~ Irish Rain ~ The Journal: March 2006

On The Road...

We are sorry that things have been kinda quiet around the ol' website this week. Dee and I have been away for a long weekend. We have some new colleagues/old friends that are now living and studying in Paris. This was our first time to ever go to Paris, and it was wonderful to see it with our friends!

I don't even know where to begin to tell you about it... We stayed up late every night talking and catching up... we ate a ton of crepes... ate many pastries.... drank a lot of very strong coffee... and enjoyed just breathing in the atmosphere of this romantic city. To be honest with you - I knew that Paris was going to be nice but I had no idea that it was going to be so amazing. We decided not to try and see everything and do everything, but rather to leave some things to do the next time we come... (this way we have to go back)... We opted to spend the bulk of our afternoons walking along the River Seine, sitting in cafes, or shopping.

Here are a few of our highlights:

The neatest thing were the ton of little book sellers set up along the river selling paintings, photos, sometimes small antiques, and (best of all) old books. Walking from stand to stand was a perfect way to spend an afternoon... and of course we did not even get to visit them all.

We visited the Eiffel Tower on Saturday evening. It was beautiful. We arrived while it was still light out and went up to the summet around sunset. So we ended up being at the top as the city's lights started coming on all around us. Truly awesome.

We visited the Catacombs. There are more people buried under the city in these tunnels than people living above it.

We ate Mexican!

Our friends had been sent some green peanuts from the South. We boiled them all day on Sunday and then ate them while watching Lost.

I plan on organizing the rest of our pictures and getting some up on the site in the next day or so - so stayed tuned.

St. Paddy's Day...

Here are a few pictures from our St. Paddy's Day here in Ireland. It was an extremely cold and windy day here, but we braved the hail and cutting winds to go see the parade. I am so glad that we did! I absolutely loved every minute of it. Dee had a great spot right at the front of the crowd, and I ran up and down the parade line taking pictures. Don't worry... I didn't abandon her... I made sure that she had enough hot tea and wasn't letting any old ladies push her out in front of a band or anything. After the parade we continued a tradition by having free day. We went off to our favorite coffee shop to get two tall mochas with our loyalty cards! Hope you enjoy the pics... There were too many to choose from to share but I finally settled on these three.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

We hope that each of you have a great St. Patrick's Day! We are off to see the parade - but we wanted to leave you with a scene from last years celebration.

Northern Ireland (Part Three)

During the 1600's the rest of Ireland felt the brutal oppression from the British. The Irish Catholics continued to rebel and Oliver Cromwell (who was a hero to the English - and villain to the Irish) marched an army all over Ireland swiftly killing any rebels (many times in mass executions of up to 600 people at a time). By 1660, Catholics could only own land west of the River Shannon, in Connaught and County Clare (By far the worst land of the country - This was Cromwell's famous decree "to hell or Connaught").

The story does not end there. The struggles between Catholics and Protestants continued until the point of all out war.. and many rebellions. The Protestants/English are notorious in their attempts to get Catholics to convert.

Soup kitchens were set up during times of famine - The only way for a starving person to be fed is if they converted to Protestantism.

Families were encouraged to betray one another by laws offering younger sons or even wives their family's land if they would convert to Protestantism.

Catholics were forbidden to enter walled cities, own land, or even take long leases.

Intermarriage between the Irish and Protestant upperclass was banned.

Protestants marched through Catholic neighborhoods to celebrate past victories in war over them (an act that is still repeated - see post from Feb 28, 2006).

Catholics were forced to pay a tithe to the Church of Ireland (Protestant).

Catholic priests were outlawed and considered crimals.

Many of these laws were repealed in 1778 (after America had declared its independence), but by then only 5% of Irish land was owned by Catholics. There was forever a great divide between Protestants and Catholics. This was felt all over Ireland - but especially in the Northern Counties where a slight majority were Protestant (thanks to the plantations).

In 1921 Ireland was granted free state status. The only catch was that 6 counties in the North of Ireland would remain under the control of England. Thus the island of Ireland was divided into two countries. The Irish free state (soon to be the Republic of Ireland) and Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom).

Northern Ireland is still divided between Protestant and Catholic. There are Catholic schools and Protestant schools. There are Catholic neighborhoods and Protestant neighborhoods. There are Catholic militants known as the IRA and Protestant militants known as the UDA (Ulster defense Association), UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force), and the UFF (Ulster Freedom Fighters).

So... There you have it. I know that I did not really give a complete history or explanation of the ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland... But I wanted to give you a taste of what is going on.

Any questions? - Leave a comment and I'll try to answer them.

Northern Ireland (Part Two)

At the end of the 16th century Queen Elizabeth began a new scheme for permenanty obtaining Ireland and its resources. This action which came to be known as "the plantation" threw Irish lords and peasants off of their land and were replaced with new English landlords and a new Protestant working class. The 17th century saw an increase in plantations, especially in the eight counties of northern Ireland (which is traditionally known as Ulster). It was here that huge numbers of Protestant settlers from the lowlands of Scotland were brought in high numbers. In 1607, some ninety or more leading Catholic nobles who were unwilling to submit left Ulster for the continent. This event - which came to be known as the flight of the Earls - fully sealed the fate of the northern counties remaining in the hands of the English. This Protestant upperclass and workforce treated the Catholic Irish as second class citizens and denied them what is today known as civil rights based on their religion. The differences between the northern part of Ireland and the other counties continued to grow. The Northern counties now had a wealthy (compared to the rest of Ireland) foreign population with a different religion.

(To be continued...)

Northern Ireland (Part One)

I realize that the history of conflict in Northern Ireland is way too complex to simply sum up here in a single post. I also know that many of you are not interested in sitting down and reading long histories of Ireland and the conflict here. So... I am going to do my best to give a simple explanation (as I understand it) of the history of Northern Ireland. Here we go:

Ireland's history is a history of invasion. The first major invasion took place by the Anglo-Normans. These were the sons and grandsons of the men who had conquered England with Willing the Conqueror (1066). These Norman invaders from England for the first time united Ireland under what would come to be known as "English Rule" and the ties still have not been broken.

Now - you might be wondering why Ireland was so important to England. Patricia Levy put it this way:

"Henry VIII's break from Rome had established Protestantism in England and Catholic Ireland promised rich pickings. Apart from the rich monasteries which existed throughout Ireland, the forests would provide the raw material for the shipbuilding industry that was so vital to England's political and mercantile power. In addition, the oak trees that covered the country were turned into charcoal for smelting ores. Ireland's resources were as economically important to England as Middle East oil is today."

The English needed Ireland. They were going to get it one way or another.

The solution came in the form of Plantations.

(to be continued...)

Just A Note...

Just a quick note to say that I have really been thinking a lot about the problems in Northern Ireland lately.... Do most Americans my age (apart from those in Boston) really know anything about the struggle there? I really don't think so.... I am going to make a point to sit down and put down a little bit of history about the conflict up there and post it this week. Be on the lookout.