Souperism

The award winning film, THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY, about the Irish struggle for independence in the 1920s, might put you in mind of the Potato Famine of the century before.

English aid to the starving Irish was lackluster at best. Other countries were more generous: the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid sent a 1000 pounds sterling (he would have sent more, but the Queen, who sent only 2000 pounds, did not want to be out-shined by a heathen foreigner) and three ships loads of food. The impoverished Choctaw Indian Nation sent $710.00.

The Irish Anglican Church, in an effort to siphon off members of the Irish Catholic Church, offered bowels of soup to Catholics willing to convert to the Anglicans. Those who took the religion to keep from starving were known as soupers.