‘This island will gradually yield to the ruthlessness of "progress" that decaying age is moving always nearer How much of Ireland was formerly like this and how much of Ireland is today Anglicised and brutalised?"

JM. Synge, Aran Islands (1907)

800 year old carving: Adoration of the Magi on the west gable of St. Declan's Cathedral in Ardmore, Co. Waterford.

#OnThisDay 1661 The dead body of Oliver Cromwell, whose actions in Ireland are infamous, was dragged through the streets & three years after his death ritually executed again in London. His head was placed on a 6 metre tall spike above Westminster Hall.

Done on behalf of English Royalists it must be added.

This day 47 years ago – 30 January 1972 - the British Army shot 28 people, 14 of whom died, in Derry city, after an anti-internment protest march.

All were male, aged between 17 and 59.

Irish minister Patrick Hillery said, “From now on my aim is to get Britain out of Ireland.”
All chimerical of course.

The design of the St Brigid's cross has similarities with the swastika, an ancient motif used on Celtic carvings. The central cross pattern also resembles the lozenge shapes found on Irish megalithic stones, a fertility symbol. https://bit.ly/2GBO7Lf

The name Brigid comes from Brigantes ('the people of the goddess Brigid') - a Celtic tribe that inhabited Iron Age Britain. Later the Brigantes settled Leinster, suggesting these peoples introduced Brigid as a chief deity to Ireland.

The sacred fire Solas Bhride ('the Light of Brigid') re-lit in 1993 by the Brigidine Sisters, Co Kildare. Each St. Brigid's Day the town hosts a week-long celebration in honour of their saint founder.

An Irish legend tells of how St Brigid aided the Virgin Mary in presenting Jesus at the temple by distracting the crowd with a headdress bearing many lighted candles. In gratitude, Mary decreed that a feast day honouring Brigid should take place a day before Candlemas.

In medieval Ireland winter and spring comprised the quieter half of the year.

During the cold months war-making ceased and the people took to housing and feeding the warrior-bands. Great effort was made to ensure a varied diet by hunting, fishing and preserving.

"Marriages in early Ireland tended to be concentrated between Twelfth Night (5 Jan) and Shrove Tuesday.."

The links between the Imbolc spring festival, birth and marriage -

In the 16-17th centuries the coming of spring heralded the majority of trade between Ireland and England. Shiploads of animal products would leave Ireland for the port of Bristol, returning home with necessities like dyes, fabrics, salt & sugar.

"If i was willing to serve Mass, it was in memory of my ancestors standing around a rock, in a lonely glen, for fear of the landlords and their yeomen" - Brendan Behan

On This Day 1848: John Mitchel published 1st United Irishman. Only 16 editions, as suppressed under Treason Felony Act (1848). He was sentenced to 14 years in Van Diemen's Land. (Escaped after 5 years & spent 2 decades in US being pro-slavery, before returning to Ireland. Died in Newry.

This day 330 years ago – 13 February 1689 – Prince William of Orange and his wife Mary II were declared joint sovereigns of England, Ireland and Scotland.

The previous king, James II, had fled to France the December before.

This deposition led to the Battle of the Boyne in 1690
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Boyne

St Valentine's Tomb - Whitefriar Church, Dublin.

Gifted by Pope Gregory XVI in 1836, the casket contains Saint Valentine's bones and a vessel tinged with his blood.