Christmas Mistletoe: The Underlying Celtic Traditions
Almost everyone associates the beautiful mistletoe plant with Christmas. Alongside holly, it is synonymous with the festive season and is commonly associated with stealing...
The Celtic Salmon of Knowledge and Fionn
The Salmon of Knowledge that lived in the River Boyne is a legendary animal that comes from the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology and...
Jerpoint Abbey and its Cistercian Monks
Jerpoint Abbey is located just over two and half kilometres west of Thomastown in County Kilkenny, and is an important national monument, which has...
The Treaty Stone of Limerick
The Treaty Stone in Limerick, widely believed to be the setting for the signing of the Treaty of Limerick, is hugely significant in Irish...
10 Key Guidelines for Visiting Sacred Sites
No visit to the Emerald Isle is complete without a visit to some of the country's religious sacred sites.
For many tourists, in fact, one...
Conserving Killilagh Church and Doolin’s Historic Monuments
The parish of Killilagh is located in the north-west corner of the Barony of Corcomroe in County Clare, Ireland.
A small and sparsely populated parish,...
Samhain and the Legend of Jack O’Lantern
Samhain was a pagan festival dating from Celtic times in Ireland.
It is referenced in some of the country's very earliest literature and has many...
An Samhain: The Celtic Roots of Halloween
Samhain is a Gaelic festival, which marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the...
The Cailleach Béara or the Hag of Béara
The Cailleach Béara is also known as the Hag of Béara, 'Cailleach' being the Gaelic word for a hag or old crone.
One of the...
Corcomroe Abbey: Medieval Wonder
Corcomroe Abbey is a wonderful example of a quintessentially Irish monastery that was once lived in by Cistercians (also known as Trappist) monks.
These impressive...