Sunday, March 21, 2004

How to Kiss the Blarney Stone

My Nana was fond of saying, "He kissed the Balrney Stone".  At an early age I just assumed I knew what it meant, that the person had the gift of gab.  As a child, I loved to go through my mothers photographs of her youth.  They are tear you up funny.  I vividly remember the one of her kissing the Blarney Stone, laying on her back, leaned over a ledge, smacking the lips against a wall of limestone, in a dress no less! This was in the late 40's, every lady wore a dress.

The legend is this......The stone originally belonged to the Scottish and was considered half the Stone of Scone.  Scottish Kings were crowned over the stone.

The stone was a gift to the Lord of Blarney, who set the stone in a tower of the castle in 1446.  Queen Elizabeth was making demand on the Irish to occupy their lands under her!  Lord Blarney "handled every royal request with  subtle diplomacy without giving in".  Elizabeth conined the phrase "a lot of Blarney".

Then the legend is embellished with the casting of a spell of an old woman who told the King that if he kissed the stone while under the spell he would be able to speak sweetly and convincingly.

So those of us who believe, when we kiss the Blarney stone gain the ability to speak with eloquence, cleverly, and persuavise flattery.

Quite a bargain.

 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

OH THANKS FOR THIS INFO. I LOVE IT WHEN INFORMATION IS PASSED THAT I DONT KNOW....JOHN

Anonymous said...

Kissing that stone sounds like a lot of "Blarney" to me. Regards, Bill.

Anonymous said...

I remember hearing that when we were there ... but, nothing could convince me to kiss the stone everyone else was kissing!!! I'll continue to stumble over my words.

Smilin Mon

PS ~ is that YOU in the picture kissing the stone?

Anonymous said...

Ah, thanks for the explanation. And, thank you so much for the card. I had a real crappy day at work Friday and came home to find it in my box. It was a nice perk to my spirits. Give me a couple of days, and I will definitely be replying!
:-) ---Robbie

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, being a bit germ-phobic, do ya think they'd mind if I used an alcohol pad to clean off some of the germs first? lol...

Anonymous said...

Interesting bit of history. I've heard the term kiss the Blarney stone but didn't know its origin. Question: Why do kissers have to lay on their back to kiss it like that?

Anonymous said...

I've always loved that story. Do you think it might work if I gave you my proxy?