Ireland History - St Patrick Facts and Myths

Saint Patrick - Patron Saint of Ireland

Patrick was the son of Calpurnius, a deacon, who lived in a town called Banna Venta Taberniae in Britain. It is impossible to be certain what actual town that is today, but many surmise it to be Carlisle in England, which borders on Scotland. His family had a small estate there, and it was where he lived until around 14 to 16 years of age. Patrick was taken by Irish raiders and brought to Ireland in slavery. He remained there, working as a herdsman for six years before escaping and returning to his family. Two letters still exist written by Saint Patrick and one of those is known as The Declaration Letter. In the Declaration letter he claims to have had a vision that a man called Victoricus came to him carrying many letters and gave one to Patrick called The Voice of the Irish. In this it called out to him the following words, "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us."

The Declaration does also cover a variety of charges made against him but again these are not explicit, but only mention that he returned gifts to people, did not accept payments for baptism and he then focuses on having baptised thousands of people. He also ordained priests to lead the new Christian communities and also converted some women into nuns. It is very important to bear in mind that as Patrick was not Irish himself, he would have been treated as a foreigner in Ireland and refusing King's favour would have been a difficult thing to do. He does refer to being beaten and indeed robbed and put in chains.

The best date available for Patrick's death is AD 460 and on the 17th March, hence why Ireland has this as a holiday, as Patrick is their Patron Saint. He is said to be buried at Down Cathedral in Downpatrick, alongside Saint Columba and Saint Brigid, though there is no actual proof to substantiate this.

Saint Patrick is credited in myth for clearing the snakes out of Ireland, though all evidence strongly suggests that snakes in Ireland did not exist after the Ice Age. There have been several suggestions that it refers to the serpent, symbolic of the Druids of that time. Myth also credits Patrick with explaining the concept of the Holy Trinity by using a shamrock, but again nothing exists to prove this. It is also popular legend that Patrick introduced the Celtic Cross, a symbol that combines a cross with a ring, which surrounds the intersection, and is quite popular in jewellry even today.

There was a story, recorded by monks probably to remove The Celts own stories and replace them with Christianity. A beautiful lady named Niamh and a man called Oisin met and fell in love, and they went to Tir Na nOg where they stayed for many years. Oisin grew homesick and Niamh granted him permission on the condition that he remained on his magical horse and did not actually place one foot on Irish soil. However he stopped to help a man who was trying to lift a large stone and as he leant over, the bridle broke and he fell to the ground. Instantly he turned into a very old white haired man and as he lay dying, Patrick passed by and the pair then discussed their respective civilisations. How much is true and how much is myth, I will leave to you, the reader.

There began after this a merging of pagan and new Christian Ireland. With the introduction of Christianity came the Latin language and the introduction of documented literature, which reveals how the political map of Ireland developed into the events of various years. Territories of various sizes came to be divided up in various kingships. Not long after Christianity started to spread, a monastic movement began. What Patrick had brought to Ireland is best described as having bishops and dioceses, (Episcopal), whereas what happened in Ireland was that monasteries became the central unit of administration. This most likely came to be as the tuath represented the core unit of administration. These tuaths were controlled by families and this linked in well with the monastic spread. For example the first abbots of Iona belonged to the same family as the person who founded it, Saint Colm Cille. The monasteries almost grew out of the intense personality of their original founders and are classed as Saints today, such as Brigid of Kildare (Mary of the Irish) and Jarlath of Tuam. Even in the episcopal stronghold of Armagh, the direct successor to Saint Patrick was not in charge but remained subordinate to the Abbot in charge.

The religious and indeed the cultural influence of Ireland were heavily influenced by the arrival of many saints, such as Patrick, Finnian, Enda and Auxilius. The dominance of the Gaelic septs continued throughout the 5th and 6th centuries. The High Kingship of Ireland sprang from Conn of the Hundred Battles and had been passed down from son to son. As these branches grew and developed the various families both grew and collapsed in power and this continued for centuries. As one family grew in strength they waged war on their distant relatives and nothing as such remained constant. Needless to say, as they all grew the families divided further creating more and more units and so it continued.

They left their mark on the Irish landscape in the form of ring-forts, essentially the farmsteads of early Ireland. These were created where farming was good and often near the top of a hill with a good view across the countryside. They provided a strong defence mechanism and they were known as a rath and the area which would have been occupied inside was called a lios. The houses and buildings would have been housed inside with servant huts on the outer ring and then leading out to the fields. In areas where land was less favourable stone ditches would have been built and referred to as a caiseal, and if large in size referred to as a dun.

