RE: Origins of the red hand of Ulster (OT) (Hist)

Just to support this story. Look in your local librabry under Irish
Mythology and it is consitently recorded as Neil has written here.

OK, maybe not the smartest way to win an island!?

-----Original Message-----
From: The cat that walks by Himself [mailto:catwalk@ibm.net]
Sent: Wednesday, 28 October 1998 5:33
To: FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
Subject: Origins of the red hand of Ulster (OT) (Hist)

WARNING THE FOLLOWING IS WRITTEN BY A UNIONIST PROTESTANT AND THEREFORE
IS
LIKELY
TO HACK OFF REPUBLICAN SYMPATHISERS. IF YOU BACK THE TERRORISTS THEN
DON`T
GURN AT
ME IF I OFFEND YOU.

The red hand of Ulster has nothing to do with the long running terrorist
campaign
going on here. Nor does it have anything to do with the Roman Catholic
faith
though it would make a good symbol for it. (A argumentative comment I
know,
but
given the crimes against humanity commited in the name of that faith can
you
argue
otherwise? I won`t even mention the R.C.`s attempts to exterpate
Protestantism
from Ireland) The red hand stems back to pagan times, the story goes
like
this:-
a ship is approaching a new island (Ireland, more specifically Ulster)
for
the
first time, the captain of the ship says he will give the island to the
first of
his crewmen to touch it. The crew all gather at the front of the ship
planning on
swimming to shore when they get close enough. The ship gets close enough
and
crewmen go into the water. One of the crewmen, who wasn`t in the first
wave
into
the water, cuts his hand off and throws it at the shore, it touches the
land
before any of the swimmers and thus he got the island. (Though if he had
known
what he was getting he would probably not have bothered and our symbol
would
be a
hand dripping water or some such other sillyness). The hand is red to
symbolise
the blood that flowed when he cut it off.
Or at least such is the origin story I was told.

Neil Simpson

Thomas Anderson wrote:

>
>
> ulster (if the south escaped evil british clutches once again) - could
be
> a red hand; this is a traditional ulster symbol, god knows why.
probably
> stained with the blood of catholics or something jolly like that :-(.
>