Musings, ramblings and thought provoking articles from our team of talented writers - all views expressed are their own!
Dublin hosts a massive festival with events over a few days, but it isn’t the only St. Patrick’s Day party around. Rural towns around the island offer a different kind of charm for our national holiday. Which is more your style? Ireland’s capital city puts on a dazzling celebration for our national holiday, St. Patrick’s […]
Valentine’s and Easter mean it is time for flowers! Flowers are a language of their own, and that language has an Irish dialect that isn’t quite like the language of flowers in North America. Knowing your flowers can keep you out of trouble… especially if you’re planning to give them to someone Irish. We Irish […]
Christmas has 12 days. Why celebrate just the first one? You have no doubt heard the famous carol The Twelve Days of Christmas; perhaps you’ve even heard the hilarious Irish spoof on it. But you know which days are the 12 days of Christmas or why there are 12 of them? Traditionally, Christmas begins on […]
In Ireland, St. Stephen’s Day is a holiday and St. Stephen’s Green is a beloved, popular Dublin park. So who was Stephen? The second day of Christmas is December 26th, and in Ireland, we celebrate St. Stephen’s Day on that day. Now, the customs such as hunting the wren and the straw costumes are more […]
James Joyce might not seem like the most Christmasy and festive of Irish writers, but he does have a special resonance at this time of year. Yes, those who have a week or so of extra free time during horrible weather do have a great chance to try (again) to tackle Ulysses, but there is […]
Americans have Black Friday. The Irish have something far more frightening. Culchie Shopping Day. They rose before the first light yesterday, hustling to get ready for the planned assault on the nation’s capital. Taking sandwiches and biscuits along with bags for the loot they expected to bring home, they left their homes early to travel […]
For some, there is deep darkness behind the twinkling lights. What can you do to help anyone in your life who is struggling with depression? One of Ireland’s most famous singers recently posted a suicide note on Facebook, and was thankfully found in time to be helped. That individual deserves privacy at this time, but […]
Many American families have a tradition of taking their children to see the ballet at Christmas. The Nutcracker is hugely popular. And surely the little ones enjoy the magic of it all, the beauty of the dancing and music, the fun of sitting still in their seats for an evening watching others dance, the joy […]
Let’s be clear – that is craic, not crack. In Ireland, we have a few Christmas staples that have not crossed the Atlantic in a significant way, and one of them is the traditional Christmas cracker. This is not an hors d’oeuvre. The last thing you’d want to do with these is eat them. A […]
Christmas decorating does not stop with decking the halls and lighting up the tree. Tis the season to make yourself or someone on your gift list a merry little necklace or bracelet with festive Christmas and winter theme beads from Tara’s Diary. Dreary winter days are the perfect time to get creative and crafty, and […]
