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I don't think they can compete with the Gaelic passion for the manly art of boxing.

hi Lawrence,

good to see your interest in all things gaelic. I was not intending to make it a competition between the passion for boxing and wrestling. both are realy good sports. I was merely stating where one could get information on Celtic wrestling.

I should note , though, that the earliest forms of wrestling worldwide included strikes with the fists and feet. As to the Gaelic passion , Wrestling is yet another passion of the Gaelic peoples, as is evidenced by the pictorial references of wrestling on some Celtic crosses and other art work.If you have information on Celtic Spirituality and boxing I'd love to here it. My references to wrestling were intend to show the connection between Catholic/Orthodox spirituality and Celtic wrestling. I did this in order to show that there were options for those of us who want a Christian Culture in the physical realm inside of many martial Arts' pagan philosophies. Celtic wrestling serves this purpose, because the Fathers of the Church make reference to wrestling as a metaphor for spiritual combat and it combines Celtic culture with these references. I was in no way implying boxing was not a passion of the Gaelic peoples. I would greatly appreciate any references that might show spirituality and boxing being taught together as a path of spirituality. That would make my day too.

In Gouren, a form of Celtic Wrestling,
a profession of being Christian was made along with an oath that they would not use witchcraft to win against their opponent. There is therefore a direct reference to our faith as an intrinsic part of these arts. This is the theme I was introducing here in this thread. Yet as I said if you have any references to boxing being an intrinsic example of Catholic/ Orthodox Spirituality I would be ecstatic.

All God's Blessing to you all here,

Mike , a poor sinner

Dear Daniel,

No offense was taken by anyone, Big Guy!

You add so much to the forum with your insights - we all cherish and value you very highly!

God bless you on this Thanksgiving Day!

Alex

Thanks, Alex. Even when we've had our moments of strife I've welcomed your sense of humor [and your ever-fascinating wealth of knowledge]. God bless you on this, our only civic holyday!

Dear Daniel,

We Canucks in Canuckistan up here used to celebrate Thanksgiving with the U.S., but then this was changed at some point and moved to October. I guess someone wanted to "Canadianize" it . . .

One issue is that Canuckistan is so multicultural that we don't have a national self-identity like you Americans.

Sniff . . .

Anyway, happy Thanksgiving!

Alex

Canuckistan!

Dia duit Anam Cara!

I've never had the pleasure of collar wrestling, I've been more of a hurler myself (an have got the X-rays to prove it)


-Brendan

Brendan,

I'm so glad to meet you. I'm so glad to see another Celtic athlete. Have you ever had the opportunity to try Scottish backhold wrestling? We have a Scottish heritage society in Bakersfield, and I'm going to try to introduce various forms of Celtic wrestling here including scottish backhold to this group.

Slan,

Mike, a poor sinner

Dia Duit Brendan,

For clarification, I'd like to state, that I'm going to introduce backhold wrestling and Catholic spirituality to the Scottish Heritage Society.

Dia Duit Brendan,


Would you like a link to Scottish Backhold Website? if so let me know I'll PM you and others that want the URL for this kind of wrestling.

Slan,

Mike

Didn't John Paul II condemn boxing as inherently immoral? After all, while one may be injured playing other sports in boxing injuring one's opponent is the aim of the thing.
Attempting to spiritualize what is essentially ass-kicking strikes me as a bit absurd.

Daniel,

I understand your concerns...I hope you understand that my primary concern was with wrestling as an expression of spiritual combat. The eastern Fathers used wrestling as such expression as did St.Paul in Ephesians. I have a book that mentions also that wrestling was used as a means to show that the Church saved not only souls but bodies as well. I hope that clarifies my position at least.

Blessings in Christ Our God,

Mike , poor sinner

Alex and Others,

I've found a international Celtic Wrestling group to join and if I'm accepted I'll be able to gain credibility as a spokesperson and teacher for Celtic Physical Culture combined with Catholic Spirituality. Please pray I'm accepted.


Mike poor wornout sinner

Dia Duit ,

I was doing more research on Collar and Elbow Wrestlng as I know it was brought to the states by the Irish. Vermont was the premiere state for this type of Celtic Wrestling. What I also have discovered is that many of our presidents practiced Collar and Elbow Wrestling. Most notable was George Washington, our first President. This he learned at a finishing school for gentry. The site where this information can be found is:

http://www.bloomington.in.us/~southmat/famous.html


While this does not show any Catholic Spirituality connection perse. It still shows, I think, a very Catholic influence on our earliest national founding fathers. Please feel free to to go to the site and read.


Slan,

Mike , a poor sinner