In This Issue 1996
Seamus Heaney
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
Lightenings viii
The animlas say: when the monks of Clonmacnoise
Were all at prayers inside the oratory
a ship appeared above them in the air.
The anchor dragged along behind so deep
It hooked itself into the altar rails
An then, as the big hull rocked to a standstill.
A crewman shinned and grappled down a rope
And struggled to release it. But in vain.
'This man can't bear … [Read more...] about Seamus Heaney
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
Clinton’s Irish
TRIUMPH
On November 30, 1995, US President Bill Clinton made a historic visit to Northern Ireland.
By Brian Rohan
No American president could have dreamed it better: a clear, crisp night after seven days of rain: 100,000 Catholics and Protestants gathered outside Belfast City Hall, not for an angry protest but rather a peaceful celebration; warm-up act by Belfast's native … [Read more...] about Clinton’s Irish
TRIUMPH
Sláinte: The Mighty Salmon
While health practitioners now praise the protein and amino acids provided by salmon, it has long had its place in Irish history simply because it is such good eating. Every year more than 180,000 people visit Ireland expressly to engage in an activity that has been one of the island’s top drawing cards since the first intrepid hunter-gatherers arrived over 7,000 years ago: … [Read more...] about Sláinte: The Mighty Salmon
Sláinte! The Night of Cakes
By Edythe Preet, Columnist.
November/December 1996. Republished in Winter 2022.
No Christma-a-as! No Christma-a-as!” Such was the town crier’s chant in the streets of 17th-century Dublin when Ireland felt the hammer blow of Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan iron fist. Garlands of greenery were pulled down and publicly burned. Revelry was forbidden. Priests were imprisoned. But the Irish people found ways to celebrate their most loved holiday despite the … [Read more...] about Sláinte! The Night of Cakes