What Lifting Ancient Stones Can Teach You About Being a Man

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2023

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For millennia, stone lifting was an important part of cultures around the world, and its significance went far beyond feats of strength. Stone lifting was part of weddings and funerals, used as a job interview to assess someone's fitness as a farmhand, and included in rites of passage and tests of all-around manhood. Much of the world's ancient stone lifting culture has been forgotten, and rocks that used to be hoisted regularly in town squares and cemeteries have been sitting untouched for hundreds of years. David Keohan, an Irish world champion kettlebell lifter-turned-amateur folklorist, has set out to change that. In the last couple of years, David has been on the hunt for Ireland's legendary lifting stones; he uses oral and written history to search them out and learn their stories and then hoists them himself, once again putting wind under stones that haven't been picked up for centuries. Today on the show, David shares the significance of stone lifting around the world and specifically in Irish culture, the practicalities of lifting a 400-pound stone off the ground, and what stone lifting has taught him about being a man.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast.
0:12.0	For millennia, stonelifting was an important part of cultures around the world, and its
0:16.0	significance went far beyond feats of strength.
0:19.1	Stonelifting was part of weddings and funerals, used as a job interview to assess someone's
0:23.2	fitness as a farmhand, and included in rights of passage and test of all around manhood.
0:28.6	Most of the world's ancient stonelifting culture has been forgotten, and rocks that used
0:32.1	to be hoisted regularly in town squares and cemeteries have been sitting untouched for hundreds
0:36.0	of years.
0:37.0	David Keone, an Irish world champion kettlebell lifter, turned amateur folklorist, has
0:41.5	set out to change that.
0:43.3	In the last couple of years, David has been on the hunt for Ireland's legendary lifting
0:47.2	stones.
0:48.2	He uses oral and written history to search them out and learn their stories, and then
0:51.7	hoist them himself, once again putting wind under stones that haven't been picked up
0:55.9	for centuries.
0:57.3	Taylor Show, David shares the significance of stonelifting around the world in specifically
1:01.3	an Irish culture, the practicalities of lifting a 400 pounds stone off the ground, and when
1:05.8	stonelifting has taught him about being a man.
1:08.7	After the show's over, check out our show notes at aewim.is slash stonelifting.
1:12.8	David Keone, welcome to the show.
1:24.0	Thank you so much for having me, Brett, will you appreciate it, man?
1:26.0	So you are a world champion kettlebell lifter, who has also become an expert archaeologist
	...

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