This is a poll to see which person you like the least! All of these characters are Irish and have been featured in my previous blog posts. I will be very disappointed and upset if anyone chooses WIlde as their least favorite.
I’m sure you are all familiar with the Harry Potter films, but did you know that a good portion of the actors are Irish? In fact, a few of the important actors are Irish.
(In the first two films)
I could imagine that most of you are now cringing at the name Stokes and fumbling with your mouse to hit the exit button. Please trust me that he was actually an interesting person and not just some boring guy that you learn about in math class.
George Stokes was born in County Sligo, Ireland, 1819. Stokes was brought up in a very religious house hold; his parents raised him as an evangelical Protestant. Stokes was also raised to have an active mind. His father taught his children various things while they were growing up; he even taught them Latin! While his three older brothers grew up to be priests, Stokes chose a different path.
In 1841, Stokes graduated from Cambridge college. He graduated as Senior Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos. From there, he began his fellowship at Pembroke College. This allowed Stokes to involve himself in different areas of research; Stokes published many papers on this research. His research was focused mainly on the study of fluids but he did publish important papers on the aberration of light. Eight years after his graduation, Stokes was appointed into the Lucasian professorship of mathematics in Cambridge (this was the same position as Newton!). This was where some of his greatest advances in science occurred.
Famous Irish writer and poet, Oscar Wilde, was born in Dublin, 1854. His parents, Lady Jane Francesca and Sir William Wilde, were gifted writers. Writing, however, was only the mother’s profession; Oscar’s father was a specialist in eye and ear diseases. Oscar’s mother, a women’s rights activist, could be blamed for Oscar’s eccentric clothing style.
Throughout Oscar’s education (Oscar Wilde studied at “Portora Royal School, in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh (1864-71), Trinity College, Dublin (1871-74) and Magdalen College, Oxford (1874-78) “) and life, he was often ostracised for his weird sense of fashion. This fashion that started when his mother used to dress him up as a girl, was ridiculed especially after his trial. This trial was brought about when rumours spread of him and Alfred Douglas preforming sexual acts on each other. Oscar was convicted for preforming acts of sodomy. During his time in jail, he wrote, in my opinion, some of his best works.
Favorite work done by him: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19410
Famous Poet, James Joyce, was born February of 1882, in Dublin. The oldest of ten siblings, Joyce spent his childhood in the small town of Bray. Beginning at age six, Joyce was educated by Jesuits Wood College, and then at Belvedere College in Dublin. In 1898, Joyce enrolled at the University at Dublin. Joyce started his career in 1900 with the review of New Drama which was published in Fortnightly Review. He also started writing poems in 1900, which he later published in “Chamber Music.” Joyce is famous for many of his works. A very popular book of his was “Ulysses.”
There is also a great collection of James Jocye’s works at our library!
http://library.buffalo.edu/pl/collections/jamesjoyce/catalog/
Clive Staples Lewis was born on November 29, 1898 in Belfast, Ireland. As a child, Lewis and his older brother spent their days creating stories and illustrations. Their nurse often read them stories about ancient gods and Irish mythology. When Lewis was seven, his brother left for boarding school. This gave Lewis hours of time to himself. He quickly began reading his father’s books and working on his own stories.
Shortly after Lewis’ mother died, he was also sent to boarding school. Lewis attended many boarding schools, often miserable in each new one. He escaped his misery by burying himself in books. Soon, his father allowed him to study under a tutor. This lead him to be accepted into Oxford and much later, graduate with honors.
Two of my favorite works by him are “Space Trilogy” and “The Great Divorce.”
The day preceding Ash Wednesday- Shove Tuesday- is commonly known as pancake Tuesday. In Ireland, pancake Tuesday got it’s name from a popular tradition. During lent, Catholics are supposed to abstain from eating eggs or other dairy products. So, the people of Ireland would make pancakes to use up the remaining eggs and milk they had.
