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Post by deuce on Jul 30, 2017 10:26:58 GMT -5
A map of Ireland before 1176 (ie, before Strongbow's invasion) showing the principal territorial divisions and the major schools of learning.  |
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Post by deuce on Aug 3, 2017 0:18:31 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Sept 14, 2017 9:23:58 GMT -5
The influential author and artist, JP Donleavy, has died: www.westmeathexaminer.ie/news/roundup/articles/2017/09/14/4145840-the-author-jp-donleavy-has-died-aged-91/As the journalist, Steve Sailer, once wrote of Donleavy's The Ginger Man:
If the first Velvet Underground album sold only 10,000 copies but every purchaser started a band, it sometimes seems as if every reader of The Ginger Man, such as Hunter S. Thompson, set out to become an alcoholic bard.
In a documentary, Donleavy once said that an Irishman is happy to listen to both sides of an argument...as long as it leads to a fight. Rest in peace, JP.   |
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Post by deuce on Sept 20, 2017 9:10:03 GMT -5
Cessair, Fintan the Wise and the oldest roots of Irish mythology:
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Post by trescuinge on Sept 21, 2017 21:48:31 GMT -5
When an Irish king was inaugurated he was given a white wand and then his most powerful vassal would throw a shoe over the king's head as a token of prosperity. In 1589 Conchobhar Ruadh Mag Uidhir and Aodh Mag Uidhir contested the lordship of Fermanagh. Conchobhar got to the Maguire inauguration site first and tried to leave a sign to save his spot.
Conor Roe and the chiefs of the upper part of Fermanagh had gone on the day before to the same place, and there left a token (namely, one slipper) that the name of lord should be conferred on him on the day following.
Tainic Concobhar Ruadh co maithibh Uachtair Fher Manach an lá riamh gusan ionadh c-cédna, & ro fháccaibh a ionncomhardha .i. lethass in dú sin fo dháigh anma tighearna do gairm de ar a bharach.
However, Aodh had summoned help from his Ó Domhnaill relatives,
Hugh arrived at that particular place appointed, and found Donnell O'Donnell there before him. When Donnell received intelligence that it was Conor that had left the token which we have before mentioned, he said that it should not profit him, for that Hugh should be installed in the place of his father; upon which Hugh was immediately nominated chief by Donnell O'Donnell and the chieftains of his country.
Do-riacht Aodh gusan ionadh erdhalta h-ishin, & fuair Domhnall Ó Domhnaill ar a chionn. Iar f-fios sccel do Domhnall gur bhó hé Conchobhar ro fháccaibh an comhardha remhebertmar at-bert ná biadh bá d-esidhe, & go madh é Aodh nó bhiadh i n-ionadh a athar conadh ann sin ro gaireadh a ghairm flatha fó chédoir d'Aodh Mag Uidhir lá Domhnall Ua n-Domhnaill, & lá maithibh a thíre.
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Post by deuce on Oct 18, 2017 13:13:38 GMT -5
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Post by trescuinge on Oct 23, 2017 21:27:55 GMT -5
Bare-knuckle fun:
REH would have loved these guys.
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Post by trescuinge on Oct 25, 2017 14:05:53 GMT -5
Word of the week for the electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language: www.dil.ie/"SCEOLA is sometimes translated as ‘survivor’, but the word derives from SCÉL ‘a story’ and the sense is actually closer to ‘one who lives to tell the tale’. Several medieval Irish texts have variations on the saying Ní BI ORGAIN CEN OENSCIULA ‘there is no battle without a SCEOLA’ (Dinds. 52). This can be understood in different ways: it may be intended to mean ‘someone always survives’, but it seems more likely to imply ‘a battle will not be remembered unless someone lives to tell the tale’." |
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Post by deuce on Nov 3, 2017 1:17:45 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Nov 6, 2017 11:03:09 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Dec 31, 2017 2:18:43 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Jan 11, 2018 1:54:42 GMT -5
The Brazen Head is the oldest pub in Ireland. A very atmospheric establishment with centuries of history. I shared more than a few pints of Guinness there with our own Morgan "docpod" Holmes when I visited Dublin in April 2014. www.brazenhead.com/history/index.phpHere's a joke courtesy of the Brazen Head staff:
A rich American in The Brazen Head challenges an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman to drink ten pints of Guinness in ten minutes. The winner would get $1,000.
The Englishman could manage only five pints.
The Scotsman did better but could only drink seven.
The Irishman said he had to go out but would attempt the challenge when he came back. On his return 30 minutes later, he drank the 10 pints in just nine minutes.
The astonished American handed over the $1,000 and asked the Irishman where he went before taking on the challenge.
“I went to the pub next door,” the Irishman replied, “to make sure I could do it.” |
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Post by trescuinge on Jan 21, 2018 16:52:59 GMT -5
Before the Cáin Adomnáin: www.historyireland.com/volume-23/cain-adomnain-697-irish-geneva-convention/women in Ireland had it tough: "2. Cumalach was a name for women till Adamnan come to free them. And this was the cumalach, a woman for whom a hole was dug at the end of the door so that it came over her nakedness. The end of the great spit was placed upon her till the cooking of the portion was ended. After she had come out of that earth-pit she had to dip a candle four man's hands in length in a plate of butter or lard; that candle to be on her palm until division of food and distribution of liquor and making of beds, in the houses of kings and cheiftains, had ended. That women had no share in bag or in basket, nor in the company of the house-master; but she dwelt in a hut outside the enclosure, lest bane from sea or land should come to her chief. 3. The work which the best women had to do, was to go to battle and battlefield, encounter and camping, fighting and hosting, wounding and slaying. On one side of her she would carry her bag of provisions, on the other her babe. Her wooden pole upon her back. Thirty feet long it was, and had on one end an iron hook, which she would thrust into the tress of some woman in the opposite battalion. Her husband behind her, carrying a fence-stake in his hand, and flogging her on to battle. For at that time it was the head of a woman, or her two breasts, which were taken as trophies." |
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Post by Jason Aiken on Jan 25, 2018 18:07:54 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Jan 26, 2018 13:54:32 GMT -5
The song you sang shall never fail
While one brain burns with the fire of the Gael
And one last sword is sharp.
-- Robert E. Howard to Harold Preece,
April 1930 |
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