Armagh Project 2015

Right about now I’ve been in Ireland around seventy-two hours. It’s amazing the things I’ve learned about the islands culture and history. I can’t help in my absorption to identify the similarities or differences to my own American existence. I can’t say that this is the correct or right thing to do, it is just how I am processing the information given at this moment.

I think the most interesting thing I’ve learned so far pertains to the culture of the island in the wake of invading forces. Being a place that has endured wave and wave of conquering and dominating force, one might expect a different Ireland. However, unlike other lands that have seen this wave of invading force, Ireland has seen her invaders become her children. As Nessa O Mahoney conducted our whistle stop tour of Irish History she mentioned how the current Irish are influenced genetically by their invaders but culturally the Isle of Ireland has reigned supreme. She mentioned how invader after invader came first to conquer and then fell in love with the land and the culture of its people. We know that being our first mother, the land directly impacts cultural identity. I find it fascinating that culturally (and admittedly economically) Ireland was attractive enough to hold its own in some form.

Coming from America, I find this particularly interesting. The indigenous natives of American land have not met so fortunate an existence. When American native people show up in dominate culture it is often playing on negative stereotypes and adding massive insult to injury. There is some recognition of their connection to the land and culture, but it does not play into the larger American Identity in a positive way. I can’t say this is the case for most indigenous groups of people who suffer from the level of invasion Ireland has sustained.

According to the International Coalition of Irish American Student Organization, Kathleen ni Houlihan or Shan Van Vocht, “the poor old woman,” was derived from Irish mythology and became a symbol of the Irish Republic movement. During the resurgence of integrating folklore into Irish art in the 1890’s, W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory utilized her as a character in their play Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902). She appeared in the play as an older woman requesting the young male protagonist to join the rebel against English colonization during the 1798 uprisings. The mythological connection to the struggles of that time resonated with the nationalist, thus making her an integral tool for the Irish Republican Army’s propaganda.

Wollaeger, Mark. Irish nationalist propaganda. Digital image. Seduction and Estrangement: World War I Recruiting Posters and the Politics of Ulysses. Web

Wollaeger, Mark. Irish nationalist propaganda. Digital image. Seduction and Estrangement: World War I Recruiting Posters and the Politics of Ulysses. Web.

The personification had major influenced the culture and way people spoke about the country. A popular example is in the dialog of Sean O’Casey’s Shadow of a Gunman (1923). The reuse of this name can also be found in the newspaper entitled Shan Van Vocht (1896-1899)- an independent and nationalist magazine edited by two women Alice Milligan and Anna Johnston, poets and activists of the self help movement and decolonization.

Dyflinn is the Viking name for Dublin, while Dublin is derived from Dubh Linn, which means “black pool.”

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Irish mythology states that, before the Celts, there were five waves of invaders. One of the five being Cessair, who is said to be the granddaughter of Noah of Arch. Cassair chose to travel to Ireland after the flood because,”She thought it probable that a place where people had never come before, and where no evil or sin had been committed, and which was free from the world’s reptiles and monsters, that place would be free from the Flood.”

My Irish Literature professor, Kevin Murphy, once told us all a myth. The premise has stuck with me, but I had to read up on it to recall the smaller details.

According to the legend, a flying ship once appeared above a monastery in Clonmacnoise during a quiet congregation of monks. As you can imagine, the vessel dropped the anchor, which fell through the roof and struck the stone floor of the church. Out of pure bewilderment, the clergymen snatched up the hook and attempted to move it away, but something quickly interrupted them. A sailor, presumably from the floating ship, swam down through the hole in the ceiling as if he was submerged in ocean water. He attempted to grab the anchor away, but the monks persisted in their theft. “For God’s sake!” he gargled, “Let me go! You’re all drowning me!” The holymen released the anchor at the sound of his plea, allowing the man to swim away with the hook underarm. The ship was never seen again.

Again, welcome to Ireland.

Armagh is the only city in the world to have two cathedrals named after the same person.

Armagh is also built on seven hills, like Rome and Cincinnati.

The Anglo Norman was a group of powerful warriors who were invited to Ireland to help take back the land. Well the Anglo Normans decided to keep all the land they took back. It took about 200 years for the Irish to get ride of most of them, but the rest already stop being just Anglo Normans, they became Anglo-Irish by marrying the Irish, learning their culture and accepting it as there own.

http://www.discoveringireland.com/the-anglo-norman-conquest/

Kid 1: You were the one throwing popcorn!

Kid 2: No that was not me i was throwing Twizzlers, it was him.

Kid 3: I did not do anything, wait yeah i did throw some at that cunt who was talking during the show.