Have you ever kissed A Blarney Stone? What about “THE” Blarney Stone in Ireland? In order to kiss it, you have to lean, really lean, backward, holding on to an iron rail, but after all the trouble you will be bestowed the gift of eloquence.
Kissing the Blarney Stone
Picture of my friend kissing the Blarney Stone. The actual stone is still set in the wall below the battlements. To be able to kiss it, one has to lean down and backwards.
The renowned Blarney Stone is at the famous 1446 Blarney Castle in southwestern Ireland near Cork.
You can easily make your own Blarney Stone at home. Then reenact the Irish way of kissing it. This can be a fun St. Patrick’s Day craft and activity or just a way to celebrate something Irish.
Crafting your own Blarney Stone
This year, we painted our rocks with melted crayons.
My boys made Irish Flag rocks and rainbow rocks. They thought any leprechauns lurking about might like the rainbow rocks. They even created leprechaun traps and used their rainbow rocks as part of the “bait.”
To make melted crayon rocks
Lay your clean dry rocks or stones, we used big river rocks, on a baking tray.
Set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the rocks in the oven and heat them up for about15 minutes.
Once the rocks are hot, simply color on them with crayons. The color will melt on to the rock like paint. We used tongs to help hold the hot rock while we colored. Let the stone cool.
Kissing your Blarney Stone
Don’t forget to kiss your Blarney Stone for good luck and eloquence!!
Have you been to Blarney Castle? There is more to the castle than kissing the Blarney Stone. When I lived in Ireland, I visited the castle with my French roommate and friend. The Castle is beautiful but so are the grounds and nearby lake around the castle. We also found and explored some under the castle.
Badger’s Cave
There is a hidden cave under the Blarney Castle. Legend says that there are three passages within this cave. The three passages are also well hidden.
If you do find the passages, you can go to Cork, the nearby lake, or Kerry. However, you might have to crawl the whole way as you can see by my picture. The cave looks more like a crawl space tunnel system.
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