📖 Ancient Restoration
Dawn at Beltany Stone Circle, Donegal, Ireland - dates from around 1400-800 BC and comprises 64 standing stones
Northwestern Europe has the highest concentration of megaliths in the world - numbering about 50,000 - many are up to 7,000 years old.
📖 Ancient Restoration
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Menhir, or standing stones, were placed to mark burials, travel routes & tribal boundaries. They may have also served a ritual purpose.
📖 Ancient Restoration
Menhir, or standing stones, were placed to mark burials, travel routes & tribal boundaries. They may have also served a ritual purpose.
The Irish tradition of handfasting is associated with holed standing stones. Couples would make their engagement vows over the stone
📖 Ancient Restoration
The Irish tradition of handfasting is associated with holed standing stones. Couples would make their engagement vows over the stone
The Carnac Stones in Brittany. A pre-Celtic megalithic site of more than 3,000 standing stones; largest of its kind in the world - 4500BC.
📖 Ancient Restoration
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In Celtic story-telling tradition, men who righted the standing stone were admitted into the warrior ascendancy on completion of the feat.
📖 Ancient Restoration
In Celtic story-telling tradition, men who righted the standing stone were admitted into the warrior ascendancy on completion of the feat.
The megalithic stone is associated with a 'test of sovereignty'. In it Arthur has to retrieve the sword. The Lia Fáil at Tara is king-namer.
📖 Ancient Restoration
The megalithic stone is associated with a 'test of sovereignty'. In it Arthur has to retrieve the sword. The Lia Fáil at Tara is king-namer.
In the Celtic cycles ancient stones can be inhabited by mysterious sentinels. Mastering this entity affirms the hero's truth of purpose.
📖 Ancient Restoration
In the Celtic cycles ancient stones can be inhabited by mysterious sentinels. Mastering this entity affirms the hero's truth of purpose.
The Kilnasaggart Pillar Stone in Co Armagh - Ireland's oldest Christian stone monument, dated to c. 700 AD.
Was it for this they died?
Their children called oppressors,
Their graves defaced,
Their culture derided.
Was it for this they died?
To be lectured that our suffering was less,
From the mouths of those who harmed us,
Due to our skin.
Was it for this they died?
To not rid us of one planter,
But to import another,
Who see no connection to us.
Was it for this they died?
Our success in overcoming taken for supremacy,
Our charity smothered by a sea of envy,
The fruits they shielded for us taken again by force.
Was it for this they died?
- Íomhar an t-Ulchabhán
Their children called oppressors,
Their graves defaced,
Their culture derided.
Was it for this they died?
To be lectured that our suffering was less,
From the mouths of those who harmed us,
Due to our skin.
Was it for this they died?
To not rid us of one planter,
But to import another,
Who see no connection to us.
Was it for this they died?
Our success in overcoming taken for supremacy,
Our charity smothered by a sea of envy,
The fruits they shielded for us taken again by force.
Was it for this they died?
- Íomhar an t-Ulchabhán
📖 Ancient Restoration
The Five Graces of Fortitude, Faith, Charity, Hope and Chastity - Margaret Henry's Memorial, Kylemore Abbey, Galway.
Tully Mountain in the distance at beautiful Connemara, County Galway.
📖 Ancient Restoration
The earliest record of football in Ireland is from the Statute of Galway in 1527, which outlawed hurling but allowed the playing of football ('caid') to continue. Modern Gaelic football originates from this medieval game, with standard rules adopted by the…
The traditional game of Caid is similar to Gaelic football & was esp. popular in County Kerry. 'Caid' refers to the ball, made of animal skin / bladder. Played in the winter months, with tripping, pushing & wrestling employed to bring the ball 'home' to the winner's parish.
📖 Ancient Restoration
The traditional game of Caid is similar to Gaelic football & was esp. popular in County Kerry. 'Caid' refers to the ball, made of animal skin / bladder. Played in the winter months, with tripping, pushing & wrestling employed to bring the ball 'home' to the…
The Sam Maguire Cup, the prize of the All-Ireland Football Championship, was inspired by the 8th century masterpiece the Ardagh Chalice.
📖 Ancient Restoration
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The idea of an 'honourable draw' in sport/combat is well attested in ancient Europe. In Greece a referee would share the prize between wrestlers of equal skill; in Irish myth the Tuatha Dé returned Connacht to the heavily defeated Firbolg. Ties turn foes into friends.