Musings, ramblings and thought provoking articles from our team of talented writers - all views expressed are their own!
Newgrange passage tomb in County Meath’s Boyne Valley is arguably Ireland’s most amazing site. Built in the Stone Age, it predates the pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge. The site gained UNESCO World Heritage status in 1993. Newgrange is ringed by 97 large stones, many of which are carved with intricate designs. The entrance stone is […]
Are you planning to deck your halls with boughs of holly this Christmas? Holly is synonymous with Christmas; it’s a classic holiday decoration. We see the distinctive, shiny green leaves and red berries on door wreaths, table settings and Christmas trees. Images of holly adorn wrapping paper and Christmas cards. But did you know that […]
If you watched Ireland play in the World Cup qualifiers against Denmark in the last week, you heard the song. Actually, if you’ve seen any Irish team play any sport against another national team, you’ve heard the song. You mightn’t know the name or the history of it, but if you’ve watch an Irish sports […]
Happy New Year! November 1st is the first day of the ancient Celtic year. Like January 1st, it’s the day after the big party. Around Ireland, neighbors are quietly cleaning up after the bonfires and fireworks of Halloween. Parents are taking down decorations and encouraging their children to pace themselves as they devour their candy. […]
You can expect a steady stream of pirates at your door this Halloween. Pirates are a staple of Halloween, along with vampires, superheroes, witches, zombies and ghosts. Part of the fun of dressing up as a pirate is that there are endless variations. Boys and girls, men and women can be pirates. No one is […]
As you carve the pumpkins, hang the fake spider webs and stock up on candy for trick or treaters, you probably are not thinking about romance. But the Celts of old were. Halloween’s roots are in Samhain, the pre-Christian Celtic New Year. People believed that a veil separated this world from the spirit world, where […]
Galway is known as the City of Tribes, but who were those tribes? Are you descended from one of them? Today we use the phrase ‘city of tribes’ in many ways to include all of the people of Galway and to celebrate the city’s history. But long ago, it referred specifically to 14 families who […]
The wet and cold are settling in. September’s mix of rain and surprise sunny days is over. Farmers have gathered their last harvest, and by now everyone has their turf in for winter. Fires are lit at night, filling the air with the smell of burning turf. Young people eager for Halloween are stashing away […]
Bogs, a particular type of land, play a quiet but central role in Irish life. It is quintessentially Irish that we would see a substance that is 90% water as burnable fuel and be correct. Bogs shape our language and cultural views. City dwellers jokingly refer to their rural counterparts as ‘boggers’. In small towns […]
In August, summer is in full swing in Ireland. The weather is changeable, of course, but most years it is mostly warm and dry. Well, warmer and drier than the rest of the year! We’re past the summer solstice. The days are shorter than in July, but it is still light until after 10 pm. […]
