January 6th is celebrated in Ireland as "Women's Christmas" (Nollaig na mBan).  More commonly known in other parts of the world as the Feast of the Epiphany, it marks the end of the Christmas period in Ireland.  It is known as "Women's Christmas" because of the…

My Granny O'Rourke was the was the mainstay of our household. The Kavanagh family was made up of five children, Mam and Dad, and Granny's other grandchild (Terry) whom she also raised (read "That's Just  How It Was").  We lived with her and she had a huge influence on all our…

Courtesy of the New York Public Library A drawing of the British siege lines at Charleston in 1780.

DOMHNAIGH -- On January 4,…

Screenwriter Hugh Travers is now writing Hungry, a sitcom about the famine commissioned by Channel 4 in Ireland.  Hungry came  came about after Channel 4 read one of the 31-year-old Dubliner's other scripts and gave him an open commission for a sitcom. “Any idea I wanted –…

I was born on the the 8th of January in 1945 -- the year the war ended in Europe.  By chance, I also share  a birthday with Elvis Presley.  He would have been 80 years old on the 8th of January, 2015.  

My memories of my birthday are very precious. This was due to the fact…

Mary Kate Neill was born on June 11th, 1900 in the tiny township of Graiguenaspiddoge in County Carlow. The 1901 census shows her ten months old. Her mother was Catherine or Kate Neill (née Cullen) aged 38, and her father Michael Neill aged 51. Born in 1850 just after the potato famine of 1845-7, he was a blacksmith. Graiguenaspiddoge was a row of 28 houses beside a main road in the countryside,…

Originally recorded as January, Janaway, Jenery, Jennery, Jennardy, in England, Janvier (France) Janer and Jane in Spain, Januario in Portugal, Gennaro and Zannari (Italy) and many others, and recorded throughout Europe, this is a name of truly ancient origins. It has…

(Above: The Irish Brigade who fought alongside the Boers against the British army in the Anglo-Boer War. Col. John Blake is sitting in the front row 2nd to the left of the concertina player.

In far-off Africa to-day the English fly dismayed…

Count your blessings instead of your crosses.

Count your gains instead of your losses.

Count your joys instead of your woes.

Count your friends instead of your foes.

Count your smiles instead of your tears.

Count your courage instead of your fears.…

Back:  P/O Allen R. Page (RAAF) - Capt. Smiling Tom P. Gerrity - M/Sgt Melvin E. Owens - Sgt. Al Fawe - Cpl. Ed D. Connor                                                 

Front: T/Sgt Al Simmons - T/Sgt James G. Westbrook - Unknown -…

To the Officers and Enlisted men of the of the 27thBombardment Group (L) dead or missing in action in the

Philippine Islands, Australia Java, and New Guinea, we

dedicate this book and all our efforts to repay, ten thousand

times over, the Japanese for every one of our men lost.…

I found the story quite heart-rending, especially as O'Sullivan is my maternal grandmother's name. When I first went in search of the family farm in Bounard, Rathmore, Kerry, I asked a farmer for directions and he asked: "Is that O'Sullivan Beare?" I had no idea what he meant but said "yes" anyway. After many more visits to the family farm, I found this signpost at the bottom…

A.D. 2014 has been a magnificent year for The Wild Geese Irish Social Network.  As this year draws to a close, we thought it would be interesting to compile the most popular articles and videos from the community.  Depending on how new you are to The Wild Geese…

WGT photo by Joe Gannon Carriganuss Castle, an O'Sullivan castle just outside of Glengariff

CÉADAOIN -- On December 31, 1602, Dónall O'Sullivan Beare and his clan…

Yes indeed, what to do?  After the festivities are festivitied - after all the ceremonies, the lighting of candles, the opening of presents, the cooking and the eating…

A wee bit of a Wren Day celebration in my home ground... Armagh..

New Year’s eve had been celebrated with cheerful noise for many years, but in New York City on December 31, 1888, that all changed with the formal addition of music to the annual celebration and it took an Irishman to do it. In those early days, the tiny triangle of land at the…

"Here's to the three birds! May you always have a bird on the table, a bird in your glass and an eagle in your pocket."

I first heard that toast when I was very young from an elderly neighbor. It was a toast from her childhood in the early 1920s. The toast her mother and uncles always used. Already something of an antique in Jazz Age America.…

Messines - I had the privilege to travel to Messines with the Island of Ireland Peace Choir last weekend. This is our story.

Don Mullan, author, humanitarian and Christmas Truce ambassador, stood in front of two graves in Messines, Belgium. On the left was Private T Delaney of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who died on Christmas Eve 1914 and on the right,…