Greg Daly
@gregdaly.bsky.social
Jack of all trades, master of some. Dublin-born and Drogheda-based author of Cannae: The Experience of Battle' and editor of ‘1916: The Church & the Rising', Nine-time CMA award winner. One-time future world leader. Mostly tired.
Reading this about Martinmas sacrifices - www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2... - and a 1939 ‘Béaloideas’ article, and indeed having read numerous pieces recently from the School’s Folklore Collection, I’m still puzzled by the assumption of pagan connections. /1
Why November 11th was a day for blood sacrifice rites in Ireland
Blood sacrifices involving pigs, sheep or geese were practiced in Ireland well into living memory on Martinmas
www.rte.ie
November 11, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Reading this about Martinmas sacrifices - www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2... - and a 1939 ‘Béaloideas’ article, and indeed having read numerous pieces recently from the School’s Folklore Collection, I’m still puzzled by the assumption of pagan connections. /1
Reading this about Martinmas sacrifices - www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2... - and a 1939 ‘Béaloideas’ article, and indeed having read numerous pieces recently from the School’s Folklore Collection, I’m still puzzled by the assumption of pagan connections. /1
Why November 11th was a day for blood sacrifice rites in Ireland
Blood sacrifices involving pigs, sheep or geese were practiced in Ireland well into living memory on Martinmas
www.rte.ie
November 11, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Reading this about Martinmas sacrifices - www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2... - and a 1939 ‘Béaloideas’ article, and indeed having read numerous pieces recently from the School’s Folklore Collection, I’m still puzzled by the assumption of pagan connections. /1
Reposted by Greg Daly
Friends, as a member of the Religious Liberty Commission I am watching the Body of Christ be denied to Catholic detainees, and inspired by the great twentieth-century Trappist Thomas Merton I am meeting this moment with the most powerful tool in the contemplative’s arsenal: silence.
November 1, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Friends, as a member of the Religious Liberty Commission I am watching the Body of Christ be denied to Catholic detainees, and inspired by the great twentieth-century Trappist Thomas Merton I am meeting this moment with the most powerful tool in the contemplative’s arsenal: silence.
Today being All Souls’ Day, I’ve accordingly updated my blog with my annual list of the dead: thethirstygargoyle.blogspot.com/2025/11/for-... I really should consider doing more with the blog than just listing each year people to pray for, but still: that’s something.
For those who have gone before
Today being the feast of All Souls, or The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, as my missal has it, it's once again time to revisit ...
thethirstygargoyle.blogspot.com
November 2, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Today being All Souls’ Day, I’ve accordingly updated my blog with my annual list of the dead: thethirstygargoyle.blogspot.com/2025/11/for-... I really should consider doing more with the blog than just listing each year people to pray for, but still: that’s something.
Pumpkins, like the notion that winter won’t start for another month and a half or so, are for the weak.
October 31, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Pumpkins, like the notion that winter won’t start for another month and a half or so, are for the weak.
It is very odd that despite it being almost 2,000 years since Juvenal noted that tyrants could anaesthetise the crowds with circuses and bread - www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/... - there are those who still think no, surely the bread’s superfluous. Man can live on circuses alone!
Juvenal (55–140) - The Satires: Satire X
Juvenal: The Satires: Satire X - in a new freely downloadable translation
www.poetryintranslation.com
October 26, 2025 at 11:54 PM
It is very odd that despite it being almost 2,000 years since Juvenal noted that tyrants could anaesthetise the crowds with circuses and bread - www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/... - there are those who still think no, surely the bread’s superfluous. Man can live on circuses alone!
Today we visited the Sainte Chapelle, met the wonderful @theefantomas.bsky.social, and learned that sometimes you just have to crush a duck.
October 11, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Today we visited the Sainte Chapelle, met the wonderful @theefantomas.bsky.social, and learned that sometimes you just have to crush a duck.
Not the first time, I’m struck by the insight, eloquence, and backbone of Gloria Purvis: www.americamagazine.org/faith-and-re... I wish she didn’t have to draw back the curtain on reality so often, but am grateful she does so.
What are Black Catholics hearing when church leaders praise Charlie Kirk?
For many Black Catholics familiar with Charlie Kirk's full record, endorsements of his message by Catholic leaders can be devastating.
www.americamagazine.org
October 7, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Not the first time, I’m struck by the insight, eloquence, and backbone of Gloria Purvis: www.americamagazine.org/faith-and-re... I wish she didn’t have to draw back the curtain on reality so often, but am grateful she does so.
M. Incroyable’s civilian look is a pretty decent disguise.
August 30, 2025 at 10:00 AM
M. Incroyable’s civilian look is a pretty decent disguise.
A funny thing about “peace deals” made over the heads of countries being carved up - Czechoslovakia didn’t have to accept Munich. Feeling betrayed, it did so, and so bolstered German power, feeling it owed even less to its treacherous supporters than to its obvious enemy.
August 9, 2025 at 12:39 PM
A funny thing about “peace deals” made over the heads of countries being carved up - Czechoslovakia didn’t have to accept Munich. Feeling betrayed, it did so, and so bolstered German power, feeling it owed even less to its treacherous supporters than to its obvious enemy.
Very reasonable behaviour by The Lord in the first reading at Mass today, persuaded as he is by Abraham that just people shouldn’t be killed alongside sinners, and saying he won’t wipe out whole cities if there are even ten good people there. I feel there might be a lesson worth heeding in this.
