Couples in Ireland could marry legally on St. Brigid's Day (February 1st) in Teltown, County Meath, as recently as the 1920’s by simply walking towards each other. If the marriage failed, they could "divorce'" by walking away from each other at the same spot, on St. Brigid’s day the following year. The custom was a holdover from old Irish Brehon laws, which allowed temporary marriage contracts.
Medieval laws in Ireland allowed a man to divorce his wife if she damaged his honor through infidelity, thieving or “making a mess of everything.”
The original Guinness Brewery in Dublin has a 9,000 year lease on it's property, at a perpetual rate of 45 Irish pounds per year.
The longest place name in Ireland is Muckanaghederdauhaulia, in County Galway.
Pogue Mahone translates into "kiss my a**" in Gaelic.
The Newgrange passage tomb in County Meath was constructed around 3200 BC, making it more than 600 years older than the Giza Pyramids in Egypt, and 1,000 years older than Stonehenge.
Saint Brendan is said to have discovered America 1,000 years before Columbus.
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love these random facts... for the marriage on St. Brigid's feast day, do you have any idea when that tradition first started? And why?
ReplyDeleteAnd what a good man I have... I've made a mess of everything more than once--and yet? Here we are, twenty plus years into our marriage--and three children, the smallest being a... John Ronan...