Two obscure details in the hagiography of St Patrick:
When he ran away from his sheep he made it to the shore and found there a ship headed for Europe. Loading onboard were several Irish Wolfhounds, headed as a royal gift. but the huge dogs didn't like the movement of the boat and were causing a ruckus. Patrick offered to calm them in exchange for his passage.
Then years later when he returned he did a very important symbolic defiant act against the Druids. Every year on Winter Solstice night they would light a bonfire in Armagh on a high hill. That fire would be seen by other outposts, who would light their own fire, any by that means the entire island was connected together in ceremony. But Patrick, cheeky representative of the competing faith, lit HIS fire first.
On a two week self-drive around Ireland - both Republic and Northern Ireland, visits to Irish cemeteries with their lovely Irish cross headstones offered a surprise. The stone crosses also included the ages at death. Men often died in their 40's while the majority women died in their late 70's and 80's. And these long lives occurred centuries before the birth of "life saving" modern medicine. What were the women doing right, and what were the men doing wrong. If the stones could talk.
Ireland is a beautiful and highly varied, diverse landscape country - a totally fascinating road trip, with as many versions of the Great Potato Famine as there were persons telling it. Who knew the "red hair" so often now associated with being Irish, was introduced mainly through the Viking raids into the Shannon River Valley.
Or that so many stories in the Icelandic Sagas of wives murdering their husbands in their beds were the result of those raiding Vikings kidnapping Irish women and hauling them off to remote Iceland. May was the best month to visit, everything is lush, green and in flower while the sun actually comes out for more than a few days on end. My reaction was people pay big money to have their gardens look like this in California, but Nature hands this deep beauty to Ireland for free.
Call me curious. How and why are books disappearing off our high school libraries bookshelves? Are the children stealing them? Are you simply trying to say you’re leftist and you think pornography belongs in our schools?
A good story, but you didn’t need to take that poke simply to identify yourself as woke
Interesting and charming. However it fails to mention that Ireland is incredibly antisemetic, andti Israel and anti-zionist. This too is a tradition that goes back a very long time. Just in 2026 they have documented 143 antisemetic incidents between July 2025 and January 2026. Although there are more antisemitic countries in Eastern Europe, Ireland probably leads the pack in Western Europe.
"visit your favorite pub on March 17th, (mine happens to be Dargan’s, downtown) and celebrate the richness of this wonderful holiday"
Pardon my French but shouldn't you honor a saint by aiming to be holy? Alcohol also tastes bad, a lot if it just fermented urine. Water is so much better.
Two obscure details in the hagiography of St Patrick:
When he ran away from his sheep he made it to the shore and found there a ship headed for Europe. Loading onboard were several Irish Wolfhounds, headed as a royal gift. but the huge dogs didn't like the movement of the boat and were causing a ruckus. Patrick offered to calm them in exchange for his passage.
Then years later when he returned he did a very important symbolic defiant act against the Druids. Every year on Winter Solstice night they would light a bonfire in Armagh on a high hill. That fire would be seen by other outposts, who would light their own fire, any by that means the entire island was connected together in ceremony. But Patrick, cheeky representative of the competing faith, lit HIS fire first.
On a two week self-drive around Ireland - both Republic and Northern Ireland, visits to Irish cemeteries with their lovely Irish cross headstones offered a surprise. The stone crosses also included the ages at death. Men often died in their 40's while the majority women died in their late 70's and 80's. And these long lives occurred centuries before the birth of "life saving" modern medicine. What were the women doing right, and what were the men doing wrong. If the stones could talk.
Ireland is a beautiful and highly varied, diverse landscape country - a totally fascinating road trip, with as many versions of the Great Potato Famine as there were persons telling it. Who knew the "red hair" so often now associated with being Irish, was introduced mainly through the Viking raids into the Shannon River Valley.
Or that so many stories in the Icelandic Sagas of wives murdering their husbands in their beds were the result of those raiding Vikings kidnapping Irish women and hauling them off to remote Iceland. May was the best month to visit, everything is lush, green and in flower while the sun actually comes out for more than a few days on end. My reaction was people pay big money to have their gardens look like this in California, but Nature hands this deep beauty to Ireland for free.
Nicely done. Now where is that green dye?
Call me curious. How and why are books disappearing off our high school libraries bookshelves? Are the children stealing them? Are you simply trying to say you’re leftist and you think pornography belongs in our schools?
A good story, but you didn’t need to take that poke simply to identify yourself as woke
Interesting and charming. However it fails to mention that Ireland is incredibly antisemetic, andti Israel and anti-zionist. This too is a tradition that goes back a very long time. Just in 2026 they have documented 143 antisemetic incidents between July 2025 and January 2026. Although there are more antisemitic countries in Eastern Europe, Ireland probably leads the pack in Western Europe.
"visit your favorite pub on March 17th, (mine happens to be Dargan’s, downtown) and celebrate the richness of this wonderful holiday"
Pardon my French but shouldn't you honor a saint by aiming to be holy? Alcohol also tastes bad, a lot if it just fermented urine. Water is so much better.