Rebuilding Lives in Northern Ireland
Posted in Did You Know? on Mar 15th, 2015
Two Russian bombers entered Irish airspace in Feb. They flew at 27,000 ft. along the eastern, southern and western coast before heading to England. It is thought that Russia was communicating annoyance at U.K.’s stand on the Ukraine.
Posted in Did You Know? on Mar 10th, 2015
The predominantly Catholic Workmen’s Association in America became the American Federation of Labor.
Posted in Did You Know? on Mar 9th, 2015
A seanchai is a person who is responsible for passing down stories from generation to generation, usually one person from a family or community.
Posted in Did You Know? on Feb 24th, 2015
The Irish diaspora totals about 170 million and about half are in the US.
Posted in Did You Know? on Feb 14th, 2015
A shillelagh is a wooden walking stick with a knob on the top. A specific type of wood is used like blackthorn, oak or hazel. The stick is smeared in butter and cured in the chimney. Some are hollowed and loaded with buckshot to give them weight.
Posted in Did You Know? on Feb 11th, 2015
The rabbit is Ireland’s most common mammal. It eats all sorts of young vegetation including the crops. It is not native to Ireland and was introduced by the Normans for food and game.
Posted in Did You Know? on Feb 8th, 2015
By the 1720’s the Gaelic poets of old were reduced to positions of clerks, peddlers and hedge school teachers in most of Ireland. But in Munster, some poets were able to hold “Courts of Poetry” and these dealt with religious, legal and economic issues. In many cases, the poetry functioned as a form of political […]
Posted in Did You Know? on Jan 21st, 2015
Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738) is Ireland’s National Composer and the last of the traditional Irish harpist composers. There is a bronze statue of him in the town square of Mohill, Co Leitrim.
Posted in Did You Know? on Jan 15th, 2015
A contribution to the English language, ‘Irish Bull’ comes from Limerick and refers to incongruous statements where the words fall between two meanings as between the horns of a bull. These are attributed especially to the Irish.
Posted in Did You Know? on Jan 11th, 2015
‘Scalps’ were poles covered with sod and stretched across a ditch which evicted persons used as shelter during the Great Hunger.
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