Customs and Traditions

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.

The Cúirt International Festival of Literature returns to Galway from 21–26 April 2026. Now in its 41st year, this beloved festival brings together Ireland’s finest literary voices — including Neil Jordan, Louise O’Neill, Anne Enright, and Liz Nugent — for six days of readings, poetry, and celebration.

The forgotten Irish fishing village that elected its own king and refused to marry outsiders for centuries — and how it gave the world the Claddagh ring.

Every summer, thousands of landless Irishmen walked hundreds of miles to find harvest work. Meet the spailpíní — the forgotten men who kept Ireland fed for centuries.

The Irish harvest knot was a woven straw love token — discover the old tradition where farm girls were the first to declare love at harvest time.

Before television, Irish neighbours gathered every winter night in one cottage for stories and song. Discover the lost céilí house tradition that shaped rural Irish life.