St. Patrick is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century. But what became of those who did not convert? Let us think on these things on St. Patrick’s Day.
What Happened to the Tribes? – by Don Mathis
What happened to the tribesmen
sold as slaves from 1650 Ireland?
To rid the island of the heathen,
the Governor brother and his Cromwell King
shipped thousands of men –
and even more women and children –
to markets of the West Indian.
One slaver, wanting only daughters,
got a letter from ’Henry of the Uprighte Harte,’
“I think it mighte be of like advantage
to your affaires there, and to ours heer,
if you should thinke fitt we sende
2,000 young boys from 12 to 14
to the place aforementioned.
We could well spare them…”
Did they die on the cruel passage
on the middle seas?
Did they survive the fevers
of New World disease?
Did they marry their traditions to Black Africans?
Creating the Voodoo of unknown origins?
Was Gaelic really spoken
by 19th century Caribbeans?
Can you comprehend
words with Irish tinge
in today’s Jamaican?
The search for answers goes through jungles.
The paths are overgrown.
Truth may never be known.
What happened to the tribesmen of Ireland?
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Photo credit: Saint Patrick Catholic Church (Junction City, Ohio) – stained glass, Saint Patrick – detail
Nheyob on Wikimedia under CC License
