SNIPPET: In 1649, when Oliver CROMWELL came to Ireland, determined to bring the entire population to the Protestant faith, he once ordered the Irish natives to go "to Hell or to Connacht...," to make room for his planters. Maybe he, too, got it right by happenstance. Many millions of visitors would, today, join with the natives in claiming that Connacht is so far away from Hell that it is, in the words of Patrick PEARSE, as close as you can get on this earth to the gates of Heaven. Galway and Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon and lovely little languid Leitrim, these are stops along the twisting road which runs west into the heart of Connacht. Along the edge of that road in a small place called Rosmuc in Connemara, one can still visit Patrick PEARSE's cottage, the summer holiday home of the schoolteacher-poet who championed the clandestine Irish Republican Brotherhood and was later executed for his part in the Easter Rising of 1916. One imagines he must have often sat inside the small windows dreaming his revolutionary dreams and writing poetry, "The little fields where mountainy men have sown, And soon will reap, Close to the gates of Heaven." Although by far the poorest of the provinces economically, it is, by common consent, infinitely the richest in what it has to offer those who comes to see, to hear, to smell, to touch; to taste the core of a culture. Gaelic is still the musical mother tongue in parts of Connemara as it is on many of the offshore islands where the tough yet delicate currachs nimbly dance on waves, as durable as the culture itself. There are many more musicians per acre of flute, fiddle and accordion than anywhere else except maybe in Co. Clare. In the quietest corners of the great mountains of the west there are still hardy bands of moonshiners in a ritual, although illegal, almost as old as the hills themselves. Hay is still cut and saved the old, slow way on many farms, turf is burned aromatically through old chimneys, salmon are still poached from the rivers as they have always been poached. The Currach Boat-racing Competition is the highlight of "An Patrun (the pattern) Festival" which is held at the end of June on the island of Inishmore in honor of St. Peter and St Paul's feast day. Three-man rowing teams come to Inishmore from all over Connemara and the nearby islands to compete with ancient rowing skills; nowadays the event has taken on a "new" spirit which allows the "fairer sex" to demonstrate their prowess on the sea. State grants are helping to preserve thatched cottages, approximately 2,550 nationwide with 500 of which are found in Connacht. The cottages in the Aran Islands would have been typically made of rye straw and rope. Visitors from Northern Ireland pour into Connacht in their tens of thousands when summer comes to get away from the hustle and bustle. You can still see Connemara funeral groups following the coffins to seaside cemeteries in Carraroe, Co. Galway.

Cromwell came to Ireland for more reasons than converting the people to protestinism ala the 7th and 11 centuries style of the early Muslims. He came to steal the land and to murder whole towns of people who opposed him. In history he was pretty much a psychopathic freak of nature, not a hero by any standard. The other side of history can be pretty bad when told what it was. Don Kelly ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean R." <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 11:43 AM Subject: [IGW] CROMWELL ("To Hell or to Connacht") ---- PEARSE ("Close Tothe Gates of Heaven") > SNIPPET: In 1649, when Oliver CROMWELL came to Ireland, determined to > bring the entire population to the Protestant faith, he once ordered the > Irish natives to go "to Hell or to Connacht...," to make room for his > planters. Maybe he, too, got it right by happenstance. Many millions of > visitors would, today, join with the natives in claiming that Connacht is > so far away from Hell that it is, in the words of Patrick PEARSE, as close > as you can get on this earth to the gates of Heaven. > > Galway and Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon and lovely little languid Leitrim, > these are stops along the twisting road which runs west into the heart of > Connacht. Along the edge of that road in a small place called Rosmuc in > Connemara, one can still visit Patrick PEARSE's cottage, the summer > holiday home of the schoolteacher-poet who championed the clandestine > Irish Republican Brotherhood and was later executed for his part in the > Easter Rising of 1916. One imagines he must have often sat inside the > small windows dreaming his revolutionary dreams and writing poetry, "The > little fields where mountainy men have sown, And soon will reap, Close to > the gates of Heaven." > > Although by far the poorest of the provinces economically, it is, by > common consent, infinitely the richest in what it has to offer those who > comes to see, to hear, to smell, to touch; to taste the core of a culture. > > Gaelic is still the musical mother tongue in parts of Connemara as it is > on many of the offshore islands where the tough yet delicate currachs > nimbly dance on waves, as durable as the culture itself. There are many > more musicians per acre of flute, fiddle and accordion than anywhere else > except maybe in Co. Clare. In the quietest corners of the great mountains > of the west there are still hardy bands of moonshiners in a ritual, > although illegal, almost as old as the hills themselves. Hay is still cut > and saved the old, slow way on many farms, turf is burned aromatically > through old chimneys, salmon are still poached from the rivers as they > have always been poached. > > The Currach Boat-racing Competition is the highlight of "An Patrun (the > pattern) Festival" which is held at the end of June on the island of > Inishmore in honor of St. Peter and St Paul's feast day. Three-man rowing > teams come to Inishmore from all over Connemara and the nearby islands to > compete with ancient rowing skills; nowadays the event has taken on a > "new" spirit which allows the "fairer sex" to demonstrate their prowess on > the sea. > > State grants are helping to preserve thatched cottages, approximately > 2,550 nationwide with 500 of which are found in Connacht. The cottages in > the Aran Islands would have been typically made of rye straw and rope. > Visitors from Northern Ireland pour into Connacht in their tens of > thousands when summer comes to get away from the hustle and bustle. > > You can still see Connemara funeral groups following the coffins to > seaside cemeteries in Carraroe, Co. Galway. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >