Get your hands off our pagan statue

[icymist]

People in Fermanagh rally to protect Celtic image after reports that it might be moved to a museum

Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
Sunday April 15, 2007
The Observer

People living near a pagan statue that draws thousands of tourists every year to Northern Ireland's lakelands are threatening a campaign of civil disobedience amid concerns it could be moved to Belfast.

The Janus, which has stood in the Caldragh graveyard on Boa Island in Co Fermanagh since it was put up by the Celts more than 2,000 years ago, inspired the Nobel prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney to write the poem, 'January God'. Locals hold the 2ft tall figure, depicting a man on one side and a female on the other, in awe.


But now rumours are circling that the statue may be moved to the Ulster Museum for its own protection. Opponents say it would be like moving Stonehenge to London.
Gerry Carrigan has lived a mile and a half from the Janus site for more than 60 years. 'I will cling on to it myself if I come across anyone trying to uproot it,' he said. 'The Janus has been here for more than 2,000 years. This place is its home, not some museum in Belfast.'

Looking around last week at his fellow protesters gathered inside the graveyard where the statue stands, Carrigan added: 'These people and more like them are prepared to do the same. We will physically stand in the way of anyone trying to take the Janus away.'

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