1. Ancient Irish law decreed 24-hour opening.

Under Brehon Law – first codified in the sixth and seventh centuries – each local king was required to have his own bruigu (also sometimes spelled brughaid), or brewer. A bruigu was obliged to have “a never-dry cauldron, a dwelling on a public road and a welcome to…

There’s a saying we have in Ireland that you’d nearly think was coined for Colm Tóibín’s novel Brooklyn. Namely, if you’ve the name of getting up early in the morning you can lie till lunchtime. And it seems to me that Tóibín lay too long when he wrote Brooklyn.…

For the festive season, serve hot- or cold-smoked salmon on mini potato pancakes or in crispy bread baskets. Top the pancakes with a dollop of sour cream or crème frâiche and a sprinkling of fresh chives; try tangy horseradish-mustard cream on the baskets. You’ll find these holiday recipes and more like them in my…

O.K., it should be obvious (hopefully) that I am not a man.

But dear old dad definitely is... and as, like it or not, I've always been dad's girl I've acquired a bit of an insight into what makes certain types of men…

On  the 5th. of November 1605 an event took place in the heart of London, that if successful would have forever changed the political and economic future of Ireland, the…

This year the prize for our Thanksgiving Day draw for subscribers to Totally Irish Gifts is a mounted image of Ireland 'Irish Wolfhounds', by Irish photographer Sean Tomkins.…

Happy November! I’m purposely posting today so I can shock you into thoughts of the coming holidays: Thanksgiving in 24 days and Christmas, well, you know when that is! Shopping aside, it’s also time to start planning holiday foods, and what better ingredient than Irish smoked salmon for both. You might want to…

The oratory of St. Colman echoes with hundreds upon hundreds of years worth of worshipful memory.

In a secluded glade of ancient trees nestled against the breast of the Burren, a landscape so surreal and old it seems the surface of a planet in a galaxy far, far away, the ruins of yet another holy structure keep…

To fully experience the Celtic spirit, one must embrace not only the essence of a pilgrim, but also the land the pilgrim walks upon.

Places such as Galway's Brigit's Garden are sacred keepers of beloved earthly traditions. A calendar year in the form of gardens lovingly corralled by their keepers, the Garden…

I’ve heard of life imitating art, but the only time I ever saw death imitating it was at Samuel John MacPherson’s wake down in Glut, a tiny village not far from Slievefada…

The ancient Celtic harvest feast called Samhain (pronounced SAH-win) is celebrated October 31-November 1, marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, the “darker half” of the year. It was suggested in the late 19th century that it was the “Celtic New Year,” and over time, Samhain and All…

All Souls Night. A time of bonfires bursting to life beneath a cloudy sky. The grass wet from late Autumn mists that tumble haphazardly down the mountainsides as if driven by reckless celestial abandon. The soft moan of wind as it rushes through the caverns and craggy hills, meeting the water trickling into emerald…

Irish Author John A. Brennan's “The Journey: A Nomad Reflects”

Escribe Publishing

New York

From ancient Ireland to the majesty of the Egyptian pyramids, author and poet John A. Brennan tells his life's journey in a series of melodic rhapsodies. He is a quintessential traveler,…

DOMNAIGH -- On Oct. 30, 1892, Eoin O'Duffy, revolutionary and organizer of the infamous Blueshirts, was born in Castleblayney, County…

Bill Ochs died on October 5^th after a long battle with a cancer he had largely kept to himself, hoping to tell everyone after he had defeated it.

He was a man whose life was music and the music he most loved -- and he loved many kinds of music -- was traditional Irish music.

He was an excellent player, first tin whistle player and ultimately an uilleann…

In 1492, the same year that Christopher Columbus purportedly discovered the New World, an incident, with far reaching effects, took place in a chapter house attached to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. The incident ended a long running and bloody feud between two of Ireland’s most powerful dynasties, the FitzGeralds…

Wow, Totally Irish Gifts is four-years-old -- how time flies when you are having fun!

Our anniversary gift to you is world-wide free shipping

Receive free shipping on orders placed up to 31st October 2016, at checkout enter code:…

There’s something about mid-October that I love — the weather, the thought that Halloween (and Thanksgiving) is right around the corner, and baking breads like this “brack,” a fruity loaf from the Quay House, in Clifden, County Galway. Dating from about 1820, it’s the town’s oldest building, was originally a…

Richard Hetherington O'Kane (below-right, in his Annapolis graduation photo) was born on February 2, 1911 in Dover, New Hampshire, a town near the Atlantic coast with a population of about 13,000 at the time. His father, Dr. Walter Collins O'Kane, was a professor of entomology at the University. Richard attended…

Delicious on their own, pears are also a wonderful ingredient in recipes from sweet-tart salads to sweeter-than-sweet pies and tarts. They’re great partnered with blue cheese — Kerrygold’s Cashel Blue…