Ireland's biggest natural disaster happened in 1839 a hurricane not too long before the famine. In Irish it's called Oíche na Gaoithe Móire. One thing for you to know is that Nollag na mBan is Little Christmas or the 6th Read more
Ireland's biggest natural disaster happened in 1839 a hurricane not too long before the famine. In Irish it's called Oíche na Gaoithe Móire. One thing for you to know is that Nollag na mBan is Little Christmas or the 6th of January (the twelfth night) when the gates of heaven are said to close, hence those references to that. And as usual it's been a learning experience for me writing this one. I hope you get something from it.
The Night of the Big Wind Enda Reilly 2025
Come gather round and hear
Faoi Oíche na Gaoithe Móire
For it was in the year of 1839
A deadly storm appeared
Struck without a warning
Lord God have mercy on
The Night of The Big Wind
Sunday was strangely calm
It being Nollag na mBan
A flag of snow lay soft
Like fleece upon the land
As the quicksilver fell
The temperature was rising
Not a soul prepared for
The Night of The Big Wind
The gates of heaven
This twelfth night started closing
Chimneys falling
Rooftops began exploding
Families fleeing, crawling
Lest they be blown away
Lord God have mercy on
The Night of the Big Wind
From Buncrana to Belfast down to Blarney
From New Ross to Kilkenny to Coolany
Three million trees down, birds and livestock slaughtered
Fires raged and water devastated.
In Mondays aftermath
They fed and clothed their neighbours
For when such terror strikes
We must rely on favours
And when the world seems like
It’s coming to an end
Lord God have mercy on
The Night of the Big Wind
Lord God have mercy on
The Night of the Big Wind