IRISH TO THE CORE

Smithsonian Institute James Hoban and George Washington inspect the unfinished White House in 1798. Washington would never live in it.

DEARDAOIN -- On…

LearnIrish.com is a new initiative that aims to make the Irish language and learning resources more accessible to learners throughout the world. By offering an affordable and well structured Irish language course it aims to give people the opportunity to learn at their own pace and in the comfort of their own home. It's currently gathering funds to make it all…

The following is a transcript taken from the LIVE Community Chat chat hosted here at TheWildGeese.com on Thursday, December 5, 2013.  The focus for the discussion was bygone Christmas traditions in Ireland with Sligo-based author / historian,…

Former South African President Nelson Mandela has drawn quite a bit of attention at The Wild Geese, and not only within the past 24 hours since this legendary leader's passing.

Here are some of the tributes members have posted:

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I desire silence. I want to be free from the noise that humans make. I fear I will never be free from this noise. I'm often in the woods and I still hear a car that is miles away or a plane flying overhead. And even my own sighing and thoughts can become too noisy. The sounds of…

It is impossible to write the history of nineteenth century American politics without noting the overwhelming presence of the Irish in the affairs of state. In part this was due to mere numbers - in 1850, 43% of the immigrant population was Irish, and no politician…

Thomas Wentworth

Act Against Plowing by the Tayle, and Pulling the Wooll Off Living Sheep

[1635] Ireland Parliament [Thomas Wentworth],"Act Against Plowing by the Tayle, and Pulling the Wooll Off Living Sheep, 1635," in The Statutes at Large, Passed in the Parliaments held in Ireland. 2nd ed. (Dublin, 1786; Online at Animal…

We have a dynamic collection of members' own special Irish Christmas recipes building…

IRISH TO THE CORE

Join us for a LIVE Wild Geese Community Chat session centered around the intriguing possibility that "good ol' St. Nick" is actually buried on the grounds of Jerpoint Abbey in County Kilkenny . Our special guest for this chat will be Maeve O'Connell from …

In the spirit of giving, The Wild Geese community has adopted an Irish-American family from the Aisling Irish Community Center in metro New York. The family that we have chosen consists of a 13-year-old girl, an 11-year-old boy, and a 9-year-old boy, and mother and…

Join us for a LIVE Wild Geese Community Chat session all about the American Civil War at Christmastime. Battlefield behavior during the holidays is a fascinating subject, so this should make for quite the educational evening. Our special guest for this chat will be historian and…

Join us for a LIVE Wild Geese Community Chat session on Irish Christmas traditions.  Our special guest for this chat will be author and historian, Joe McGowan of County…

Christmas whitewashing: Around Christmastime, you’ll still find the odd farm building out in the Irish countryside that looks like it’s just been whitewashed. Long ago, farm families cleaned and then whitewashed every building on the farm in December. They were covered in…

I'll sing you home with me tonight

To Galway Bay & the old Hook Light

"O'Carolan's Lament" sung in harmony

I will sing you all home with me

It's Christmas in Montana, to be sure, draped in her mantle of white

Though I am here with the rest of the crew, my heart is lonely tonight

The rancher & his wife they take good care of the rest of the crew & me

The wife, she prepared a great feast…

Celtic myth had it that the robin that was suppose to represent the New Year killed the wren which represented the Old Year,  During this time Wren Boys blacken their faces and go from house to house asking for money to bury the wren. The money they collect is used to buy food and drink for the "wren dance" held…

IRISH TO THE CORE

I recently discovered the word "hiraeth" (HEER-eyeth) and the definition explained why I'd been feeling a bit lost these past months.  Do any of you know the word, and perhaps the feelings?

"(n.) a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past."

This isn't just the holiday blues; I've felt like this for months, and this particular year was consistently stress-filled…