Did you know that, in Gaelic Ireland, the poet or file had more power than the king?
With the same ‘face value’ (the phrase is of Irish origin!) as a king, i.e. 21 cumals (a cumal is worth 3 milch cows or an ounce of silver), the file has the extra privilege of being allowed to travel freely between kingdoms. The file would be very well-received by the hosts who would prepare a banquet to celebrate the occasion and the new stories, wisdom and knowledge that the file would impart to the kingdom.
With the same ‘face value’ (the phrase is of Irish origin!) as a king, i.e. 21 cumals (a cumal is worth 3 milch cows or an ounce of silver), the file has the extra privilege of being allowed to travel freely between kingdoms. The file would be very well-received by the hosts who would prepare a banquet to celebrate the occasion and the new stories, wisdom and knowledge that the file would impart to the kingdom.
Of course, if a king attempted to, likewise, travel unannounced into
another kingdom it would be seen as an act of war.
Do you what was St. Patrick’s colour?
Green, of course!
Green, of course!
No!! Wrong. His colour was azure blue. The reason we assume his colour was
green is very similar to why we always see Santa Claus wearing red or leprechauns
wearing green – association.
Leprechauns and St. Patrick are associated with Ireland, which pretty much
nearly holds the rights to the colour green. And Santa Claus, well, Coca Cola is
known for having a red label, just like the jolly fat guy.
Did you know the origin of the Irish people can be found in the Bible?
There’s a great fabrication that connected the people of Ireland to the Old Testament. Better still, it ‘explains’ why Ireland has no snakes [I’m sure I heard somewhere that is at least one native snake, but I haven’t been able to find any source]:
There’s a great fabrication that connected the people of Ireland to the Old Testament. Better still, it ‘explains’ why Ireland has no snakes [I’m sure I heard somewhere that is at least one native snake, but I haven’t been able to find any source]:
In the days of Moses,. When a child, Moses is said to have cured a man
called Gaodhal Glas [àGaelàIrish people] of the bite of a serpent – and to have promised, then, that
no serpent or other poisonous thing should infest the happy western island that
his far posterity would one day inhabit.
Did you know that the name ‘Gael’, i.e. the Irish people, was invented by
the Welsh?
Just like, for example, the Celts were named by the Greeks, peoples are
oftentimes identified as ‘xpeople’ by outsiders.
In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Irish were wont to raid the west of
Britain. Now, everyone wasn’t too pleased to see them as they came to steal
valuables, people and destroy villages. The Welsh, then, began to refer to them
as, in their own language, ‘Gaoidthelc’ or ‘horrible people’!
Did you know that the ancient Irish (Brehon) laws were so complex and
detailed that they even included law tracts on bee-keeping?
If any dispute arose in ancient (i.e. Medieval) Irish society, it had to be
referred to the judges, who would have to provide the official procedure to
handle the issue. If it was a new kind of dispute, the judge would make a note
of it and it would be discussed at the next national meeting of Irish judges to
be noted by all judges and included in all future judge-training.
By the way, if you wanted to become a judge, these were usually the
requirements:
1.
Your father or grandfather had to be/have been a judge (of repute).
2.
You studied for 20yrs!
3.
You have to memorise, word-for-word, all the law tracts! – this monumental
task was mitigated by the fact that the various memory aids such as
categorising into 3 or 7, and rhyming, alliteration and assonance were all
incorporated.
