I’ve been meaning to research the background on Ireland’s regions / provinces, not to be confused with the 32 counties (including the 6 in Northern Ireland). Most of the following content has come from various public domain sources such as Wikipedia and Irish websites, boiled down to the essentials.
Ireland has historically been divided into four provinces: Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster. The Irish word for this territorial division, cúige, literally meaning “fifth part”, indicates that there were once five; the fifth province, Meath, was incorporated into Leinster, with parts going to Ulster. The provinces of Ireland serve no administrative or political purposes, but function as historical and cultural entities. They’re used in various contexts, the most prominent being in the world of Gaelic sports, but recently I noticed that weather reporters would refer to the province names when reading off forecasts — and much to my own embarrassment, I didn’t know all of them.
Here’s a combined coat of arms for Ireland representing all four provinces and a map showing where each one is located:
The origins of these provinces (loosely federated kingdoms with somewhat flexible boundaries) can be traced to the overriding influence exerted in their respective territories by the great Irish dynastic families. Here’s a list of each of the provinces with the family names, crests, and descriptions translated from an early Irish poem.
Ulster:
Uí Néill / O’Neill
The Ulster coat of arms features a red hand against a gold background with a red cross, which comes from the coat of arms of the Burkes, a Hiberno-Norman noble family. In medieval Irish literature, several real and legendary kings were given the byname ‘red hand’ or ‘red handed’ (lámhdhearg or crobhdhearg). It signified that they were a great warrior, their hand being red with the blood of their enemies.
“Ulster in the north is the seat of battle valour, of haughtiness, strife, boasting; the men of Ulster are the fiercest warriors of all Ireland, and the queens and goddesses of Ulster are associated with battle and death.”
Munster:
Uí Briain / O’Brien
The Munster coat of arms of consists of three gold crowns on a blue field. The crowns are usually depicted as “antique” or “eastern”: a gold rim with eight sharp, triangular rays, of which five are seen. Similar crowns were included on the arms of Ireland before being superseded by the golden harp in the 16th century. The meaning of the crowns is not certain, but they might represent three of the medieval Hiberno-Norman lordships in Munster; the O’Briens (Thomond), the Butlers (Ormond) and the Fitzgeralds (Desmond).
“Munster in the south is the kingdom of music and the arts, of harpers, of skilled ficheall players and of skilled horsemen. The fairs of Munster were the greatest in all Ireland.”
Connacht:
Uí Conchobhair / O’Conor
The coat of arms of Connacht displays a dimidiated (divided in half from top to bottom) eagle and armed hand. These arms approximate rather closely to those of the Schottenkloster or Irish monastery founded in Regensburg, Bavaria in the 11th century.
“Connacht in the west is the kingdom of learning, the seat of the greatest and wisest druids and magicians; the men of Connacht are famed for their eloquence, their handsomeness and their ability to pronounce true judgement.”
Leinster:
Mac Murchadha-Caomhánach / MacMurrough-Kavanagh
The Leinster coat of arms displays a gold Irish harp with silver strings on a green field. These arms are similar to the arms of Ireland, which have the same harp but on a field of blue rather than green.
“Leinster, the eastern kingdom, is the seat of prosperity, hospitality, the importing of rich foreign wares like silk or wine; the men of Leinster are noble in speech and their women are exceptionally beautiful.”
Mide / Meath:
Uí Máeilsheáchlainn / O’Melaghlin
(the fifth province that is no longer included)
The Mide or Meath coat of arms comprises a monarch “in majesty”: that is, seated on a throne on a field of azure. The image reflects the fact that Tara, the seat of the High King of Ireland, was in Mide. The sceptre, shown to have six oval nodules, represented power, and the outstretched right hand justice; both of these were royal prerogatives.
“The last kingdom, Meath, is the kingdom of Kingship, of stewardship, of bounty in government; in Meath lies the Hill of Tara, the traditional seat of the High King of Ireland. The ancient earthwork of Tara is called Rath na Ríthe (‘Ringfort of the Kings’).”
Now on to other topics….
The news this week has been all about vaccines, vaccines, vaccines. The AstraZeneca vaccine was approved by the EU today, but the European commission was enraged by the announcement last Friday by AstraZeneca that it would only be able to deliver 25% of the 100 millon doses expected before the end of March due to a production glitch at its plant in Belgium. As a result, the EU just announced it will impose “export controls” (i.e., a ban) on vaccine doses produced inside the EU, with the UK being left off a list of countries that would be exempt. Some in the UK have called this an “act of aggression.” This is further complicated given the post-Brexit environment and the open border policy between Northern Ireland and the Republic. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about this in the days to come.
My SuperValu grocery delivery arrives before 11pm; it’s the Polish (?) delivery person again this time. He seems to have gotten more friendly since he knows me as a regular customer. Thankfully there were only a few items out of stock. It was a large order, so it took me two trips to haul the bags up from downstairs. I’ve already reserved the same delivery slot for next Friday morning, since they are getting booked up faster these days.
I’m still waiting for a package to arrive from the U.S. from my forwarding service. FedEx’s tracking originally estimated that it would be delivered on Wednesday, but it was still in Memphis, TN until yesterday (Thursday) evening. This morning the tracking showed it had arrived to Great Britain and then transferred to Dublin, with the status “package available for clearance.” However, then another update appeared saying it was “in transit” back in Memphis, TN. So who knows what happened or when it will arrive.
I was hoping to get out for a walk, but I stayed in just in case the package were to magically show up. In the meantime, I submitted another job application that’s been on my to-do list. The open position is a financial planning and analysis manager with Concern Worldwide, which is Ireland’s largest aid and humanitarian agency founded 50 years ago. Concern’s core work focuses on health, hunger and humanitarian response to emergencies in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. My skills and experience seem like a perfect match for the job, but the only hitch is that the position was posted by Concern’s U.S. affiliate organization, so I’m not sure if working from Dublin would be an option.
Dinner tonight is relatively easy: pre-made chicken tikka masala over basmati rice with some of the leftover spanakopita bites from Christmas Eve that I had frozen.
Until next time….
