Musings, ramblings and thought provoking articles from our team of talented writers - all views expressed are their own!
St. Patrick’s Day shows us just how the various strands of Irish are woven together – Irish, Irish-American and Irish in America. The history of the holiday is a story of traditions going back and forth, evolving and influencing each other. It’s not a case of tradition flowing only from the old country to the […]
Ireland has many claims to romantic fame. We have a legacy of poets, although most of their love poetry features tragedy. The same is true of our romantic ballads. St. Valentine is buried in Dublin. Well, not all of him. But a relic of his is at Whitefriar Church on Dublin’s south side, not far […]
St. Valentine’s Day is on the horizon, and romance is in the air. Who doesn’t love a good love story? The Irish are known for our gift of storytelling, and so it is no surprise that behind one of most popular Irish motifs is an incredible love story. The Claddagh design is iconic and deeply […]
We are past the solstice now. A pink glow appears on the horizon earlier each morning. The daylight lingers a bit longer each afternoon. At a glance, the trees look as they have all winter. Bare. But beneath their bark, they are preparing for spring. A few have buds or soon will, a visual promise […]
The traditional question our Irish ancestors popped was ‘would you like to be buried with my people?’ Today, it doesn’t sound all that romantic! But you can still find many ways to plan a proposal that embraces Celtic heritage. Ireland really is a very romantic place, and you can bring some Irish romance to the […]
Ancient Irish royalty was nothing like the Disney version. The kings and queens of Irish history and myth were fierce and fearless warriors. They did not spend their time attending lavish balls. They led their troops into battle to gain more wealth and power, and to avenge various wrongs. Maeve became famous as a queen, […]
A library loaning out a book is normally not a big deal, but when the volume in question is the ancient Book of Durrow, that’s another story. Trinity College Dublin recently lent the precious tome to the British Library in London for a special exhibit that runs until February 2019. It will join other significant […]
Ireland is surrounded by water. Twenty of the 32 counties on this island include coastal land. Our earliest legends feature the sea. Before the advent of air travel and phones, all contact with the rest of the world involved sea crossings. People and letters came and went by boat. Perhaps it is in our blood […]
Halloween has Irish roots. It was originally Samhain, the last day of the Celtic year. The ancient Celts believed a sort of veil separated our ordinary world from the spirit world. As the year went on, this veil got worn thinner and thinner until on the last day of the year, it was so worn […]
In October, people across Ireland are lighting fires in their fireplaces and stoves to take the chill out of the air. It’s starting to get cool, but it isn’t really cold yet. Outside of the cities, people often burn sods of turf they’ve harvested from their own plots in the bog. They go out in […]
