User:Jaslynch1
I'm a historian and geologist. Current teaching and rationality has abandoned the historic origin of things in favour of archaeological inductive investigation, generally resulting in the destruction of sites, graves, etc. The Irish nation has its history chronologically preserved since The Flood similar to the Jews. It is an ancilliary history for the world.The world is young, 6015 years young on the 23rd October next at noon!-Usher-Newton-Moses.The Historical Story of Ancient Ireland by Philip Lynch, available from James Lynch, Carrickmore, St. Johnston, County Donegal, Ireland. Price €20
Stone Circles
Idir dhá thine lae Bhealtaine – literally between two fires on May day. It is used to describe confusion, in a dilemma or frenzy.
This ancient Gaelic saying, originates from the long discontinued practice,of chasing cattle between two rows of fire, to destroy ticks, and other disease carrying vermin, that were a threat to cattle and humans at the time, as cattle were a primary food source. The saying has a derivative, Idir dhá uisce lae Bhealtaine – literally between two waters on May day. The cattle were chased or herded between the fires, and a pond or water dip was kept a safe distance away, as some of the cattle hair would be liable to catch fire, and a cattle dip would be necessary, nearby, for the remedy. The frenzied cattle, waiting in the gathering corral, and then herded between the fires, provided a term, to the ancient Irish, to describe a state of confusion. As you will be aware the Gaelic for the month of May is Bealtaine, meaning the fire of Bel. Bel (Pel) – the Gaels were not fond of the letter p,- was the father of King Nion, who sent world explorers to discover whatever was new in, or specific to, the various islands left behind after the SEA OF DELUGE (1656A.M.) or 2348 B.C. Europe after the Flood was known as “The Isles of the Gentiles” (Josephus). The ceremony of Beltaine, was given added importance in Tuathal Teachtmhar’s time as Ard Ri, (A.D.79 To A.D. 109) when, The Convocation of Uisneach was kept on May 1,st and in return for lands ceded to create the present County Meath, from Connacht, the king of Connacht received a tribute of a horse and arms for every Lord of a manor, or chieftain of lands, that came to this assembly.
The annual dosing and treatment, after inspection, of livestock by the ancient Irish, took place at this time, thence, the first day of the month of May, was the ritual community-cattle treatment period. As fires were lit for the medicine and Bell was the person who introduced such a practice, the two became entwined, to give Bealtaine or May. Fires were lit throughout Ireland and sacrifices were offered in honour of Bel, to thank him for an effective remedy for the cattle murrain or pestilence. This same cattle pestilence was rampant in the reign of Loingseach, A.D. 685, [not my ancestor, as he is of the Eiremhon line], and it is narrated that this affected Ireland and England. People in England were reduced to eating each other and this visitation lasted three years. The stone circles of Ireland, and beyond, are cattle crushes or corrals, for want of a better description. The Irish of old were practical, not willing to indulge useful energy, in erecting superlative structures, rather, necessary ones. The community would come together, to complete this structure, and maintain it, and it would be on a height, for who would want smoke damage to their houses. The fires would be lit for as long as it took to have all the cattle treated, and this would take place, on one day. This was an immense effort on behalf of the ancients, and a very important one for their survival. It is recorded that the inhabitants would change and barter their horses, their arms, or what other valuables they had. The siting of the stone circles undoubtedly led them to become a place of interest and trade which would invariably continue for a long time.
The stones needed to be strong enough and tall enough to withstand large beasts in a frenzy, rubbing against them, seeking relief from ticks and heat. It’s a testimony to the builders the stones remain intact. Outer perimeter walls were necessary for the gathering- up, and cooling- off periods, for the cattle. It was compulsory for all cattle to be treated on the same day, for the remedy to be effective, and this focused type of cattle treatment, is not long dispensed with, in Ireland. Indeed I am aware, of the prosecution of two County Down farmers, for not adhering to the treatment week, in the last century.
It was a community effort, and it spared the individual farmers much effort, if each had to carry out this ritual alone. This form of treating cattle is very ancient, and would have abated on new methods of treatment being introduced ,and perhaps the incidence of ticks receding. The stone circles seem out of place, almost mystical, but their present locations should not blind us to the fact we are living many years after their use, and the locations relief was very much different in those ancient times.
Thank you Dr. Keating for preserving the historical record of these monuments
James Lynch
References;
O' Connor, Dermot, [ed.], Keatings General History of Ireland, (James Duffy: Dublin, 1854). Lynch, Philip, The Historical Story of Ancient Ireland, (Minerva Press: London, 2000).
