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.
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.
The old Irish Halloween games, from snap apple and apple ducking to burning two named nuts on the fire, the blindfold saucers of water, clay and a ring, egg whites in water, the apple and the mirror at midnight, the wet shirt by the fire and the mischief-night pranks, grounded in the 1930s Schools’ Collection, Vallancey’s 1783 account and Maclise’s Snap-Apple Night, with tips for playing the safe ones with your family today.
Bram Stoker couldn’t stand until he was about seven, became athletics champion of Dublin University, spent over a decade in the civil service at Dublin Castle and reviewed plays unpaid for a paper half-owned by Sheridan Le Fanu before he left for London and wrote Dracula. Here is his Irish life, his mother’s Sligo cholera account, The Snake’s Pass and a lost 1890 ghost story, what his Dracula notes actually prove, which Irish influences are documented (Carmilla) and which are lore (Abhartach, St Michan’s), and where to follow him in Dublin, including the 2026 Bram Stoker Festival.
Stingy Jack outwitted the Devil and ended up shut out of Heaven and Hell, wandering with a light. Here is the 1836 Dublin Penny Journal tale, an 1851 poem that calls him Stingy Jack, the many county versions in the 1930s Schools’ Collection, why jack-o’-lantern was a name for a bog light long before a carved lantern, what the records really say about Irish turnip lanterns, how the pumpkin took over in America, and how to carve a turnip lantern safely.
Samhain (SOW-in) is the old Irish festival that began winter on 1 November, and still the Irish word for November. Here’s how to say it, what the medieval tales say (the Ulster Samhain gathering, the Feast of Tara, Nera and the open fairy mounds), where the ‘Celtic new year’ and ‘thin veil’ ideas come from, how All Saints and All Souls met Samhain in Ireland’s own church calendars, the customs the Schools’ Collection recorded, and how Samhain is kept today.
The Táin Bó Cúailnge, the Cattle Raid of Cooley, is the great epic of Ireland’s Ulster Cycle. Here it is retold from the early translations: Medb and Ailill’s pillow talk at Cruachan, the White-horned and the Brown Bull, Macha’s curse on the Ulstermen, teenage Cú Chulainn holding the fords all winter, his tragic fight with his foster-brother Ferdiad, and the bulls’ last battle. Plus how old the Táin really is, which translation to read, and the places you can still visit in Roscommon, Louth and Armagh.
Hy-Brasil, Í Bhreasail in Irish, is the phantom island said to rise off Ireland’s west coast once every seven years. Here’s the real story: the round island on sea charts from about 1330, the Bristol voyages of 1480 and 1481, a Connemara man’s magic book, the 1675 O-Brazile hoax, the debate over the name (it didn’t name Brazil), how it faded from the maps, mirages, and the baseless Rendlesham ‘binary code’ claim.
The Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle, Co. Cork, is said to give anyone who kisses it the gift of the gab. Here’s how the kiss works, why early writers disagreed about which stone it is, the legends of a witch, a fairy queen and Robert the Bruce, what an old geology slide revealed, where the word blarney really comes from, the Rock Close and Poison Garden, and tips for visiting.
The Giant’s Causeway in Co. Antrim is about 40,000 basalt columns left by a lava lake that cooled around 60 million years ago. Here’s why most columns are six-sided, the legend of Finn McCool and Benandonner and the versions that differ, the Irish name Clochán an Aifir, how the Royal Society and Susanna Drury made it famous, the Wishing Chair and Giant’s Boot, how to visit, and Dunluce Castle, Carrick-a-Rede and the Dark Hedges nearby.
Ireland never had snakes for St Patrick to banish. Here’s why the island is snake-free, which ancient writers noticed it first, how a 12th-century monk gave Patrick the credit on Croagh Patrick, Mayo’s folklore of serpent lakes, what the snakes might symbolise, Ireland’s only native reptile, and why the legend became an American favourite.
Croagh Patrick, the Reek, is Ireland’s holy mountain. Here’s St Patrick’s 40-day fast as Tírechán and the Tripartite Life tell it, where the snake legend really comes from, Reek Sunday from 1113 to today, the three stations and the Black Bell, the Lughnasa theory, what archaeologists found on the summit, the 1980s fight over gold, the Famine memorial at Murrisk and practical advice for the climb.
Glendalough, the glen of two lakes in Co. Wicklow, is where St Kevin lived as a hermit and founded one of Ireland’s great monasteries. Here are his legends (the blackbird, the angel who offered to flatten the mountains, Kathleen and the lake), the round tower and monastic city, the Viking raids, the 1214 merger with Dublin, the Spinc and Miners’ Village walks, and practical tips for visiting.
The Hill of Tara in Co. Meath is remembered as the seat of Ireland’s high kings. Here’s what’s really on the hill, from the 5,000-year-old Mound of the Hostages to the Lia Fáil, the stone said to roar under a true king, plus the Feast of Tara, St Patrick’s Easter fire, O’Connell’s 1843 monster meeting, the men who dug for the Ark of the Covenant, the M3 motorway row and how to visit for free.
Newgrange was built around 3200 BC, centuries before the Great Pyramid and Stonehenge’s stone circle. Here’s the passage tomb inside and out: the triple spiral, the solstice roof-box and its 1967 rediscovery, the disputed quartz wall, Knowth and Dowth, the legends of the Dagda and Aengus Óg, and how to visit Brú na Bóinne.