Growing up on Long Island with two Irish-American parents was not a particularly Irish experience. Carmel Quinn records played on our stereo and were appreciated by all. My father regularly annoyed my mother by listening to bagpipe music. The truth was that my parents were American Irish who had lost contact with most…
ContinueAdded by james lawrence dore on May 16, 2016 at 7:30pm — 2 Comments
Tinteán Tréigthe no.19, oil on canvas, 2016
Now if you’re searching for your great grandmother’s cottage in the country, you can follow the map to a certain extent, but, in the end, you just have to ask someone. So, after driving a crooked mile up a crooked mucky roadeen, searching for the dot beside the ‘S’ of…
ContinueAdded by Eoin Mac Lochlainn on April 25, 2016 at 6:30pm — 4 Comments
Dont miss your classic Official Irish Harp Pin™ at:
Buy your classic official Irish Harp Pin under this link…
ContinueI know that many of you have been to Galway (or intend visiting) and I…
ContinueAdded by Brian Nolan on March 10, 2016 at 8:30am — 4 Comments
On the first day of February, somewhere in Ireland, a ewe is born and peacefully nestles at its mother’s side, warmed by her body, nourished by her milk. This is a pleasing sign of spring, as are the days which are…
ContinueAdded by Susan O'Dea Boland on February 1, 2016 at 1:00am — 8 Comments
New Year's Eve (Oíche Chinn Bliana)
These days, when we think of New Year, parties, champagne and celebration spring to mind. Once upon a time however, it was more about getting through a quiet night. The New Year was never really a big festival in Ireland, with the focus more on the necessities…
ContinueAdded by Brían Hoban on December 31, 2015 at 3:30pm — 8 Comments
Cuireadh do Mhuire was composed by Máirtín Ó Direáin (1910 – 1988), the great Irish language poet from the village of Sruthán, on Inis Mór (Inishmore), the largest of the Aran Islands, in Galway Bay.
Ó Direáin penned this beautiful and delicate verse at Christmas 1942, when the whole world was at war and his…
ContinueAdded by Brian Nolan on December 31, 2015 at 12:00pm — 1 Comment
In Irish mythology, a "thin place" was a divider between the physical, tangible world and the "otherworld" of dreams, the afterlife, and other unseen but very real dimensions hiding behind the veil of reality. Thin places could be actual places or they could be seasons of change. The night of Samhain (sow-in), the Celtic…
ContinueAdded by Jill Fuller on November 7, 2015 at 9:30am — 8 Comments
If you have missed the ongoing conversation about the need to preserve the tradition of the parade in New York, and to protect the role and the voice of its many affiliate groups, it's worth looking up the many places where the dialogue continues. There is a petition to help focus the…
ContinueAdded by Fr. John R. Sheehan, SJ on October 30, 2015 at 10:00am — 12 Comments
Holy wells can be found all over Ireland -- and evoked in our minds, as well. As children, we would pick the daisies and buttercups, and place them by a well. Or, if we happened to be playing in someone’s garden, we would dig a well, and pour water into it, placing the daisy and buttercups by the stones we would place…
ContinueAdded by That's Just How It Was on October 27, 2015 at 9:00am — 15 Comments
No matter how good a cupcake is, when you are expecting a full dessert, it can be disappointing.
Which was my reaction on seeing the award-winning (very) short film "Spiorad na Samhna -- Spirit of Samhain," advertised as exploring “the origins of Halloween in Ireland.” By…
ContinueAdded by Fr. John R. Sheehan, SJ on October 23, 2015 at 12:00pm — 1 Comment
Are you a witch, or are you a fairy
Or are you the wife of Michael Cleary?
So went a popular children’s rhyme in Ireland at the turn of the 20th century. I can hear the echo of those words spilling from young lips all the way to here. In amongst the childish…
ContinueAdded by David Lawlor on October 21, 2015 at 4:30am — 14 Comments
Born in the land of Saints and Scholars, our Irish monastic settlements are a very important part of our Irish heritage.
New in stock, this beautiful '…
ContinueAdded by Totally Irish Gifts on October 19, 2015 at 3:00pm — 5 Comments
It was Monday morning and I was having trouble packing. I woke with a brass band in my head, as Jim says. After sitting in the shower for a while, I took a panadol, drank some water and went back to sleep. I woke an hour later and slowly started to get ready to go.
It was very, very difficult. I called mum, I felt…
ContinueAdded by The Last Torch on October 14, 2015 at 2:00am — 3 Comments
(Sligo street art)
I was stranded for a second day in Grange. When I woke up, I had breakfast on my mind and enjoyed an Irish breakfast with a beautiful view. I had to be out by 11 a.m. as the painter was coming and the owner had to visit someone in hospital.
Having tried the…
ContinueAdded by The Last Torch on October 10, 2015 at 8:30am — 7 Comments
No trip to Ireland is complete without a trip to Newgrange, a prehistoric monument in County Meath, located about 1 km north of the River Boyne. As I drove from Belfast, there were places I wanted to stop that…
ContinueAdded by The Last Torch on October 3, 2015 at 9:30am — 4 Comments
My last night in the homeland was spent at Bunratty Castle, a 15th-century tower house in County Clare, on the Ratty river. Caisleán Bhun Raithe meaning Castle at the Mouth of the Ratty. On the grounds of the castle is a folk park, which is just lovely. I unfortunately was wandering through at closing time so didn't get to…
ContinueAdded by The Last Torch on September 29, 2015 at 9:00pm — 1 Comment
It seems a good time to assess the evasive Leprechaun and his dyspeptic cousin, the Clurichaun.
Some sources would suggest that the ‘wee folk,” commonly known as the Leprechaun or Clurichaun, have inhabited Ireland since well before the Celts arrived -- around about 500 BC. Other sources suggest that the…
ContinueAdded by That's Just How It Was on September 28, 2015 at 12:30pm — 9 Comments
The Irish custom of “waking the dead” has long been thought off as a purely Irish tradition, and many would argue that this is, indeed, the case. However, if we look at paganism, spiritualism and other religions, it is not too hard to find similarities in their traditions with ‘waking the dead.“ They believe…
ContinueAdded by That's Just How It Was on August 24, 2015 at 3:00pm — 9 Comments
Songs of the Snowy Mountains: The Settlers (Editor: Shannon O’Boyle)
Reviewer: J.A. O’Brien
Summary: Songs of the Snowy Mountains: The Settlers represents an important new contribution to the history of Australian folk music and to Australian folklore. The new…
ContinueAdded by James O'Brien on July 31, 2015 at 5:00am — 1 Comment
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