Today is the anniversary of one of the great natural disasters in Irish history; the massive hurricane that swept accross the country on January 6 and 7, 1839, and earned the title, “The Night of the Big Wind” (Irish: Oídhche na Gaoithe Móire). The catastrophic storm destroyed ships, tore apart harbors, decimated crops and farmlands, killed thousands of livestock, birds and wild animals, destroyed homes, knocked down walls, collapsed thatched roofs (many catching fire), destroyed an estimated 25% of homes in Dublin, left hundreds dead, uprooted hundreds of thousands of trees, and cost millions.
“Herrings were found six-miles inland—lifted bodily out of the sea and blown through the air the whole way...”
“We would say that, for the violence of the hurricane, and deplorable effects which followed, as well as for its extensive sweep, embracing as it did the whole island in its destructive career, it remains not only without parallel, but leaves far away in the distance all that ever occurred in Ireland before” (Dublin Evening Post, January 12, 1839).
Some said the storm was God's wrath (The Twelfth Night or the Christian “Night of the Epiphany”—or is it the evening of the 5th?). Not really sure why, but you know, it’s that whole mysterious ways thing...
Others said the Feemasons brought the Devil up from Hell, and the storm ensued as the Masons were trying to drag him back to the underworld...
Some blamed the “Wee People,” (Leprechauns or Fairies) who, apparently while partying to the Nth degree during the January 5, 1939 feast of Saint Ceara (Ceara established a nunnery in Munster in the 7th century—definitely deserving of beatification and a feast), created the wind in the wake of their revelry...
Others also blame the storm on Leprechauns and Fairies, but believed after the celebration the Leprechauns and Fairies decided to leave Ireland forever and that the storm was created in the wake of their departure...
Some even went out on a limb and said it was a hurricane…
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