Eugene Daly looks at the factors that instigated the diminishment of our native tongue in Ireland. The mortal wounds of Gaelic Ireland were inflicted at the battle of Kinsale in 1601, but the death agony was prolonged for all of the seventeenth century and into the eighteenth and nineteenth in […]
History & Folklore
The hallowed period of Christmas was celebrated by the ancient Irish with great pomp and festivity. Fleming’s ‘History of Ancient Irish Customs’, gives an elaborate account of the festivity and amusement at this season of gaiety and mirth. He writes: “On Christmas Eve the village maidens went to the woods […]
In the 1930s, school children across the Irish State were tasked by the Irish Folklore Commission with collecting local lore. With Halloween around the corner, Pauline Murphy treats us to some of the spookier stories submitted by schoolchildren in West Cork. In his story, John Shorten, 13, from Curravarahane […]
One of the most fascinating insights I ever got from American politicians was watching a documentary about Trump’s first run for the White House. One of the many ordinary voices interviewed was a humble blue collar worker from Detroit. Detroit used to be called ‘Motor City’ but years of under-investment […]