Ireland's Brehon laws were far before their time

sham1977 on Jun 07, 2011, 04:56 PM EDT "To IC - I know this is an interesting article, however, you ran this before and not that long ago either!!!!" Did it ever occur to you that not everyone reads Irish Central every day? People have to work, travel for business or vacation etc. Lots of folks might have missed this article, so it's good to repeat it. Don't be so self-centered.

adrienrain: It has been a long time since the Brehon laws governed the care of old people. Oat cakes and sour milk don't sound good to me today either. The important point is that in Irish culture and under her ancient laws there was regocnized a sacred obligation to care for the elderly so that they lived in dignity and compfort at the end of their lives. It is un-Irish to leave the old to fend for themselves. The message is as important today as ever it was in history.

St.Patrick banished all the snakes in Ireland they all left for the U.S. and joined the GOP.

To IC - I know this is an interesting article, however, you ran this before and not that long ago either!!!!!

We were looking to take the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead and my wife asked an older fellow: where do we catch the Irish ferry?...he thought she said "fairy" and said that they are very hard to find and catch, but best bet is in the countryside, maybe up around Howth, or down in Wicklow. He seemed to know about Leprechauns and where to look....we explained to him we meant the ferry boat to Holyhead and we all had a good laugh.

Of course Leprechauns are there. We were taught about them in Catholic school in southern california by our Irish priests...WHO DID NOT ABUSE ANYONE...and even our well educated nuns with Irish heritage. Sweden has its little people, too, Tomtars, or as most people would call them gnomes...and there are Trolls, too, most of them in the US Senate, but many still live in the countryside.

adrienrain, the Brehan law is better than what our society does with the old folks...warehousing isn't living...should be in the homes of their kids being cared for and loved..not just considered pains in the rear and stuck away where there is no familial love.

" If a woman makes an assignation with a man to come to her in a bed or behind a bush, the man is not considered guilty even if she screams. If she has not agreed to a meeting, however, he is guilty as soon as she screams." Makes more sense than our laws that even if a woman comes to a man's room, gets in bed with him, and has sex, if she screams before he completes it, he is accused of rape. Interesting predicament that puts all men into.

OMG, Trealach, I didn't realize we had leprechauns here in the US too!!!!!

@SeamusMor - Leprechauns do indeed exist. They are notably sly little buggers who will steal the eye out of your head and come back for the eye-lashes. They will spin you a story that only God would disbelieve. Today however, they are referred to as POLITICIANS!!

someone gave me a book on Brehon laws and I didn't find them particularly enlightened, tho' interesting. " When you become old your family must provide you with one oatcake a day plus a container of sour milk. They must bathe you every 20th night and wash your head every Saturday. Seventeen sticks of firewood is the allotment for keeping you warm." That should drive up the suicide rate for aging parents.............

The Brehon laws reflect the wisdom of a legal system in tune with human nature. There were a couple dozen causes for divorce in ancient Ireland, and none after the St. Patrick and the Church weighed in on the issue. The Irish were taught to disgard their old beliefs by the priests. Not completely sold on the new ways, one might hear an Irishman say "I don't believe in Lerechauns....but I know they are there!