Monday, March 28, 2011

The Blarney Stone

Kiss the stone and you will receive the gift of eloquence.  This myth doesn't have just one story but quite a few.  Some say the blarney stone has to do with the Queen and a comment she made about a young man's sharp tongue and called it "blarney".  Some say it was Jacob’s Pillow, brought to Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah. Here it became the Lia Fail or ‘Fatal Stone’, used as an oracular throne of Irish kings.  The Blarney Stone is one block of bluestone, the same material as the megaliths of Stonehenge. Some people believe the Blarney Stone is half of the original Stone of Scone upon which the first King of Scots was seated during his coronation in 847. Some say  that part of this stone was presented to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314.  It was his gift to the Irish for supporting the Scots in the Battle of Bannockburn.   Legend also has it that the blarney stone wasn't always in Ireland, it took a trip to Scotland and was later returned.  Whatever the truth is about the blarney stone the outcome is always the same, kiss the stone and be gifted with eloquence.  I myself have never been to Ireland, if I go, I would like to see the castle, but I'm not superstitious enough to kiss the stone. 

http://www.blarneycastle.ie/pages/kiss-the-blarney-stone


2 comments:

  1. I enjoyed this article but I was also, thinking if you kiss the stone you may get more than just eloquence right. I dont think I would be superstitios enough to contract some illness either. But I really enjoyed reading your post.

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  2. my mother is obsessed with the blarney stone she really wants to go to ireland and kiss it. I have no idea why but apparrenty it is good luck or something. Seems kinda silly to me.

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