A point worth remembering was that money did not exist in Ireland and cows were the main measure of wealth along with the size of the land a person owned. Some old Irish texts known as The Brehon Laws give us an indication of how social structures were arranged at that time. Clearly these were influenced by the early Christian church and Christian church run schools would have taught the principles of the early fathers of the church, based mainly on the Old Testament. Status and honour simply meant everything and an offence against either would have been considered an outrage. The hierarchical and aristocratic society therefore considered any such offence against a person higher up the social order, to warrant a greater penalty, than against a person lower down the structure. This structure had a very clear pecking order. Even then there were defined structures with three grades of Kings, below them the noblemen, the the free men and the unfree men.

As the churches and schools started to dictate society they rose in levels of scholarship and Irish scholars in turn began to make their impact in Europe. Diciul for example was a monk from Ireland who taught at the palace of Charlemagne and was famous for his study of world geography. The monasteries contributed significantly to the arts, with shrines, relics and ornate books. One such ecclesiastical masterpiece is of course "The Book of Kells."

This long marriage of Christian and Celtic cultures left Ireland in what can be best desribed as a conservative society and remained very much a rural society. Towns would not be formed until the arrival of the Vikings. The ordinary housing of the day was known as a "rath" and usually built on a hilltop and surrounded by some type of circular fencing. This civilisation was very focussed on family with a normal family group all descended from one great-grandfather and this group was known as a "derbhfhine". Each member of this derbhfhine could qualify for a throne should it become vacant. It was designed so as neither a cripple or an imbecile could not become king but also caused rivalry from all those who qualified by relationship to this family. The king's inauguration was looked upon in way similar to a marriage in that the king would be linked to the sovereignty of his kingdom. The feast that celebrated this was called a "Feis" and that word means "to sleep with" someone. The inauguration would take place when the king was handed a white rod and each kingdom had its own special site. The king when he began to rule was indeed a powerful man and ruler of his people and also military commander. He passed laws and also deal with trade and athletic competitions. The king of a tuath was bound by personal loyalty a superior king who in turn was bound to the provincial king.

There was also a learned class (Aos Dana) formed a special group and included judges and lawyers and most importantly those known as "fili". These were people regarded as seers and visionary people and quite often they were poets. They wrote well of their kings and updated their genealogy and were generally respected by all.

Enda McLarnon http://northern-ireland-history.blogspot.com/

I am an avid reader of anything to do with the history of Ireland and Northern Ireland in particular. This includes the Northern Ireland Troubles.

If you like what you have read and want to find out more then please visit my site at Saint Patrick

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Educating People about Alternative Energy

Perhaps one of the most effective ways through which young people can learn about alternative energies would be to use PicoTurbine kits, books or even projects. This company, called PicoTurbine, is the main promoter of alternative energies, a company that has created awareness throughout the whole world of the numerous benefits of the large scale usage of such energies. The environment needs to be protected and alternative energies definitely take into account this aspect. Therefore, if humanity wants to benefit from the environment in the future, then active steps of protection need to be enforced.

PicoTurbine devices work on several concepts; for instance, they actively incorporate the knowledge on alternative energies and make sure people are remembered once in a while, of this approach. The company receives a lot of feedback from customers, thus modifying its solutions to traditional energies in a way young people seem to find fit. Therefore, young people get to put their hands directly on real life situation and be able to make a change. A suggestion the company has received was to conduct experiments on wind energy production, by using the common known picture wire necessary for the heating elements. PicoTurbines has also noted that when people think about wind energy, they generally conjure up the image of cold energy and therefore, are surprised to see in reality the benefits of this technology. A suggestion for the projects was to give the opportunity to young people to engage into group based projects and thus, conduct their own discoveries and pose their own questions to lead them to the creation of their own, virtual energy plant, capable of producing real time energy. The groups will then be able to see whether the experiments were efficient and which one of them was able to produce the biggest amount of electricity or the smallest amount of electricity. They could be then able to modify the projects once again and come up with revised versions of what they are working on.

PicoTurbine has even been implemented in school curricula; teachers are now starting to instill in the senses for their pupils the appreciation for the environment and the awareness for alternative energies. Children are being taught that alternative means solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric or biomass energies that can produce considerable quantities of electricity under given conditions .when combining alternative energies we are decreasing the dependence that countries have our traditional energy derived from fossil fuel. Foreign oil supplies are getting more expensive by the day, therefore it would be much less costly to produce the nation's own importer and if possible, then become the importer of energy. Judging from long terms effects, alternative energies are certainly less expensive that fossil fuel energies.

The company has also encouraged the sales of wind farms as well as solar arrays; these products are penetrating the market at growing rates and they are already becoming best sellers. To give you one example of how time has helped reduce the total cost for certain things, tale photo voltaic cells. Twenty years ago, they were evaluated at one thousand dollars per cell; now, each one of those cells costs only four dollars. Therefore, economists and specialists in alternative energies have denoted that it is possible to have the kilowatt being sold at one dollar, in 2015. thus, one needs to imagine the extraordinary impact that alternative energies would have on the entire world. Fossil fuels are starting to use their popularity, mainly because they damage to a large extent the environment and the air we are breathing. Thus, many cases of asthma attacks and pneumonias have been reported recently and the risks of developing allergies is extremely elevated. Such long term effects can even lead to cancer, therefore, it is advisable to switch to the alternative because this would mean no pollution, more protection to the environment and less money spent on energy costs.