Stonehenge has no association with stone circles rather we learn from Stowe that it is an eternal monument to Saxon perfidy.
Here I include an extract from The Historical Story of Ancient Ireland, ps. 85-86.
“In ad 379 Niall, son of Eochaidh Moighmheodhin and Carthan Cas Dubh, daughter of the king of Britain succeeded, and reigned twenty-seven years. Inne, daughter of Lughaidh and widow of Fiachadh, was his first queen. His second consort was Rioghneach, and they had seven sons: Laoghaire, Eanna, Maine, Eoghan, Cairbre and two called Conal. Niall’s help was asked by the Gaels of Alba, (Scotland) and when his strong force fixed things for them they asked him to change the name of Alba to Scotia. ‘All right,’ he agreed, ‘but it must be Scotia Minor, we must leave Scotia Major for Eire.’ Scotia came from the Irish who were called Scoti. Then, under provocation, he led his large army into Lagria, fixed things to his satisfaction and then in an innumerable fleet he crossed to Armorica, north France or Brittany, then called Briton. England became Great Britain to distinguish it from the Britons who earlier colonised Armorica under a Roman general and drove out the natives. Thus we get in French Grande Bretange for Great Britain and Bretange for northern France. He plundered the country and brought from there two hundred, some as hostages and others as slaves. Among the slaves were the sixteen-year-old boy Patrick and his two sisters, Lupita and Darerca. This was in the ninth year of Niall’s reign. Things became so bad for what is now England and Wales that, as Stowe relates at the fifty-second page of his British Chronicle, they invited the Saxons to come to save them. They came under Hingust and Horsa whose aid was successful, but they became so pleased with the climate and the soil fertility, et cetera that they decided to stay and treacherously killed four hundred and eighty of the nobility and gentry at one time. So Aurelius Ambrosius, then the king of the country, caused stones that had been brought by Merlin long before from Mount Claire in Munster to be erected where the murders took place as an eternal monument of their cruelty. Aurelius was afterwards buried there. This monument was first called Chorea Gigantum but later called Stonehenge. The Irish had brought these stones from Africa, and not two of them were brought from the same part of Africa. (Perhaps for the same purpose as lead is used in yachts.)”
Above-Present picture of Beltony stone circle, Raphoe, County Donegal, Ireland. 'When Somerville saw the ring in 1909 it surrounded 'a flat circular space' but when Oliver Davies visited Beltany in the late 1930s 'the platform had been recently and unscientifically excavated, and had been left in dreadful confusion'. The chaos is still visible in the hummocks and hollows of turf' - Aubrey Burl Ed., A guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany-revised Edition, (Yale University Press:New Haven and London;2005),Exhibit 340. Water level was higher in the times of their use as community cattle treatment centres. Many of the stones, cattle and people were carried by boat to and from such centres. Beltony (Beltany) (and other similar spellings) is a common place-name in Ireland. The name Tinney (Tínneadh) (Tine) survives in this area yet. I am associating this name with the person who had the honour of lighting the fire. Saint Eunan, Patron of the diocese of Raphoe's mother was called Tinne.
A picture from a recent National Geographic Magazine (March 2004) which shows farmers in Armenia, on the footsteps of Mount Ararat, herding sheep and goats, in a man erected structure, of similar dimensions as the circular stones, to be found throughout Ireland. The perimeter stones are basalt and may or may not be native to the site. I am aware of stone circles, as far as Japan, and it is estimated there are 25,000 in Ireland............indicates their necessity to each community!
Saint Baithin
Saint Baithin-feast day June 9th Saint Baithin was a first cousin and pupil of Saint Colmcille. Both were great grandsons of Conall Gulban, the first christian prince in Ireland. From him Donegal takes its name-Tír Chonaill-Conal's country. Baithin was a 'bosom friend' of Colmcille and the first mentioned of the twelve to sail to Scotland with him, on mission. It was said, he 'was always either reading, or praying, or serving his neighbour' and when eating he'd say, 'between every two morsels'. He had the gift of prophesy and miracles. It was said 'no other person on this side of the Alps was comparable to Baithin in scriptural and scientific knowledge'.
He was Colmcille's chief disciple and friend, and Colm compared him to St. John the Evangelist;he said that his beloved disciple resembled him who was the beloved disciple of Christ, by his purity, his simplicity, and his love of perfection. Baithin at one time had a vision of three chairs in heaven, Colm gave the interpretation, 'The chair of gold, which thou hast seen, is the chair of Ciaran, son of the carpenter (Mc Intyre-Mac an tSaor-craftsman), the reward for his sanctity, and hospitality, and charity. The chair of silver, which thou hast seen, is thine own chair, for the brightness and effulgence of thy piety. The chair of glass is my own chair, for although pure and bright, I am brittle and fragile, in consequence of the battles, which were fought on my account'. Colm settled for nettle pottage after this as his customary diet.
