Five years ago we wrote a post that told of the history of the Choctaw Donation to help the people of Ireland during the Great Famine. It’s an incredible story of empathy, generosity and human spirit during a time of suffering for two nations. In 1847 the Choctaw nation raised the sum of $170 to…
In 1979 Pope John Paul II visited Ireland. It was a huge event in the life of the country and seemed to solidify the position of the Catholic Church in the nation. Events in the years after shook the faith that people had in the institution and the results in recent referenda on same-sex marriage…
In an innovative commemoration of the 1916 Rising An Post has repainted 10 postboxes in Dublin red. The red reflects the color they were painted in 1916 before Irish independence. But the program is more ambitious than just painting them red. Each postbox contains a key word which, when texted to a provided number, returns…
Analysis of a bear bone found in an Irish cave has provided evidence of human existence in Ireland 2,500 years earlier than previously thought. Until now it was thought that Ireland was first inhabited by man about 10,000 years ago. But now analysis of a bear bone shows that man has lived on the island…
1916 was one of the most important years in Irish history. The Easter Rising was a short-term failure but led within 5 years to independence. The Proclamation was one of the key documents from the rising. It was signed by the 7 leaders of the rising. Text POBLACHT NA hÉIREANN THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE…
Halloween is now a huge international and commercial holiday. But did you know it has its origins as a millennias-old Celtic festival called Samhain? The festival of Samhain marked the end of the harvest and also the start of winter, with its long nights. The importance of this time has been recognised since pre-Christian times…
We know that a huge number of Americans claim Irish ancestry. But this interactive map from Pew research shows just how this happened. It shows the patterns of immigration to the US since 1850. The map is part of a study of immigration patterns over the last 150 years. It’s eye-opening to see just where…
There are estimated to be over 6,500 languages spoken in the world today. Irish is one of the 10 oldest still spoken daily and has the oldest vernacular literature in Europe. While it’s hard to identify when any language begins and so it is impossible to rank them in terms of age, it is believed…
A trophy commemorating Major-General Blackader’s victory over Irish rebels in 1916 is to be auctioned in Dublin. The trophy, a dinner gong, was built from a shell fired from the British ship ‘Helga’ which sailed from Dún Laoghaire (then Kingstown) on April 25th, 1916, up the river Liffey to shell the rebel-occupied Boland’s Mills, and,…
Many people know that the centre of Cork is built on an island. But did you know that it was once many islands? And had a canal-based transport system? Until the late 18th century the centre of Cork was marshy and the land was directed by the river. Through that time the channels were used…