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Ireland - The Emerald Isle

Ireland is an island in the northern Atlantic Ocean west of Great Britain, divided between the independent Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is a part of the United Kingdom. Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe. Dublin is the capital of Ireland.

Ireland is also known as the Emerald Island. It is one of the most beautiful countries of the world. Ireland is compared to a precious gem 'Emerald' because of its mesmerizing and captivating lush green natural beauty. The heavy rains in the western parts are responsible for the brilliant green grass.

The exquisite Irish landscapes make profound impressions on the minds and souls of the beholders. Ireland has the most seducing landscapes. They seem to be the most luscious expression of romantic poetry. The Irish beauty is vinous, voluptuous, ravishing, enchanting, intoxicating...

Irish weather is sometimes so enticing that it makes a person to yearn for wings or makes a person fly with the wings of fancy to view the truly luminous greens and luxuriant wildflowers from the azure sky.

The Irish name for Ireland is "Eire" and "Hibernia" is the Latin name for Ireland. Ireland is also known as the Land of saints and scholars because of the strong educational and religious tradition in Ireland. Sometimes Ireland is dubbed as silk of the kine; the nickname comes from the Irish síoda na mbó.

The Emerald Isle is one of the coveted tourist spots of the world. It attracts the tourists from all parts of the world. Ireland is a perfect spot to explore the natural beauty.

The ireland vacation, ireland golf vacation and ireland vacation packages are hotly pursued all over the globe.

The tourism and hotel industry is one of the cornerstones of Irish economy. The hotels in ireland are sheer manifestation of comforts and luxuries. The Ireland hotels offer the exquisite scenic beauty.

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Alternative Energy Usage in Ireland

Ireland is pursuing energy independence by trying to develop to a larger extent the usage of alternative energy; one must take into consideration the fact that Ireland benefits from a robust economy, allowing it to research and develop resource encompassing alternative energies. During modern days, almost ninety percent of the energy needs are accomplished by importation, from the energy that has become imported. This makes Ireland extremely dependent on energetic supplies coming from foreign locations. It should come as no surprise that Ireland wants to get over this dependency and start producing energy of its own. Therefore, it is only natural that institutions and the government start thinking about alternative resources as a way to produce the energy the population needs. The EU has in fact implemented some regulations regarding reduction in emissions of harmful substance and gases in the air, including regulations on sulphuric oxide and nitric oxide.

Green energy has become therefore the one thing the EU strives to accomplish throughout all the member states. Hydroelectric power is now utilized in some areas inside Ireland for quite a long period of time and has so far, proved to be very effective in producing energy, by capturing the energy of the waves from Atlantic Ocean, which is on the western part of Ireland. This energy supply is now capable of producing the energy supply needed by the whole country.

As a matter of fact, in the future, Ireland may even become energy exporter, granted the fact that it can now exploit the very few natural resources it has for its own benefit. The energy potential is constituted in the fact that throughout the whole Ireland, big winds blow, there is close proximity to the ocean and one can derive energy from biomass resources. It could for instance, supply energy to the rest of Europe, energy produced from ocean waves and biomass fuels. For the moment, Ireland has concentrated its efforts in obtaining the fifteen percent barrier, that is, produce fifteen percent of the energy needed by the population through wind farms. This is in fact, a governmental objective for 2010. Not only the government, but also institutions and research institutes are combining efforts to be able to discover the ways Ireland can reduce its reliance on foreign produced energy.

Researchers are now studying the fields of the ocean wave energy so that the energy produced can cover much of the necessary amounts for the population. A test site designed for alternative energy has been created in Ireland, on the western coast, to better study ocean energy. The experimental site, also known as "Wavebob" helps researchers study on the spot the most efficient ways they could use ocean waves to produce energy. Judging by the efforts made leading to discovery, one can say that in the future, Ireland can become the market leader in the sector. Analysts believe that wave energy possesses the potential to change and that renewable energy may become the norm; if this is accomplished, then Ireland wouldn't have to depend anymore on the energy provided by others and could thus reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.

Many people believe that since the industry dealing with sugar beet has been shut down, this means that there is more Irish land available to use to construct alternative energy power plant, including plants designed for bioenergy production. Since renewable energy is now catering for only two percent of the energy consumed in Ireland, it is imperative to come up with a solution or solutions that will resolve the problem to a large extent. Biomass energies are fit to be fully exploited, because the answer lies in not using conventional methods of producing energies and adapting existing equipment in order to produce energy from other resources.

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