What is Irish culture, anyway? My name is Owen O'Toole. I'm 18, and while I proudly identify as Irish-American, I need to know more about my ancestral homeland. As my high school, Regis, prepares a trip next year to Ireland ("a pilgrimage," as we members of Regis' Gaelic society affectionately call it), I want to understand what Irish culture is all about. Here's what I do … [Read more...] about In Pursuit of Irish Culture
Irish History
A Sacred Place: Skellig Michael
Photographer and writer Chris Ryan visited the larger of the two Skellig Islands off the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, where an early-medieval monastery survives at the edge of the material world.Start at the Dublin offices of Google or Facebook, drive to the southwest tip of Ireland, hop a boat, journey seven miles out to sea, and climb 600 steps clinging to the edge of a … [Read more...] about A Sacred Place: Skellig Michael
Sláinte! Mead in Ireland
Often referred to as “nectar of the gods” mead is possibly the oldest alcoholic beverage on earth. From a banquet in Bunratty Castle to a modern Meadery in Kinsale, our travel writer is raising a glass to the honied wine.On a dark rainy evening in January of this year, I found myself being ushered into the great hall of a 15th century castle in County Clare by a bearded man in … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Mead in Ireland
The Irish Role in the Viking Discovery of America
As the thousandth anniversary of the Viking discovery of America will soon be celebrated in the year 2000, Thomas J. Martin and Donald V. Mehus examine the role that the Irish, with their own long seafaring tradition, played in those daring Atlantic voyages of exploration and discovery. A thousand years ago one of the most remarkable discoveries of the European peoples came and … [Read more...] about The Irish Role in the Viking Discovery of America
Have the Irish Made It in America?
Sociologist and best-selling author Andrew M. Greeley looks at the various immigrant waves of Irish to this country and how they fared. Have the Irish made it in America? That the question is still asked shows that the Irish are still insecure about their success in this country. In fact, Irish Catholics are the most successful gentile ethnic group in American society and have … [Read more...] about Have the Irish Made It in America?