You’ve seen the phrase “Kiss me, I’m Irish”, perhaps on a t-shirt or a hat while out celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Did you know it originates from the legend of the Blarney Stone? Kissing the Blarney Stone is supposed to bring luck and eloquence. However, if a plane ticket to Ireland isn’t in your future, the phrase suggests that kissing an Irish person is the next best thing!
The Blarney Stone is built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, which is about 5 miles from the center of Cork City in Ireland. There a number of stories about the origin of the stone and the legend surrounding it. The most traditional involves the goddess Cleena. The builder of Blarney Castle, Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, was involved in a lawsuit in the 15th century. He appealed to Cleena for help, and she told him to kiss the first stone he found in the morning on the way to court. He did, and plead his case with great eloquence and won. He then incorporated it into the parapet of the castle.
Other stories about the Blarney Stone claim it was acquired during the Crusades or that it’s made from the same stone used at Stonehenge. Another account says its part of the Stone of Scone, which was used in the coronation of Scottish and English monarchs. And some contend that it was gift from Robert the Bruce, king of Scots, to MacCarthy for sending men to help him defeat the English. In 2014, geologists from the University of Glasgow gave some clarity about the origin of the Blarney Stone. They determined that it’s made of 330 million year old limestone that came from the South of Ireland.
It’s generally thought that the tradition of kissing the Blarney Stone started in the 1800s. Millions of people have kissed it since then, with an estimated 400,000 people visiting the castle every year. Kissing the stone isn’t super easy. You have to climb to the peak of the castle, then lean backward over the edge of the parapet, which is usually accomplished with the help of an assistant. It’s now fitted with wrought iron guide rails and protective bars, but before these safety measures, participants were held by the ankles and dangled over the edge.
A piece of the Blarney Stone supposedly made its way to Texas Tech University. On Saint Patrick’s Day 1939, the president of Texas Tech and the president of the college’s Electrical Engineering Building, unveiled the Blarney Stone monument. It was said to have been discovered by a group of petroleum engineers on a field trip. At the time, it was reported that the stone was identical to a piece of the original Blarney Stone which disappeared from Blarney Castle in 1659. It’s not known how this was determined, but to this day it’s said that seniors who kiss the Blarney Stone upon graduation will receive the gift of eloquent speech.