Tag: Ancient sport

Posted in Posts and podcasts

The Banshee – 1898

Posted on by The Burren and Beyond

The Globe-republican 3rd November, 1898 p3(abridged)

Spirit Child Acrylic on canvas EO;D
Spirit Child
Acrylic on canvas
EO;D

God between us and all harm
For I tonight have seen
A banshee in the shadow pass
Along the dark boreen.

And as she went she keened and cried
And combed her long white hair.
She stopped at Molly Reilly’s door,
And sobbed till midnight there.

And is it for himself she moans
Who is so far away?
Or is it Molly Reilly’s death she cries
Until the coming day?

Now Molly thinks her man is gone
A sailor lad to be.
She puts a candle to her door
Each night for him to see.

But he is off to Galway town.
And who dare tell her this?
Enchanted by a woman’s eyes,
Half maddened by her kiss.

So as we go by Molly’s door
We look toward the sea,
And say “May God bring home your lad
Wherever he may be.”

I pray it may be Molly’s self
The banshee keens and cries,
For who dares breathe the tale to her
Be it her man who dies?

For there is sorrow on the way,
For I tonight have seen
A banshee in the shadow pass
Along the dark boreen.

Posted in Posts and podcasts

The ancient sport of hurling – 1914

Posted on by The Burren and Beyond

Butte Independent 6th June, 1914 p.3 (abridged)

"Cuchulainn Slays the Hound of Culain." by Stephen Reid According to legend the young man used his hurley and sliotar to defend himself against the huge beast. Illustration from "The Boys'Cuchulain" by Eleanor Hull (1904)
“Cuchulainn Slays the Hound of Culain.” by Stephen Reid
According to legend the young man used his hurley and sliotar to defend himself against the huge beast.
Illustration from “The Boys’Cuchulain” by Eleanor Hull (1904)

Hurling was played in Ireland from the time of the Celts. It was essentially a military game, designed to keep the warriors in perfect condition and training for battle. No other exercise could equal it in training the eye and the hand. Napoleon,  upon witnessing a hurling match among the men of his Irish brigade, remarked that “the race who invented such a game could whip the world.”
In the ancient schools of Ireland, civil and military, the youth had to be instructed in hurling, commencing at a very tender age. Each youth had to have his own hurley and ball, and practice until he learned the fine points of the game. This formed part of the instructions which an Ollamh imparted. In ancient laws the rights and privileges of a hurler were well-defined and protected.
Injury, while engaged in a game seldom happened, for not only would the hurler who injured an opponent suffer disgrace by being considered unskillful, but furthermore he was compelled by law to support the injured man and all others dependent on him while he was incapacitated.