Another popular tradition on pancake Tuesday, though not enforced so much today, is getting married. Couples were banned from marrying during lent, so couples often scurried to marry before Ash Wednesday. If a daughter was left unmarried on the night of pancake Tuesday, she was to toss the first pancake for good luck.
For today’s poll, I’ve asked for you to choose between four dishes:
1) Shepherds pie
2) Bengali Fish Curry
3) Fufu
4) Apple Bee’s Ribs
Link to poll: http://polldaddy.com/poll/4844811/
Mysteriously in September 1845, a strange disease had destroyed nearly half of the potato harvest in Ireland. This strange disease that had turned many potatoes black and poisonous was known as the Irish potato blight. This was a year of hardship for those who depended on potatoes. This was mainly due to the shortage of harvest which led to a big rise in the prices.
During the spring of 1846, farmers planted more potatoes with the thought that the blight was a one time occurrence. That fall, they found out that they were quite wrong. Nearly all of the potato crop had been wiped out leaving almost no harvest. There were some cases of starvation in Ireland but the real deaths occurred in the following years of 1848 and 1849.
During the years of 1848 and 1849, the blight had successfully killed a good portion of the crop. Many people were found to be starving and sick. As an effect of people being weak with little food, disease had spread. Soon that disease started to kill many of the young and old. 1849 was found to be the year where the most had died. This was also the year when Cholera had struck (Cholera being a disease that causes infection in the small intestine). The proceeding year of 1850 was a better year for the crop. In fact, the blight had almost completely disappeared.
Scientists today say that the blight was cause by a fungus that they named Phytophthora Infestans. This fungus that struck the farms of Ireland is estimated to have lead to the deaths of nearly one million Irish citizens. This tragic event is recorded to be the greatest years of death in Ireland’s history.
edit (4/18/2011): Added media and updated text
Thought up by the Finnish, folk racing has became a very popular sport in Europe. There are little to no rules, little qualifications for entry, and a guarantee of fun. In folk racing, participants race one another on an 800 meter track that consists either of gravel or pavement. The tracks are designed so that speeds of over 80 kilometers an hour are near impossible. Participants must be over the age of five (no driving permit needed), and must own a vehicle that meets minimum safety requirements. These vehicles have a limit to how much money may be spent on them but there is no limit to how much you may modify them. Seeing as some drivers may be more mechanically inclined than others, drivers are aloud to purchase each others vehicles without refusal. This allows the race to not be about the cars, but rather the skills of the drivers. This sporting event is particularly interesting in Finland.
Folk racing takes place every weekend all over Finland. Some say that folk racing has contributed to the over whelming amount of skilled drivers in Finland. That is also the reason why folk racing is so much fun to spectate there.
Saint Patrick was born into a wealth family during the fourth century. His father was a Christian deacon. Despite this, it is believed that his family was not particularly religious. Saint Patrick lived in Britain until he was sixteen. During his sixteenth year, Saint Patrick was taken prisoner by Irish raiders. The raiders took him back to Ireland where he was held captive for about six years. During his captivity, he worked as a shepherd. Afraid, Saint Patrick turned to Christianity.
According to Saint Patrick, he heard God’s voice in a dream. The voice told him to escape his captors and return to Britain. While returning home, Saint Patrick had a second vision. This time an angel told him to return back to Ireland and spread the Christian faith. Saint Patrick then started his religious training. This training to become a priest lasted a little over fifteen years. When Saint Patrick was ready, he sent off to Ireland.
Saint Patrick, with the help of some already Irish Christians, began to convert Ireland to Christianity. Instead of using traditional Christian rituals, Saint Patrick decided to incorporate some Irish pagan rituals into his ceremonies. One of these native Irish rituals was the use of bonfires to praise Gods. Saint Patrick also modified the traditional Christian cross to better suit the Irish. He did this by placing a sun, which is a symbol to the Irish, onto the cross. This cross is also known as a Celtic cross.
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