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Image of the Month: A Bealtaine shin-dig (Photo – piglicker via the interesting and informative Nefaeria)
May Day – 1st May 2012
The traditional first day of Irish summer (a loose concept) is widely celebrated as International Workers Day in many countries, including the UK, but not the Republic of Ireland, where the Public Holiday that has taken place since 1994 on the first Monday in May, although sometimes called May Day, is officially Lá Bealtaine, harking back to a version of an ancient pre-Christian tradition elsewhere aka Walpurgisnacht. In Ireland fires were lit for cattle to go around (or through) for blessings, as well as people in the community. After the influence of Christianity, it was bad luck for the need fire to go out on Bealtaine, and the fire could only be re-lit from the a priest’s hearth. The ashes from the need fire were sprinkled over the threshold of the homes in a community as a blessing (Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland by Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde).
International Workers Day began as the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago, which occurred after an unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police as they dispersed a public assembly during a general strike for the eight-hour workday. In response, the Chicago police fired on the workers killing dozens of demonstrators and several of their own officers. In 1889, the first congress of the Second International, meeting in Paris for the centennial of the French Revolution and the Exposition Universelle, called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International’s second congress in 1891. Subsequently, the May Day Riots of 1894 occurred. In 1904, the International Socialist Conference meeting in Amsterdam called on “all Social Democratic Party organizations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on May First for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace.”
Sad to report, the world has made more progress stowards these laudable objectives over the last 108 years than this website has made of any sort over the last month; April was disappointingly unproductive, with negligible advances made on ByRoute 16 and ByRoute 17 and some extension and reorganisation of DUBLIN S – Coastal, Shanganagh and Bray & the Wicklow Fringe. The only good news is with regard to our Easter Query (see below).
(Photo by Simon Mortimer)
Our Easter Query, seeking identification of these “abandoned college ruins on the Ballyman Road near Bray“, received a response from K Carroll in County Cork, whose sister-in-law’s family in Greystones suggested it could be Jubilee Hall, until recently occupied by the Elian Spanish School. Can any other reader confirm / add to this information?
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Queries and observations should be sent to fraba4@gmail.com
Previous Image of the Month (see below) (Picture - www.militarychaplaincy.ie)
31st March / April Fool’s Eve 2012
A poignant month for Mullingar, Clonmel, Castlebar and Cavan with the closure of their historic barracks ending over two centuries of military traditions. A slow month for the website, with little more to report than new pages for Trim & Environs and Navan & Environs, but the Easter break should allow rapid progress to be made on ByRoute 16, ByRoute 17 and The North Midlands Lakes. Our official Sitemeter hit count now stands at over 112,000 – thank you again to all our regular readers!
Previous image of the Month: Bluebell woodland (Photo – www.irelandwildlife.com, a highly recommended website)
29th February 2012
An irresistible date for letting our readers know the latest developments! These have been mostly of an editing nature, with sporadic inserts on various pages; the only measurable progress has been made on ByRoute 16, specifically the pages of ByRoute 16.1 taking in Navan and Loughcrew in Co. Meath and Mullaghmeen in Co. Westmeath.
Previous image of the Month: Crew of theColmcille at St. Columba’s Foot Print at Southend, Kintyre on St. Columba’s Day 2003 (Photo -http://www.xmarksthescot.com)
25th January 2012
Happy Burns Nicht to our legion of Scottish fans. Our Image of the Month celebrates the link between Ireland and Scotland represented by the island of Iona, where the Donegal-born holy man known in Caledonian circles as Calum Cille (521 – 597 AD) established a monastery from which he and his followers spread “the light of Christian Civilisation” across northern Britain, but was mainly chosen for its slightly Monty-Pythonesque air! The best news since our last update is that ByRoute 15 is at last up and running, and ByRoute 16 is taking shape. A belated Happy New Year to all our visitors.
