Customs and Traditions

Discover the ancient superstitions Irish fishermen kept for centuries — forbidden words, unlucky colours, and the rules that could end a voyage before it began.

The Irish thatched cottage is more than a postcard. Inside, a fire burned that was never allowed to die — and the reason will stay with you.

The ancient Irish practice of meitheal brought entire villages together to work for free. Here is what it meant, how it worked, and why it still matters.

Discover the ancient Irish handfasting tradition — how couples were literally bound together and where the phrase ‘tying the knot’ really came from.

Discover the Irish piseog — the ancient rural curse that could destroy harvests, poison cattle, and tear communities apart for generations.

Every 26th December, straw-masked musicians march through Irish villages in a tradition called Wren Day — one of Ireland’s oldest and most mysterious customs, still alive today.

Ireland’s folk healing tradition: the gift of ‘the cure’ — passed through rural families for centuries and still sought out in many communities today.

Bealtaine was Ireland’s ancient May Day fire festival — hilltops ablaze, cattle through flames, hawthorn in bloom. Discover how summer once began across Ireland.

The Skellig List named every impatient couple in Ireland each spring. Discover the folk tradition that made parishes laugh from Kerry to Donegal.

Discover the Lough Derg pilgrimage in County Donegal, where thousands still fast barefoot on Station Island for three days — a tradition over 1,500 years old.