August 7 Dublin to Kildare to Mullingar to Kavan (110 miles)

We flew from Porto to Dublin on Saturday, Aug 5. We hung around Dublin Saturday and Sunday and enjoying familiar food and hearing Mass in English again. On Monday, fully refreshed and with a backpack of clean clothes, we rented a car to begin our Irish wanderings.

Driving on the wrong side of the road has been easier to get used to than we thought. The reminder on the windshield helps :). We talk our navigation out loud! “Left, curb to curb.”, “Right, go wide.” The narrow, two-lane, very winding with blind curves roads we will never get used to! Below is just one curve of hundreds we’ve been around. The speed limit is often 80k (50mph). CRAZY! There is simply no where to pull over for passing. We learned that public areas can’t be trimmed back from like April to September for ecological and conservation reasons. Driving is definitely a sport here requiring 100% attention! I have to admit to white knuckles at times bracing for impact. Every once in a while, Joe shakes out his hands when he realizes he’s been gripping the wheel for an extended amount of time.

Lynn told us we’d have to look out for the sheep, and we’ve had to do it all over the country. They seem to be very street-wise even though they come right up to it. Sometimes they lay on the road – maybe soaking up some afternoon heat?? Anyway, its part of life here, and certainly keeps us in touch with nature!

St Brigid’s Cathedral in Kildare

St Brigid (451-525) is one of three national saints of Ireland (along with St Patrick and St Columba). Very little is known about St Brigid. Some historians suggest that Brigid is a Christianization of the Celtic goddess, Bríd. St Brigid’s feast day is 1 February, and traditionally it involves weaving Brigid’s crosses and many other folk customs. It was originally a pre-Christian festival called Imbolc, marking the beginning of spring.  

</(BEGIN RANT)  The Roman empire stopped at Ireland’s shore. Rome referred to Ireland as “the land of winter” and never conquered it. There was a close affinity between the Christian faith and traditional Irish spirituality. St Patrick wove the two together. They fit was so naturally that there were no martyrdoms as Christianity spread throughout Ireland –the only place on earth this happened. Noble families devoted themselves to Christianity and built many monasteries. St Patrick brought the best of Roman religion and learning to the island and this continued to thrive in its many monasteries while the rest of Western Europe descended into the Dark Ages.  

An illiterate Europe of warring tribes emerged. Rather than the pursuit of learning, arts, and culture, those tribes were preoccupied with filling the power vacuum left by the collapsed Roman Empire. Many of the monasteries started under St Patrick sent books and missionaries to Western Europe during the Dark Ages, filling the void after Rome collapsed. >/(END RANT)

A physical church has been on site since 480 although not originally associated with St Brigid. The structure has (been) burned at least 16 times. The basis of the current Cathedral structure date to 1223. It fell into disrepair during the Reformation (1500’s). The current structure has been standing since 1896.

In addition to the shamrock and Celtic harp, Brigid’s cross is a national symbol of Ireland. It is a Christian derivation of the swastika.  Single swastikas began to appear in the Neolithic Vinca culture across south-eastern Europe around 7,000 years ago.  It symbolized “well being” until Hitler used the Swastika to symbolize “the bright light after the dark winter” in reference to bringing Germany back to prominence after the humiliating defeat of WWI.

Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar

We read that there was a beautiful church (and the best hot chocolate in Ireland) in Mullingar, so we pointed the car in that direction. As we entered the town we started passing groups of people heading to the town center. As we got closer, there were more people, cars, and detour signs. To make a long story short, we eventually made it to the church, and it WAS beautiful. We also dumb-lucked ourselves into one of Ireland’s biggest traditional music festivals. We spent a couple hours wandering around the lovely (-with an Irish accent!) town of Mullingar listening to bands, watching spontaneous dancing, and eating some great food from this little town. And the hot chocolate was some of the creamiest I’ve ever had!

Drumlane Abbey, County Cavan

St Columba brought Christianity to Drumlane in 555. The region has many lakes formed in the limestone bedrock during the last ice age. Between the Vikings and two rival families in the area, the church kept getting burned down, even though both of the rival families buried their relatives in the church cemetery.  I guess it’s like rioting and burning your own town when you win the Super Bowl or burning a couch (Ohio St) after a football game. I am trying to start a rumor that the saying “this is why we don’t have nice stuff” started here, but nobody likes my idea. Anyway, in 1821 the townspeople built a new church away from the feuding families. There are illegitimate kids, unpaid taxes, and a bunch of other stuff in the history of these families. I guess if your church is always being repaired from the last time you burned it, it’s hard to learn why you should do stuff like that to begin with? The lakes and trees made for a beautiful setting.