Hmmm so I said I'd have a go at explaining mine - not that there's a whole lot to explain. I knew it wasn't written as a myth, but it was a little personal one, and while I tried a couple of others, I kept coming back to this, with no expectation other than saying something that mattered to me.
The myth was the Red hand of Ulster, which tells the story of two people who are swimming with the understanding that whoever touched the land with their hand first won it. One, realising he was losing, cut his hand off and threw it at the land, thereby winning in a fairly bloody fashion.
The unusual thing with this myth is that on the Ulster flag we have a St. George's flag with a red hand at the centre of it, so the myth has become a part of accepted and official symbolism.
But, it being July in Ulster there's a lot of stating of political positions, marches, bonfires, and whatnot and the flag was all around when the challenge came up and the three became an irresistable combination.
The statement at the end was a personal statement, that like many whose country is in conflict I find it grievous, and frustrating, but in choosing the hand as our symbol there is an acceptance of a fairly bloody myth, and we have a difficult heritage.
So I think what I was trying to say (and I'm still not quite sure, and expect something longer might come out of me at some point and try to say it better) was that a culture that was espoused in the myth, and the way it's still celebrated (and I love the myth, it's great) is like a ribbon that runs through our history.
In, um, 75 words. So that was ambitious.
But all the mentions, and the vote, and Perp's comments seemed to indicate I got something of my personal sadness about my land across. I kind of hope so.
