From: The cat that walks by Himself <catwalk@i...>
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 19:33:05 +0000
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