Ireland History
Every place has a unique history which contributes to the magic of the location and the people, and Ireland is no different. You can see Irish history all around you, and also in the many museums in Ireland, too.
an spailpíni ifteach sa Sean’s Bar
I was in Sean’s Bar recently and met up with the three strangely dressed people pictured above. They are travelling journeymen from Germany following an ancient tradition wherein apprentices to a trade must travel for three years seeking work. At the end of the three years, they must return home as they left: penniless and with nothing to show for their years of working. Their clothes are part of this tradition and they also carry a walking stick (which is a friendlier replacement for an older tradition of wearing a sword).
Also, if you touch one of their hats, apparently, you have to kiss them.
Date: October 1st, 2006 |
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The Athlone IRA Statue
Well, my posting on Northern Ireland has spawned a lot of conversations out here. I mentioned that Athlone has an IRA statue and it was pointed out to me that not all of the readers of this blog may understand that the IRA statue was erected for is NOT the modern IRA terrorists we hear so much about, but the soldiers who died to make possible the current sovereign Republic of Ireland. Comparing the two would be like comparing a more aggressive version of the Montana Freemen to George Washington.
The statue here in Athlone is dedicated to the Athlone brigade of the original Irish army who fought for independence from England, just like the US once did.
So, I took my trusty aul digital camera down to the middle of town and snapped some photos so ye can see it for yourselves.
First off, the statue has a couple of inscriptions, the first one is:
The second one
Date: September 17th, 2006 |
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Who are The Rossport Five?
Today there was another protest about the proposed Shell gas pipeline up in Mayo.
A bit of background, for those who have never heard of the Rossport Five. The Rossport Five are five Mayo farmers who stood up to Shell oil when they tried to plough a pipeline through their farms. The farmers parked their tractors in the way, herded their cows over the area - apparently whatever they could do to stop Shell from digging up their land. They were subsequently jailed for their actions.
Date: September 26th, 2006 |
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What’s up with the whole Northern Ireland thing?
So some time last year England finally told the Northern Irish government that if they couldn’t fix things Dublin and London would get together and do it for them. To that end, they told the folks in Northern Ireland to meet the accords of the Good Friday Agreement or their positions and salaries would be dissolved.
Well, now Ian Paisley (Northern Irish church and state leader vehemently opposed to catholicism and homosexuals . . . and kind of SCARY lookin too, ain’t he?) is saying the November deadline won’t be met.
You know, before moving here I used to wonder what was up with the North of Ireland. I got a lot of vague anti-British “If you knew what I knew you’d understand” speeches from my father (wonderful circular logic, that), but never anything I could make any sense of, sure wasn’t our family part English? I never really understood what the problem was. Most folks from the states with Irish roots and have a similar sense of the thing:
There’s been bombings.
Women and children have been killed.
People are upset.
U2 wrote a song about it.
Nobody you ask can tell you exactly what’s up.
Well, since moving here I have learned something . . .
Date: September 14th, 2006 |
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