July 27, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Very reasonable behaviour by The Lord in the first reading at Mass today, persuaded as he is by Abraham that just people shouldn’t be killed alongside sinners, and saying he won’t wipe out whole cities if there are even ten good people there. I feel there might be a lesson worth heeding in this.
Not a bad day. Superb, challenging homily at Mass. Glorious weather with boats on the Boyne. Cinematic temptations resisted and enjoyed. Gentle afternoon views over the river. And an absolutely stunning book - a heartbreaking, heartwarming, imprecatory psalm of a book - finished.
July 13, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Not a bad day. Superb, challenging homily at Mass. Glorious weather with boats on the Boyne. Cinematic temptations resisted and enjoyed. Gentle afternoon views over the river. And an absolutely stunning book - a heartbreaking, heartwarming, imprecatory psalm of a book - finished.
Today I learned that a dear friend and the best lecturer I’ve ever had has died: rip.ie/death-notice... Vic Connerty shaped me as he did countless others, and regular coffee and other meetings with him over the decades since his retirement was always a joy. The world is so much poorer now. RIP.
June 21, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Today I learned that a dear friend and the best lecturer I’ve ever had has died: rip.ie/death-notice... Vic Connerty shaped me as he did countless others, and regular coffee and other meetings with him over the decades since his retirement was always a joy. The world is so much poorer now. RIP.
Wise words here, well worth keeping in mind: “Today we are felled by destiny - tomorrow this could be your destiny.”
June 20, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Wise words here, well worth keeping in mind: “Today we are felled by destiny - tomorrow this could be your destiny.”
Settling in for an evening at the (amphi)theatre. Looking forward to the gladiators most of all.
June 20, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Settling in for an evening at the (amphi)theatre. Looking forward to the gladiators most of all.
This is a remarkably agile article, leaping as it does with aplomb from one false premise to another and another and another, nonchalantly pirouetting on points of logic to argue two contrary things simultaneously. It’s a case study on how it’s worth reading slowly with a pen in your hand.
Today’s London Standard has a big report on how the capital “isn’t working”. It blames immigrants, especially Muslims, and the lack of “White British”. It asks “if there’s a minimum number of natives” at which London must give it up its status as the UK capital. www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/lond...
June 19, 2025 at 5:46 PM
This is a remarkably agile article, leaping as it does with aplomb from one false premise to another and another and another, nonchalantly pirouetting on points of logic to argue two contrary things simultaneously. It’s a case study on how it’s worth reading slowly with a pen in your hand.
Right, so. Enough of this madness. Avanti!
June 17, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Right, so. Enough of this madness. Avanti!
My dad’s not much of a man for Father’s Day stuff - he deems it nonsense - but still, days like today are useful occasions to underline how lucky we are to have had him all these years.
June 15, 2025 at 11:20 AM
My dad’s not much of a man for Father’s Day stuff - he deems it nonsense - but still, days like today are useful occasions to underline how lucky we are to have had him all these years.
What’s wrong, hon? You’ve hardly touched your souvenir traditional Irish gummy eggs.
June 8, 2025 at 10:18 AM
What’s wrong, hon? You’ve hardly touched your souvenir traditional Irish gummy eggs.
Took a selfie on the way to work this morning. It felt appropriate.
May 29, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Took a selfie on the way to work this morning. It felt appropriate.
@mariafarrell.bsky.social I keep thinking of questions I want to bore you with. But for now, here’s one, if I may. Any tips of how to extricate ourselves from the AI aspects of our online lives? It seems harder and harder to use anything now without “suggestions” on how to improve it.
May 25, 2025 at 11:23 AM
@mariafarrell.bsky.social I keep thinking of questions I want to bore you with. But for now, here’s one, if I may. Any tips of how to extricate ourselves from the AI aspects of our online lives? It seems harder and harder to use anything now without “suggestions” on how to improve it.
Enjoyed my pre-work stroll this morning. The birds seemed to be having a good time.
May 23, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Enjoyed my pre-work stroll this morning. The birds seemed to be having a good time.
Well, Dublin. You were great. Good to be back on the Boyne now, though.
May 15, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Well, Dublin. You were great. Good to be back on the Boyne now, though.
I’m constantly baffled by immigrants and the children/parents/spouses/friends of immigrants, in whatever country, cheering for rhetoric and measures intended to prevent immigration. I mean, whatever the issue, “okay for me but not for thee” is disgusting politics. Can’t they see that?
May 13, 2025 at 6:31 AM
I’m constantly baffled by immigrants and the children/parents/spouses/friends of immigrants, in whatever country, cheering for rhetoric and measures intended to prevent immigration. I mean, whatever the issue, “okay for me but not for thee” is disgusting politics. Can’t they see that?
I think this fabulous thread is *almost* spot-on. It’s more likely, I think, that Lucas did understand what he was doing - he was hugely influenced by how Kurosawa dumped western viewers into a tiny piece worn and exotic world. But it’s as though he *forgot* this, or was tempted away from it.
To me, there's one basic reason why Star Wars (1977) -- the first trilogy, but particularly the first movie -- was good and basically every subsequent SW property got worse (Andor excepted).
Crucially, *George Lucas never understood it*. He did not understand why SW took off. Never did.
Crucially, *George Lucas never understood it*. He did not understand why SW took off. Never did.
May 11, 2025 at 1:19 PM
I think this fabulous thread is *almost* spot-on. It’s more likely, I think, that Lucas did understand what he was doing - he was hugely influenced by how Kurosawa dumped western viewers into a tiny piece worn and exotic world. But it’s as though he *forgot* this, or was tempted away from it.