“Auld Lang Syne” is a Scottish poem set to music. Robert Burns was the first to put to pen the lyrics and Guy Lombardo made it into the popular New Year’s anthem. Tracing the origin of the song is really impossible. Like so many other stories and legends, what we have now is a combination…
Author: Cindy Thomson
Hogmanay
“It is ordinary among some Plebians in the South of Scotland, to go about from door to door upon New Year`s Eve, crying Hagmane.” Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence, 1693. Hogmanay is the name of the Scottish New Year’s celebration and it’s huge. Here’s the official site for what’s happening in Edinburgh. If you want to be…
5 DYK From my Ellis Island Research
Did you know… 1. Immigrant aide societies used to send an agent to the docks or onto Ellis Island to fetch young Irish girls who came to America totally unprepared. They probably saved many young girls from falling into a life of prostitution. Other ethnic groups had aide societies as well. In Sofia’s Tune Sofia takes…
5 of my Favorite Irish Things
(In no particular order.) 1. Knots I love Celtic knot designs. Our wedding rings have the eternity knot design, a symbol that love never ends. My husband stenciled a Celtic knot design on the landing of the stairs leading to my office. We have the design in several places around our home, including stepping…
A Time of Celtic Worship
Many of us have been watching a lot of church online. I stumbled across this worship session of Christmas caroles led by the group Celtic Worship from 2020. Definitely worth your time! I usually skip sharing videos that won’t allow me to embed them, but this is an exception. You’ll need to pop over to…
She Danced to Her Own Shadow
From the Carmina Gadelica comes the story of Mary Macrae. Alexander Carmichael, the collector of these “Songs of the Gales,” describes her this way: “…rather under than over middle height, but strongly and symmetrically formed. She often walked with companions, after the work of the day was done, distances of ten and fifteen miles to a dance, and after…
The Women of the Magdalene Laundries
It’s a sad and horrifying fact of Irish history that thousands of women were detained and forced to work long, hard hours scrubbing away their sins in places that were called Magdalene Laundries. If you’ve never heard of them before, read this. And before you think this is a historical story, the last of them was…
Searching the Past
Amazon affiliate links appear in this post. As an affiliate I earn from purchases made through these links. While it doesn’t cost you any more, it does help support my writing. As you probably know if you read my blog and/or have read my books, I’m keenly interested in the early Christian period in Ireland….
An Old Celtic Prayer
This is a general prayer from Douglas Hyde’s book, The Religious Songs of Connacht. He attributes it to a man named Michael Picoid. It was originally written in Latin. You can read my thoughts below. I believe in Thee ; strengthen my belief. I trust in Thee ; confirm my trust. I love Thee ; double my love. I…
A Look at Celtic Prayer
In 2010 I posted this (note that the book Celtic Wisdom is now The Roots of Irish Wisdom.) From my book, CELTIC WISDOM, TREASURES FROM IRELAND “Prayer was not reserved primarily for church: it was a natural outpouring of the culture, a culture that saw power in the natural world, one that did not see a division…
