The Quest to Pick Up the Lost Lifting Stones of Ireland

September 2, 2023 7:15 AM

For centuries, Ireland’s stones were more than just a feature of the rugged landscape: The ability to pick them up off of the ground had deep practical and spiritual meaning. Lifting stones were used in tests of manhood (and, in a few cases, womanhood), hoisted at funerals to honor the dead, carried at weddings in celebration of the couple, and used to determine whether a man was strong enough to earn work as a farmhand. But in the 18th and 19th centuries, during British colonization, the practice largely vanished. Most of the stones remained untouched where they were last lifted. (archive.today link)
posted by Etrigan (12 comments total)

The first known stone-lifting feat comes from ancient Greece, from the sixth century BCE. The 316-pound stone bears the Iron Age equivalent of an Instagram flex: “Bybon son of Phola has lifted me over head with one hand.” (Historians say that is unlikely.)

Listen, just because that's only ~14 lbs less than the current world record for a one-arm overhead press...
posted by jedicus at 7:24 AM on September 2, 2023 [7 favorites]

Wonderful article, thank you for posting. I admire all of the people researching and finding historical lifting stones and naming new ones.

Six years ago I found the documentary Stoneland on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MhQlNwxn5oo

I was instantly obsessed and said that I would lift the Dinnie stones and began training. In 2019 I flew to Scotland and put wind beneath the stones, and was able to meet many of the people in the documentary. Absolutely one of the most moving experiences of my life.

Everyone should pick up a stone.
posted by Skrubly at 8:01 AM on September 2, 2023 [43 favorites]

David Keohan was on the Blindboy Podcast a while ago, and they talked about the Liam O'Flaherty story that first got him thinking about lifting stones. It's a beautiful story.
Thanks for posting -- I wouldn't have seen this otherwise.
Here's David writing about the Challenge Stone of Inishmore.
posted by Francolin at 9:10 AM on September 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

This is great, thanks for the post. In 2021 I visited Iceland and we saw the lifting stones at Dritvík, which got a mention in the article. I lifted 3 of 4, which made me "half-strong", but couldn't manage the fourth. In my defense it was raining slightly and the stones were slick, but honestly a 154kg stone is a borderline lift for me under perfect conditions.

I didn't realize how widespread the tradition was, although I should have guessed, the Highland games being what they are. I wonder if anyone is lifting stones around where I am.
posted by egregious theorem at 12:22 PM on September 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

This is pretty charming, but I must (Metafilter!) register my exasperation with calling competitions "functional strength in the strictest sense". Getting the plough breaking stone out of the field, building the field wall, building a house, the fishing itself, that’s the functional stuff.

Maybe I have this backwards. Are there people who would feel better after digging a drainage ditch in my field? Because there’s a lot of reed canary grass to mattock out and that’s almost as good as shovel glove, nearly.
posted by clew at 2:33 PM on September 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

I slipped a disc just reading that. Guess I'm not going to get paid much as a fisherman.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 5:04 PM on September 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

I was just thinking about archaeological oceanside feast sites in Ireland which featured natural and augmented cauldron like depressions in rocks, in which seafood was cooked by adding stones heated in fires to a mixture of ocean water and gathered seafood, and how that might tend to enhance a person's regard for stones in general — especially in light of the fact that I’m a fair way along toward the worship of cooking pots, myself.
posted by jamjam at 8:06 PM on September 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Mod note: One weird derail about US deleted.
posted by taz (staff) at 10:17 PM on September 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

File under Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should
posted by tafetta, darling! at 11:26 AM on September 3, 2023

Lifting of stones for physical and spiritual reasons is common around the world. For example, among the Straits Salish peoples of southern Vancouver Island:

"The lifting of stones was sometimes associated with powerful engagements with the supernatural. A specific kind of transformer stones were “lifting stones,” large round stones used in weight lifting contests by young men during events such as potlatches (e.g., Duff 1956; Kirk 1986; Roy 2010). Those stone were considered to be “alive like a person” and a guardian of the people (Leen 1981). Like the transformer stone Yicksack, lifting stones may have also been associated with weather control (Sampson 1972)." (source)
posted by Rumple at 2:12 PM on September 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

I thought I knew a good bit about Ireland, but this lifting stone business was news to me!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 9:41 PM on September 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

There are a whole bunch of these kinds of stones, all around Iceland. I think there are about 15-20 still extant, and records of several more. Many of them are in sets of three or four, with names that indicate how you're judged, depending on what's the biggest stone you can lift. Many of them have stories linked to them, but some are just the names and little else. They're really fascinating cultural remains and I'm happy that in Ireland they're being reappreciated.
posted by Kattullus at 12:20 PM on September 4, 2023 [3 favorites]