At another time both saints witnessed a ship sink. Colm said it was on account of one unworthy the whole were shipwrecked. Baithin exclaimed it unjust to smite the many for the one. Further on, they found a beehive, and Colm asked Baithin to carry it home. He was bitten by one bee on the way and let the whole fall. Colm said, 'the justice of God is not violated, although for the very grievious sin of one a whole multitude may pay the penalty'. To him Colm's 'most secret thoughts were manifested, and his heavenly inspirations were communicated'. When Colm was dying he stopped abruptly, after a vision, on the 11th line of the 33rd(34th) Psalm, at the bottom of the page, and said, 'I must stop here, Let Baithin write the rest'.
Baithin succeeded Colm as Abbot of Iona for one year, dying on the anniversary of Colm, in the year 598AD. He had been Abbot of the monastery on the island of Tiree. There are 308 verses of Colm's prophesies preserved in the Royal Irish Academy, one of which begins,'Listen to me my faithful Baithin'. Baithin is buried in Derry, noted as the oak-grove of Galgachus. In their time the Foyle, 'seemed swarming with fish, which served the wants of his community, and the very water of the place had an admirable and a wholesome flavour, equal to the best wine'.
Taughboyne (Teach Baithine-Baithin's house) is in Tir Enda (Eanna was one of Niall of the nine hostages sons). Drumennon and possibly Ballylennon derive their names from him. This chapel was built in 1857 with stones from Moness. It was not always at this site. The foundation of Raphoe is ascribed to Saint Colmcille. It had a round tower still extant in the early 17th century.
'Saint Eunan – feast day 23rd September' Saint Eunan [9th Abbot of Iona] pronounced Eunan-óonan, 7th century. Eunan came from Donegal and is the patron saint of Raphoe. The Gaelic way of spelling his name is Adhamhnan and could be translated to English as Little Adam, the D and the M are aspirated, and for the make of type- writers that have not the Gaelic script letters, this aspiration is indicated by a H after the word, and it (which) looks clumsy.
He was of royal descent from Cinel Enna on his mothers side and Cinel Conal on his fathers side. His mothers name was Tinne and this name survives in Donegal to this day as Tinney. Eunan was from Drumhome [Drum Tomma], between Donegal Town and Ballyshannon, in South Donegal. There were miracles obtained at a well dedicated to Eunan in that area. It is narrated he was 'versed in all liberal, sacred and ascetic knowledge; that he was aquainted with the Greek and Hebrew languages.' He would of course have Gaelic as his first language and was proficient in Latin. He 'united bodily labour with his studies.'
Saint Eunan gives us an account of the many miracles that Saint Colmcille worked and of his prophesies and of his angelic visitors and companions and how he converted the land of his missionary exile to the religion of Christ. When Eunan was young he and the High king of Ireland, Finnachta, became good friends and the latter helped him to become a priest. Eunan became his spiritual director. He became a missionary and spread the light of the Faith in Scotland and later became Abbot of Iona. Eunan sought and secured the release of hostages taken by force over the Irish Sea, by the Saxons. In his time there was famine and pestilence of cattle for three years in Ireland, a great frost so that the lakes and rivers in Erinn were frozen over, while the sea between Erinn and Alba (Scotland) was frozen to such an extent, that people used to travel to and fro on the ice, bloody rain fell and the moon turned into the colour of blood on the feast of St. Martin, and an earthquake was recorded in Armorica. It is not unknown for Sahara dust in rainfall to resemble bloody rain, and colour our view of the moon.
Eunan is said to have witnessed 'the joys of Heaven and the pains of Hell', and the reality of Purgatory was revealed to him. It is said he got revelations 'in the counsel of God and Saint Patrick'.
