Irish Heritage & History

All Souls’ Day, 2 November, is the day Catholics pray for all the dead, and in Ireland the whole of November belongs to the Holy Souls. Here’s All Saints versus All Souls, where the feast came from (including Clonmacnoise’s ‘a prayer for’ grave slabs), the November list of the dead, blessing the graves, the plenary indulgence explained, the 1930s customs of the unlocked door, the laid table and the candle in the window, the truth about the ‘salt and water’ tradition, and prayers for the dead in Irish.

The real Irish names for grandma and grandpa: Mamó, Móraí, seanmháthair, Daideo and seanathair, with dictionary-checked pronunciations, regional notes, the English names Irish families use, words for great-grandparents and grandchildren, card wording in Irish, and the “Gaelic grandma names” on gift sites that are really Welsh, Scottish or misspelled.

The Morrígan is the war goddess of medieval Irish myth, a shape-shifting prophet of battle and death. Here’s what her name means and how to say it, her sisters Badb, Macha and Nemain, her Samhain meeting with the Dagda at the Unshin, her clashes with Cú Chulainn in the Táin, the bird on his shoulder and Sheppard’s statue in the GPO, her cave at Rathcroghan, her real symbols and tattoo ideas, and what’s modern, from the maiden-mother-crone triple goddess to horror films.

Ireland had only a handful of witch trials. Here is the real history: Dame Alice Kyteler and the demon Robin son of Art (1324), Petronilla of Meath, burned on 3 November 1324, Florence Newton of Youghal (1661), Goody Glover in Boston (1688), the Islandmagee witches (1711), why Ireland had so few trials, the butter-stealing hare-witch of folklore, and Biddy Early, who was never convicted of anything.

What is black pudding? Ireland’s blood sausage explained: what goes into it (pig’s or beef blood, fat, oatmeal, onion and spices), how it tastes, how white pudding and Cork’s drisheen differ, the history from a medieval Irish satire to the pig killing and the 2011 state dinner, the story of Clonakilty, Irish vs British puddings such as Stornoway, why Irish brands are hard to find in the US (and why it isn’t banned there), and how to cook it in a pan, oven or air fryer, with a seared scallop, black pudding and apple recipe.

Forty Irish superstitions from the 1930s Schools’ Collection and Lady Wilde’s 1887 book, grouped by theme: death and wakes, robins and magpies, luck and money, May Eve, Halloween, weddings, New Year and the fairy thorn. Each is marked old Irish, shared with Britain, or a later import, and the magpie turns out to be a 17th-century arrival.

Michael Collins, the Big Fellow, was born at Woodfield near Clonakilty on 16 October 1890 and killed at Béal na Bláth on 22 August 1922, aged 31. Here is his life: the London post office clerk, the GPO and Frongoch, the Dáil Loan, the Squad and Bloody Sunday, the Treaty and the ‘death warrant’ line (checked), Kitty Kiernan, the Civil War, and the main theories about who fired the fatal shot, weighed against the evidence.

A proper Irish apple cake recipe in metric and US cups: a soft sponge baked around sharp Bramley apples, with a buttery crumble top and a real egg custard to pour over. Then Granny Smith swaps for US bakers, apple and blackberry, almond and gluten-free variations, storing and freezing, why the Bramley (an English apple whose first recorded sale fell on Halloween 1862) became the apple Irish bakers reach for, how Armagh became the Orchard County, the 1930s Halloween suppers where an apple cake hid a ring and a button, the apples of the Irish Otherworld, and the difference between an Irish apple tart, apple cake and apple crumble.

The full Irish breakfast explained: rashers, sausages, black and white pudding, eggs, grilled tomato, mushrooms and soda bread, plus the baked bean debate, boxty and the Ulster fry with its soda farls and potato bread. Then a step-by-step recipe that gets everything hot at once, what the puddings are really made of, the real history from pig killings and stirabout to the Celtic Tiger breakfast roll, where to buy Irish rashers abroad, and whether a fry really cures a hangover.

A proper pan boxty recipe in metric and US measures: grated raw potato squeezed dry, mashed potato, flour and buttermilk, cooked on a griddle. Then tips on squeezing and griddle heat, filled-pancake and dumpling variations, the three old kinds of boxty (pan, boiled and loaf), where boxty comes from county by county, how it differs from potato cakes, the honest story of the name bacstaí (poor-house bread or bakehouse?), the ‘Boxty on the griddle’ rhyme from the 1930s Schools’ Collection, and William Carleton’s 1841 description of boxty as an Irish luxury.

Irish wedding traditions, sorted honestly into old, borrowed and new: Shrove weddings and Skellig lists, matchmakers and the fortune, strawboys in straw disguises, cake broken over the bride’s head, the Claddagh ring, uilleann pipes and the afters, plus why the hand-tying handfasting ceremony, the magic hanky and the make-up bell look modern, and ideas for an Irish touch on your own day.

Anam cara is Irish for soul friend. Here’s what anam and cara mean, how to say and spell it (anamchara, m’anamchara, never mo anam cara), the soul friends and confessors of the early Irish church, the truth about St Brigid’s ‘body without a head’ saying, John O’Donohue’s 1997 bestseller, and how to write it on a card, ring or tattoo.

The Tuatha Dé Danann are the godlike people of medieval Irish legend. Here is what the name means (and the debate over Danu), how the Book of Invasions brings them to Ireland, their four treasures, the two battles of Mag Tuired with Bres, Nuada’s silver hand, Lugh and Balor’s eye, a quick who’s who of their gods, their defeat by the sons of Míl, how they became the aos sí of fairy lore, Newgrange, what scholars think and where to see their places today.

Irish grace before meals, in Irish and English with plain pronunciations: the five loaves blessing Douglas Hyde printed in 1906, Beannaigh sinn (Bless us, O Lord in Irish), the grace after meals Moladh leis an Rí nach gann, St Brigid’s lake of ale, old Irish hospitality, the Choctaw gift of 1847 and toasts to end a Thanksgiving meal.

The Aran sweater is younger than its legends. Here’s how knitters on the Aran Islands and along Ireland’s west coast created the cabled geansaí Árann in the early 20th century, where the drowned fisherman myth and the ‘ancient’ stitch meanings really came from, how the Clancy Brothers helped make it famous on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1961, and how to spot a hand-knit, wash it and buy from authentic Irish makers.