). Geology of Holocene Barrier Island Systems. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 310. ISBN 9783642783609. https://books.google.com/books?id=2S_6CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA310.
- ↑ DiPietro, Joseph A. (2012-12-21) (in en). Landscape Evolution in the United States: An Introduction to the Geography, Geology, and Natural History. Newnes. pp. 103. ISBN 9780123978066. https://books.google.com/books?id=vZWWAA-USoUC&pg=PA103.
- ↑ "Gold Coast Goodbye". narrative.ly. August 2013.
- ↑ https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/one-tank-trip-long-islands-native-american-roots/#:~:text=Legend%20has%20it%20that%20Long,and%20supplied%20it%20with%20sustenance.
- ↑ https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=nj20070426-01.1.33&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------
- ↑ Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L.; McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen–Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11 (5): 1633–1644. Bibcode:2007HESS...11.1633P. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007. ISSN 1027-5606. Archived from the original on February 10, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2014. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) (direct: Final Revised Paper Archived February 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine) - ↑ "united states annual sunshine map". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Archived from the original on April 29, 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2011. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ https://www.desireemmondesir.com/home/2015/10/26/the-history-of-halloween-bonfires
- ↑ https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/people/arid-41165785.html#:~:text=According%20to%20Irisharcheoloogy.ie%2C%20the,way%20of%20proving%20their%20bravery.
- ↑ https://www.nyhistory.org/blogs/the-unadulterated-irish-language-irish-speakers-in-nineteenth-century-new-york
- ↑ https://characters-ive-created.fandom.com/wiki/Aynvaul
https://penelopescharacters.fandom.com/wiki/Aynvaul https://www.rcimun.org/uploads/2/4/1/3/24139345/political_1_shared_.pdf https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-68846-6_735-1
External links
- Aynvaul on Facebook
- Flag of Aynnaul
- Location of Aynvaul
- http://aynvaulnationalgov.wix.com/aynvaulgovsite#!home/mainPage
https://characters-ive-created.fandom.com/wiki/Aynvaul https://www.rcimun.org/uploads/2/4/1/3/24139345/political_1_shared_.pdf https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-68846-6_735-1
- Note: As Aynvaul is more active in the physical world, and cares to cyberspace secondly, most of these sites are now considered out of date and therefor considerably unreliable.