Scenes From Ireland

I'm sorry I haven't had much time to post here. For now I'm sharing a few photographs from Ireland.

Top: Dublin street.

Middle: Monsterboise High Cross

Bottom: Me and Tom at Nendrum Monastery Ruins in County Down.

The Meaning of Ireland

Ireland in Irish is Éire or in old Irish, Ériu, which is the name of a goddess. In fact, many of the names of places in Ireland are derived from the names of gods or goddesses, such as the River Shannon, named for the goddess Sinann.


The English version of the name is Erin, and you've heard this in the phrase Erin go bragh, or "Long live Ireland!"
As a result, the name Erin is popular for girls, but even the name Ireland has been used. Alec Baldwin and Kim Bassinger named their daughter Ireland, and I once signed a copy of Brigid of Ireland for a pregnant woman who planned to name her baby Ireland.

Caesar called Ireland Hibernia in Latin, which means wintery. He thought the island was at the end of the earth. You've probably heard of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians, and that's where the name comes from.

The ancient Greeks used the name Ierne, and it appears on Ptolemy's map around 150 AD.

Postage stamp from Ireland.

Like so many other things about Ireland, the name is filled with mystique and romance. But basically, the name refers to mother earth from which comes all life.

Ireland

It's the one place on earth
that heaven has kissed
with melody,
mirth,
and meadow,
and mist.

From Ireland or Of Ireland?

I love connecting with readers, but as any author can tell you, we end up answering the same questions over and over. I don't mind, but it's puzzling to me why people want to know some of these things--like what's your typical writing day like?

A logical question to ask me, I suppose, is: "Are you from Ireland?" or "Are your ancestors from Ireland?" I obviously don't have an Irish brogue, but yes, my ancestors are from Ireland--some of them. Like most Americans, I have other nationalities in my blood. Some English, some Welsh, even a bit of Cherokee. But by and large on both sides of my tree, I'm Irish.

Here's my question: Does it matter? Do you have to have some Irish blood in your line somewhere to be able to tell the the Irish stories I tell? Or to appreciate them, learn from them, and just enjoy them? I don't think so. But I do think you have to be "of Ireland."

I am of Ireland,
And the Holy Land of Ireland,
And time runs on,’ cried she.
“Come out of charity
And dance with me in Ireland.’

~W. B. Yeats, from The Winding Stair and Other Poems | 1933



To borrow a line from Yeats, "I am of Ireland."

To me that means that the people and the legends

and the history speak to you.

It does not matter if you have one drop of Irish blood

running in your veins.

We are all brothers and sisters on this earth and the stories

of all men and all women

have the potential to speak to each one of us, if only we'll listen.



So never apologize for not being Irish

(as I've heard many people do on St. Patrick's Day.)

Just say, "I am of Ireland!"

©Cindy Thomson