Calliope articles from March 2009

Calliope archives from March 2009

A friend's eye is a good mirror.(MUSINGS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... --Irish proverb WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT EARLY IRELAND? At least two facts about Ireland today probably come right to mind: It is an island in the Atlantic, close to England, Scotland, and Wales, and the festivities held on March 17, St....

Who were the Irish Celts.
March 1, 2009... Visit Ireland today and the language, sports, music, and art are all vivid reminders of how important the Celtic past is to the Irish. The Celtic period corresponds to the latter part of the Iron Age. While it definitely is the period that has...

Ireland's early houses.
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ireland's earliest houses were made of wood, straw, and mud. Because these materials rotted away long ago, leaving no visible clues aboveground, few remains of buildings have been uncovered. There are, however,...

At home on a Crannog.
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ireland's crannogs are among its most remarkable archaeological sites. Originally small circular islands built of stone, wood, and clay, upon which prehistoric and medieval peoples once lived in their island...

Life among the Celts.
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Who you were in early Irish society and what you could become depended on how you were related to important people by birth and by marriage. The main social unit was the clan, or cenel. Clans were divided into...

Steeped in legend.
March 1, 2009... Content not available due to copyright restrictions

"Stone of destiny".(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The Hill of Tara is one of the best-known sites in Ireland. Here were held the ceremonies officially inaugurating the Kings of Meath and even the High Kings of all Ireland. Today, the smallest monument on the Hill of Tara for the visitor to see...

Mystery pits.
March 1, 2009... Have you ever heard of a fulacht fiadh (full-oct fee ah)? More than 4,500 of them have been found in Ireland alone. The phrase dates to the 1600s and describes an old type of monument found in both Ireland and Parts of Britain. It translates as...

Into battle.
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ancient Ireland may have been a place of beautiful green pastures and picturesque coastlines, but it was also a place where good farming and grazing land was scarce and where cattle raiding and wife-stealing made...

Test your sight!(ACTIVITY)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Celtic designs are unmistakable, and artists through the centuries have copied and adapted them for various projects. Below are two, both based on those crafted by the ancients. The top one is a maze--actually, a double maze! Can you find both...

Gaeilge Abu!(IRISH PROVERB)(Irish forever)
March 1, 2009... Irish is the official spoken language of Ireland. But if you travel the country today, most people will address you in English. The reason why is a story that begins sometime around 500 B.C., when the Celtic people first settled on the island....

Cuchulainn and the Tain.
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Although we usually imagine archaeologists digging in the ground, they occasionally may find themselves excavating something far less solid, such as ancient tales. For example, archaeologists have not only worked on...

Don't mess with the boy warrior.(CuChulainn)
March 1, 2009... When CuChulainn was about five or six years old, he was already an expert at hurley (see page 40) and other games. Armed with toy weapons, he journeyed alone to his uncle's royal court in Ulster. Upon arriving at the court, he found a troop of...

Unscramble the names.(ACTIVITY)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Use the clues below to unscramble the 10 names. Hint: All are found in "Don't Mess with the Boy Warrior," pages 33-36. 1. CuChulainn's father gave him this name at birth. NEASATT -- 2. There was a royal court in this province. ...

The Irish harp.
March 1, 2009... Ireland is the only country in the world that features a musical instrument, the harp, as its national symbol. And no wonder! People there have been playing the harp for centuries. We find images of harps carved into the high crosses of Ireland...

Word origins.(FUN WITH WORDS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... BOG Ever visited a bog? Perhaps not--they are common in southeastern New England, but not throughout the United States. Ireland has many bogs--areas that consist of spongy ground filled with decaying mosses that form peat, which people use...

A 'Weighty' word!(FUN WITH WORDS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... In this issue, you have read about the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. Wonder how the letters "lithic" connect the two? Well, it is almost a direct transliteration of the Greek word for "stone"--lithos. But what does it have to do with...

Word stories.(FUN WITH WORDS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... BROGUE Let's start with the definition: a pronunciation peculiar to a dialect, especially that of English as spoken by the Irish. The origin, however, is a bit muddied. It may be from the Gaelic barrog, which means a "wrestling...

Let's play!(Hurling)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Hurling is an Irish amateur game played by two teams of 15 men on a pitch slightly larger than that used for soccer. The female version is called camogie. The sport has a long history, dating back at least to A.D....

Celtic vestiges: in the modern world.(FROM PAST TO PRESENT)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The love of intricate Celtic patterns never completely died in Ireland. After the 12th century, as Gothic art grew fashionable across Europe, manuscripts produced in Ireland (see pages 47-49) began to lose their...

Celtic Mythology A to Z.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2009... Celtic Mythology A to Z by Gienna Matson (University of California Press, 1998, www.factsonfile.com) includes more than 400 concise, well-written entries that tell of deities, folk heroes, customs, archaeological discoveries, and much more. ...

The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore.(Celts: Images of Their Culture )(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2009... The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore by Patricia Monaghan (Checkmark, 2008, www.factsonfile.com) is for everyone interested in legends and folklore, especially those of the Celts. The 1,000 entries cover mythic and heroic figures,...

On the net.(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... For those who wish to view and learn more about Ireland and Irish culture, click on the National Museum of Ireland's Web site at: www.museum.ie/ Here's a site titled "Celtic Art Cultures," and it has many links and images: ...

Ask Calliope.(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... I have been studying about Africa and read the word "kilindi." It said it was used for money. Was it? !In the late 1800s, tribes in western Africa--among them the Kissi, Toma, and Bandi--used iron rods that were 8 to 30 inches long as...

Elephants.(From our Readers)(Poem)
March 1, 2009... Elephants While gluing plastic buttons onto my paper plate hat, the teacher announces: "During the Festival, no one will walk alone; instead, we'll walk in pairs." Crimson flushes my face as I glance toward a boy with...

From Pagan design to the work of angels.
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Celtic artists were creating a unique mix of artistic expression in the fifth century B.C. Using compasses, they shaped circles, spirals, scrolls, and other swirling motifs into dizzying designs. Tucked among the...