Category: Irish
Culture Notes - Sept 30 ‘07
Hollywood Fails to Anticipate Afghan Views on Dishonor in Filming of Kite Runner. The movie version of the excellent and hugely popular novel by Khaled Hosseini was filmed with an Afghan cast. Some of the actors, including the boy who plays the lead role, didn’t completely understand some of the plot elements before [...] Read More »
Culture News March 23 ‘07
It’s Official: Video Games Part of French Culture
French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres has inducted three game designers into the prestigious Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Literature), following on a new law signed earlier this month that provides generous tax breaks for video games made on French soil. Wired [...] Read More »
Snake Day: the Day the Earth Opens
In Romanian folklore, March 17 is Snake Day, the day on which the ground opens, and animals that burrow in the ground emerge at the end of winter. It is a day on which people traditionally clean their fruit trees and their households. Storks return to build their nests, fish begin to swim, [...] Read More »
St. Patrick’s Day
Irish communities around the world celebrate their patron saint on Saint Patrick's Day, March 17. It is the Irish national holiday, and a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, the territory of Montserrat, and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The holiday is also widely celebrated in the United States, and [...] Read More »
Irish Wedding Traditions
St. Patrick’s Day – March 17th – is one of the luckiest days on which to be married. “Marry in May and Rue the Day” says one Irish proverb.
Before the wedding, the groom was invited for a traditional meal of stuffed goose at the bride's house cooked a goose in his honor. After [...] Read More »
The Irish Claddagh Ring
The Claddagh ring symbolizes the motto “let love and friendship reign.” Two hands, representing faith, hold a heart. The crown above the heart symbolizes honor.
Single women wear the Claddagh Ring on their right hand, with the heart pointing outward toward the end of her finger. When a woman is engaged, she turns [...] Read More »
The Legend of the White Stag, or, Why Rudolph Has a Red Nose
The legend of the white stag is part of the mythology of many cultures, originating with early European and Asian cultures who depended on hunting for their survival.
Star Mythology
The most ancient legend of the stag revolves around the "great hunter" (the constellation of stars known as Orion), who hunts the heavenly stag (Ursa Major), [...] Read More »
Veteran’s Day, Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, Poppy Day
The U.S. holiday of Veteran’s Day is known as Remembrance Day in Australia, Canada, Colombia, UK and Ireland, as Poppy Day in South Africa and Malta, and as Armistice Day in the U.K., New Zealand and many other Commonwealth countries. It is observed on November 11 to recall the end of World War I [...] Read More »
The Origin of the Halloween Jack-o-Lantern Tradition
In America, families carve jack-o-lanterns – lanterns made from carved pumpkins and display them to celebrate Halloween.
The Legend of Stingy Jack
The tradition was brought to America by Irish and Scottish immigrants. It originated in an Irish legend about a man named “Stingy Jack” who tricked the Devil. First, he invited the Devil [...] Read More »
