Monday, January 14, 2008

The unforgettable fire

And this is the Hill of Slane:


In the 5th Century, according to legend, St. Patrick lit a fire here in defiance of the pagan king, High King Laoire. The king was impressed and allowed St. Patrick to continue his missionary work, although the king himself was never converted to Christianity (and was, according to our guide, buried in Celtic fashion—standing up, with a sword in his hand). The structures in this picture are the ruins of a friary church, which was restored in 1512, and a college.

Our guide also said that the name of U2’s album The Unforgettable Fire referred to St. Patrick’s fire on the Hill of Slane. In fact, U2 did hold the initial recording sessions at Slane Castle. So who knows. What is certain is that our tour guide was a great fan of U2, and the soundtrack for our tour consisted of many many selections from U2. Alternating with those from Riverdance.

2 Comments:

At Mon Jan 14, 02:54:00 PM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

*And if the mountains should crumble
*or disappear into the sea
*not a tear
*no, not I...

 
At Tue Jan 15, 11:49:00 AM EST, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ha ha, Riverdance!

Was it really Riverdance, or just random traditional-sounding Irish music?

 

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