WHY PEOPLE KISS
THE BLARNEY STONE
G'day folks,
The Blarney Stone is a block of Carboniferous limestone built into
the battlements of Blarney Castle, Blarney, about 8 kilometres from
Cork, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser
with the gift of the gab.
Kissing
Ireland’s Blarney Stone, a tradition that’s been around for several centuries,
is said to give a person the gift of eloquence and persuasiveness. The iconic
stone is set in a wall of Blarney Castle, constructed in 1446 by Dermot
McCarthy, king of Munster, on the site of a demolished 13th century
castle.
Various legends surround the Blarney Stone’s origins. One story holds
it was acquired during the Crusades and brought to Ireland, while another tale
claims it was made from the same material used at Stonehenge. An additional
account links it to the Stone of Scone (also called the Stone of Destiny),
which was used for hundreds of years in the coronation of Scottish and English
monarchs, while yet another legend contends it was a gift from Robert the
Bruce, king of Scots, to Cormac McCarthy, king of Munster, for sending men to
help Bruce defeat the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
However, in
2014, geologists from the University of Glasgow shed some light on the Blarney
Stone’s heritage when they concluded that the famous rock isn’t from Scotland
but instead is made of 330-million-year-old limestone local to the south of
Ireland.
The word
“blarney,” meaning skillful flattery or nonsense, supposedly came into use
following an incident involving the head of the McCarthy family and Queen
Elizabeth I, who ruled England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603. The queen sent
the earl of Leicester to seize Blarney Castle but the talkative McCarthy
managed to keep stalling him. The queen grew exasperated by the earl’s reports
about the lack of progress in the matter and uttered something to the effect
that the reports were all “Blarney.”
Today, people
travel from around the globe to give the Blarney Stone a peck (which must be
done by leaning backward while holding onto two railings). Winston Churchill is
among the notable figures who’ve kissed the stone, doing so in 1912 when he was
First Lord of the Admiralty. Who’s to say that smooch didn’t bestow a little eloquence
on Churchill, who went on to become British prime minister in 1940 and earn a
reputation as a masterful orator?
Clancy's comment: One can only assume that all politicians have been there and done that.
I'm ...
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