Customs and Traditions

At the Tailteann Games in County Meath, couples once married for exactly one year and a day — and had the legal right to dissolve the union just as simply.

In old Ireland, a twist of straw left at your door on Shrove Tuesday carried one clear message: your neighbours had noticed you were still unmarried. Discover the forgotten tradition that shaped rural Irish life.

Discover the ancient Irish harvest tradition of the Cailleach — the shameful bundle of straw no farmer wanted to receive when the harvest ended last.

The Irish rambling house tradition — scoraiocht — was where no one knocked and everyone was welcome. Discover the rural custom that shaped Irish social life for centuries.

The ancient Irish tradition of turf cutting from bogs — the slean, the stacking, and why generations of families guarded their bog plots like gold.

Discover the forgotten Irish wake traditions — keening, wake games, clay pipes, and the rituals that shaped how Ireland said goodbye to its dead.

The Irish pattern day is an ancient holy well ritual that every parish once kept sacred. Learn what happens, why it was suppressed, and where to find one.

Discover Bealtaine — Ireland’s ancient May Day fire festival. For thousands of years the Irish lit bonfires, protected their homes, and welcomed summer with sacred flame.

Discover the ancient Bealtaine traditions that once sent Irish women into the fields before sunrise on May morning — and why some still do it today.

The secret story of poitin – Ireland’s illegal moonshine that sustained remote communities for three centuries and is now making a triumphant comeback.