Pertaining to the death of Colmcille, Eunan relates a monk, or as the Gaels call it a son of life, that night saw Iona, where he had never been, as resplendent with Angelic Light and the sky also. Angels were sent from Heaven in troops to accompany his blessed soul to Heaven in a joyful funeral, singing loudly and sweetly. Some men who were fishing in ‘ the valley of the fish abounding River Finn’ saw the whole eastern sky illuminated by a large pillar of fire when they suddenly looked around, and it seemed to them to light up the world, like the sun, and when it penetrated the heavens, all the brightness stopped. For those interested in the fish abounding Finn the name of the person who saw the great light on the night of St. Colm’s death was Ferreol, and he became a son of life [monk] in Drumhome. When Eunan was only a boy he knew this monk but then he was very old. Eunan says that when he and his monks cut down what oak trees filled twelve boats in an other island, to repair the monastery, and when ready to return the wind was against them, they prayed to Saint Colm, and he got them a favourable wind to tail them home. Eunan was their Abbot from 679 to 704.
St. Eunan had a very precious reliquary, and when it was sent to Ireland to prevent a war or dispute in the North, the instructions given to the bearer, was to be exceedingly careful of it, for it contained the loin cloth worn on Calvary, a lock of the Blessed Virgins hair, and what she wore next her skin, the books of John the pure [the Evangelist]. The half of St. Martins cloak he gave the beggar [it was the Lord Himself], a bone of Finnian Cam. The cloak of Saint Enda of Arran, a tooth of Saint Declan of Ardmore. If there were any relics of Saint Colmcill there was no mention of them in the account I read. [Perhaps Donegal or Derry would claim them!]. St. Adamnan's Church, Skreen, County Sligo, is associated with this reliquary. Eunan's well and bridge are there yet.
Raphoe means 'the fort of booths or cottages'. Eunan's Bell, Bed, Round Tower and a Holy Cross which was the object of veneration, were extant in the 17th century. The present Catholic Church was started in 1878. An old name for Ballindrait is Droichet Adhamhain-Eunan Bridge. At Tara there was Eunan’s cross and the place of his tent – Eunan’s tent; he had been at Synods there and had got very wise laws passed. One place at Tara is called the Rath of the Synods. There is also there, Eunan's Mound and Chair. Eunan was instrumental in getting freedom from military service for women, and safety if their men were vanquished. He also introduced to Ireland and Iona, the Roman Rite for fixing the date for Easter, and the Roman Rite of Tonsure.An old Gaelic poem says 'To Adamnan of Iona whose troop is radiant, noble Jesus granted the lasting liberation of the women of the Gael'. Another 'The lofty Abbot Adamnán of Iona; what devout practice did he not lovingly increase in Alba, in Erin?' His remains were translated to Iona in October 729. Brian Boru standardised surnames in Ireland in his reign as High King, and many adopted Christian names and surnames. Eunan survives in Giolla – Adamhnain or Servant of Eunan.
On the column at the right hand side of the nave of the Cathedral in Letterkenny, there is a beautiful series of panels devoted to many striking incidents in the life of St. Colmcille, and on the left-hand side is the Eunan column, devoted to illustrations from the life of the founder of the diocese of Raphoe. Saint Colmcille is regarded as the founder of a church in Raphoe, although in after time, Saint Eunan became the chief patron.
The Four Masters add, that he was a good man, according to the testimony of Bede, 'for he was tearful, penitent, given to prayer, diligent, ascetic, temperate; that he never used to eat except on Sundays and Thursdays; that he made a slave of himself to these virtues; moreover, that he was wise and learned in clearly understanding the Holy Scriptures of God. He was known as the noble sage of the Western World and our saint was distinguished both for his virtues and miracles, and that he was scrupulously exact in citing authority for every statement he made, in writing on matters pertaining to history. In his time there were four injunctions (cains), Cain Pádraig – not to kill clergy, Cain Dari the Nun – not to kill cows, Cain Adamnan – not to kill women and Cain Domhnaigh (Sunday) – not to travel on a Sunday. 'The consecrated area of the church is declared to have been marked by three divisions: the first boundary was that by which laymen entered, and was called sacred; the second was allotted for females, and was called more sacred; and the third was for ecclesiastics, and was called most sacred.' Church and Abbey were sanctuaries in olden times and were useful refuges for retired kings, and guarantors for the safety of those lodged therein from outside interference, by others and themselves. He leaves us with advice for church law, sancturys and Rules of Life for priests, one of which is; 'That a priest may be absent but one day from his church; but should he be absent for two days, he must do penance for seven, on bread and water. In like manner, should he be absent one Sunday from the church, he must do penance for twenty days on bread and water; but if absent for two Sundays, he is to be removed from the dignity of his station.'
Saint Eunan Patron of Raphoe Look after us here below Guide our way to God And show us the way to go
We can ask Colm and Eunan to help us yet. It is an honour for our saints to call our children after their names and for our children. There is nothing better than keeping the Law of God. The ten commandments are for our protection.