The Warrior Gael
“The noblest, the bravest, the wisest of men is helpless when unarmed he meets in the jungle the tiger hungry for blood. Ireland met her tiger. If she gets away from its claws and yet again walks abroad unarmed she will indeed deserve to perish.”
The Doctrine of Nationality
The Irish Martial Tradition
The Gaels have often been described as a “warrior race”, and while this is reductive of the many, indeed disproportionate, artistic, cultural and scientific achievements of the Irish, it is nonetheless a noted and striking part of our tradition which should be vigorously renewed and embraced.
In much the same way that oriental martial arts are celebrated in song and story, our own lineage of fighting skills has drawn the admiration and the awe of many. The loss of such arts is a grievous loss not only to Ireland, but to the world.
These traditions must be restored to the greatest extent possible and proudly cherished. Ideally they should be taught in our schools, just as similar traditions are taught to children in countries across Asia, providing great benefits to fitness, manual dexterity, strength, mental focus, self-realisation, confidence and personal discipline.
They should become indelibly associated with the Irish in the popular imagination of the world as a symbol of our separate identity, and the fire of that invincible spirit whose strength has been demonstrated consistently throughout history, burning brighter with each challenge.
Innumerable historical and mythohistorical references to Irish martial arts can be found in abundance in documents listed earlier, so in the following sections we will list the individual skills and weapons used, and share some ideas about how they might be restored.
Notice
Please note: the following sections consist of opinion pieces not intended to be construed as health, sporting, legal or medical advice or directions. If you intend to make radical changes to your diet or start any course of exercise, consult your doctor or a qualified medical professional before doing so.
Any actions undertaken are done so entirely at the risk of the individual in question, this publication and its authors take no responsibility for any injuries incurred.
Getting Started
Although there is enough information in the following pages to allow anyone to achieve a good degree of proficiency in the listed martial art, it’s best if you can find a few friends to try these out with, whether in a gym or in your own facilities.
Some of the skills already have a well-established teaching tradition (such as boxing) but you should practise and train these among your own peer group even if you initially learn from a professional tutor.
Chapter List (click to read):
1. Foreword
2 The Irish Language
3. Reading
4. Making and Shaping
5. The Physical Gael
6. The Warrior Gael
- The Crios Belt
- Open Hand Traditions
- Collar and Elbow Wrestling
- Gaelic Weapons
- Seanbhata
- Seanbhata Basics
- Seanbhata Guards
- Seanbhata Strikes and Blocks
- Seanbhata Close Fighting
- The Heroic Feats
7. Tradition and Culture
8. Organisation
The project will follow in their footsteps along the path laid down by Hyde, O'Conaire, MacNeill, Cusack and many others through sharing news, ideas, articles of Irish cultural interest and more, as well as helping to support Irish language and cultural initiatives. You can find out more about An Claíomh Solais by clicking on the buttons below, or join our team as we begin the great Gaelic restoration!
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We've been talking about his amazing work for and with his community, as well as his aspirations and plans for the future.
ACS: Can you tell us a little about yourself, your background, and where you're coming from?
RC: Sure. So I’m a small business owner (I run a commercial gym, a martial arts club
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Today we're talking to Gavin from a prominent and influential online discussion group, the X SPACES Éire Community. This very active group has at one time or another hosted many well-known nationalist names and continues to grow in both size and influence.
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OI: I am an Offaly man, born and bred, now in my la
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ACS: What made you decide to get involved with the Irish Ireland cause, was there one particular event or was it more of a process?
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The last address of Thomas MacDonagh
There is not much left to say. The Proclamation of the Irish Republic has been adduced in evidence against me as one of the Signatories. I adhere to every statement in the Proclamation. You think it already a dead and buried letter, but it lives, it lives. From minds alight with Ireland’s vivid intellect it sprang; in hearts aflame with Ireland’s mighty love it was conceived. Such documents do not die.
The British occupation of Ireland has never for more than one hundred years been compelled to confront in the field of fight a Rising so formidable as that which overwhe
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From A Hermitage - DECEMBER 1913
I was once stranded on a desert island with a single companion. When two people are stranded on a desert island they naturally converse. We conversed. We sat on a stony beach and talked for hours. When we had exhausted all the unimportant subjects either of us could think of, we commenced to talk about important subjects. (I have observed that even on a desert island it is not considered good form to talk of important things while unimportant things remain to be discussed.)
We had very different points of views, and very different temperaments. I was a boy; my companion was
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On Emigration
From An Claidheamh Soluis, July 18, 1903.
In a letter to the Freeman’s Journal of Friday last, the Hon. Secretary of the Anti-Emigration Society directs attention to the grim figures revealed by the latest emigration returns issued by the Board of Trade.
‘They show,’ she writes, ‘that 23,401 Irish emigrants left the United Kingdom in the first six months of the current year as against 20,610 in the corresponding period of 1902, and that the outflow has therefore increased by 2,791 for the half year. Over two thousand of this incr
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