Comely maidens dancing at the crossroads . . . What nonsense is this

Shiraz 4.99

I've seen this saying quoted in a few historical pieces lately, one of the presenters on Newstalk seems to use it every so often.

What or who are "comely maidens" & why would they be dancing on a busy road junction, surely that unsafe ?.

Please feel free to fill me in on this curious saying.

Annasopra

Ever heard of google?

Ash.J.Williams

i stumbled up such a dance while lost in the midlands (offaly) usual irish country types and lord save us some of them were African looking, yet dressed like "maidens" from the last century

Kermit.de.frog

de Velera said this was his vision of Ireland.


The public didn't agree with his vision and comely maidens were dumped and replaced with rural electrification in Fianna Fáil's manifesto.

Hotfail.com

Something to do with de Valera and his wish to keep Ireland's traditional values in place, although it's actual a misquotation.

Enjoy.

catallus

Why are some people so eager to latch on to historical inaccuracies, solely to vent their splenetic anti-cultural vitriol?

And the poor man is cock of all his jests.....

Indeed, Dev's speech contained some good stuff: "With the tidings that make such an Ireland possible, St. Patrick came to our ancestors fifteen hundred years ago promising happiness here no less than happiness hereafter. It was the pursuit of such an Ireland that later made our country worthy to be called the island of saints and scholars. It was the idea of such an Ireland - happy, vigorous, spiritual - that fired the imagination of our poets; that made successive generations of patriotic men give their lives to win religious and political liberty; and that will urge men in our own and future generations to die, if need be, so that these liberties may be preserved."

Cool Mo D

It comes from a much mocked radio speech by DeValera during the second world war where he set out his vision of Ireland as rural, conservative, isolationist and religious.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ireland_That_We_Dreamed_Of

Antar Bolaeisk

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

Ever heard of google?

I searched Google maps and have yet to see any comely maidens at any of the cross-roads.

Have you any GPS co-ordinates?

FloatingVoter

Cool Mo D wrote: »

It comes from a much mocked radio speech by DeValera during the second world war where he set out his vision of Ireland as rural, conservative, isolationist and religious.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ireland_That_We_Dreamed_Of

Whats a Second World War ? We just had an Emergency.

Son Of A Vidic

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

Comely maidens dancing at the crossroads . . . What nonsense is this

OP has just arrived in 1937.

jimgoose

That was code for Luftwaffe bombing raids. Dev was actually an alter-ego of Lord Haw-Haw, or possibly vice-versa.

Barely There

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

What or who are "comely maidens"

Maidens are another name for women.
And to describe soemthing as 'comely' means you would like to cum all over it.

CrabRevolution

Mad how he's always quoted as saying that even though if you read the speech itself, there isnt a single mention of "comely maidens", dancing, or crossroads.

Fratton Fred

De Velera's vision of Ireland, full of happy, simple folk happy with living off the land, going to mass every Sunday and not wanting expensive material possessions.

Except for him, obviously, he was busy lining his pockets with the income from The Irish Press.

Good old Fianna Fail. Shafting people senseless since 1933.

castletownman

It refers to 1996 when Wexford won the All Ireland and the Wild Swans released the seminal classic "Dancing at the Crossroads" which reached the top of the charts.

The whole of Wexford literally danced at the crossroads that September

Shiraz 4.99

Barely There wrote: »

Maidens are another name for women.
And to describe soemthing as 'comely' means you would like to cum all over it.

So like that Kate Upton photo then, did Dev know about The Fappening.

Red Pepper

De Valera was a disgrace. He gave the Roman Church the power to ruin our new state for decades.
The comely maidens ended up in mother and baby homes.

Shiraz 4.99

CrabRevolution wrote: »

Mad how he's always quoted as saying that even though if you read the speech itself, there isnt a single mention of "comely maidens", dancing, or crossroads.

No, that struck me aswell, it's as if someone was asked to do a 140 character synopsis of the speech.

Davarus Walrus

Red Pepper wrote: »

De Valera was a disgrace. He gave the Roman Church the power to ruin our new state for decades.
The comely maidens ended up in mother and baby homes.

That's a rather easy perspective to take. While Dev was certainly isolationist and conservative; he certainly wasn't the only one who had an idealised version of Ireland. An Ireland that turned out to be one whereby we put people behind walls to forget about them. Nor was it all the Church. The Church and FF had such sway as they appealed to the sensibilities of the Irish people. A deeply conservative bunch of people. There wasn't this hidden burst of post-war liberalism waiting to burst forth from the Irish. A spectacularly weak CnG and FG opposition did little to provide a different perspective.

The Transformation Of Ireland by Diarmuid Ferriter gives a great account of this time.

topper75

Davarus Walrus wrote: »

... The Church and FF had such sway as they appealed to the sensibilities of the Irish people. A deeply conservative bunch of people. There wasn't this hidden burst of post-war liberalism waiting to burst forth from the Irish...

Aye. No leader can really 'make' people do stuff.

The bould former chancellor across the way wouldn't have been up to much if there hadn't been substantial anti-Semitic notions in position before he arrived on the scene.

A herd of sheep can be jostled onwards but it is not so easy to steer them where they plainly don't want to go.