Monday 17 March 2014

St Patirck's day and Irish Dance Video

As this is St Patrick’s Day and as I live in Northern Ireland I thought I would show you a few things associated with him. A few years ago I took a bus tour around the area and we visited Down Cathedral and other sites and I am showing you a few of the beautiful stain glass windows on this post.



Down Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a Church of Ireland cathedral located in the town of Downpatrick in Northern Ireland. It stands on Cathedral Hill overlooking the town.


Downpatrick is one of Ireland's most ancient and historic towns. It takes its name from a dún (fort), which once stood on the hill that dominates the town and on which Down Cathedral stands. Ptolemy, about the year AD 130, includes it (in Latin) as Dunum in his list of towns of Ireland. It has been an important site since ancient times and its cathedral is said to be the burial place of Saint Patrick.  Above is the stone where St Patrick is thought to have been buried.


It is claimed that when Saint Patrick came to Ireland in 432, strong currents swept his boat through the Strangford Lough tidal narrows and he landed where the Slaney River flows into the lough. The local chieftain, Dichu, was quickly converted and gave him a barn for holding services. Allegedly, Saint Patrick died in Saul on 17 March 461 and is buried in nearby Downpatrick. The modern "Saint Patrick's Memorial Church" is built on the reputed spot of this building and includes a replica round tower.



Two miles outside Downpatrick, this church at Saul was built in 1932, to commemorate Saint Patrick's first church in Ireland.







I have inserted a video of an Irish Group dancing and I hope if will give you the spirit of St Patrick's Day.

You can access the video at

http://youtu.be/HgGAzBDE454

If there is a black space below,click it and the video will appear.



I hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of the history of St Patrick, the wonderful stain glass windows and the Irish Dancing.

Thank you for visiting.

Many thanks for all you left comments on  any of my posts, facebook or google plus.

17 comments:

  1. LOVE those windows. And am in complete awe at the craftsmen (I assume men) who built them. Thank you.

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    1. Hi EC Glad you liked the windows. Thanks for comment. Happy St Patrick's Day.

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  2. Have a good St Patrick's day Margaret. Lovely shots of the windows...not sure about the dancing though!!...[;o)

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    1. Hi Trevor Many thanks for comment. You could dance better? Wow! I would love to see that! Now don't drink too much Guiness today!

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  3. Oh my Margaret these are gorgeous photos and interesting to learn about St Patrick. Happy St Patrick's Day to you.

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  4. What incredible windows. A great post for today. Happy St Patricks Day

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  5. Happy St Patricks Day Margaret, I love Irish dancing! I will toast St Patrick with a Guiness later - good for my iron stores which are exceedingly low at the mo!!!! Have a wonderful day!

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  6. Wow, the stained glass windows are gorgeous.. Great post and Happy St. Patrick's Day, Margaret!

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  7. Oh those stained glass are absolutely colorful and gorgeous! Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

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  8. Happy St. Patrick's Day Margaret. Thanks for the tour and those beautiful stained glass windows. They are gorgeous. We love the Irish dancing. We saw the River Dance at Providence Performing Arts Center many years ago and it was just fabulous. What a great way to start my day, with all this energy. Enjoy your day!

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  9. beautiful cathedral and church. thanks for sharing some of st. patrick.

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  10. Beautiful post! Thank you Margaret!

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  11. cracking photos of the glass panels Margret.


    peter

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  12. This is a perfect post for St. Patrick's Day. The stained glass windows are beautiful, as are the churches themselves. I also enjoyed the video -- I've seen Riverdance several times and have always enjoyed it.

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  13. The beautiful cathedral and wonderful stained glass windows.
    I love to dance and Irish music.
    Beautiful post.
    Greetings.

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  14. You have to have the best St patricks day post ever! Love the history of St Patrick, and the church view and the windows are wonderful. Love seeing that rock where he is buried. I also absolutely love the video of the dancing. So shall I imagine, since you are Irish, that you can dance like this???

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  15. Generally I don’t read post on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up very forced me to try and do so! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, very nice post. Best of luck for the next! Please visit my web site centralfloridairishdance.com. Best Learning Irish dance service provider.

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