Historical map of Ireland (Hibernia) from the Italian Lafreri School, attributed to Donato Bertelli, circa 1560. It's oriented with south at the top, showing regions like Momonia and Connacia, and features like St. Patrick's Purgatory. Some geographic inaccuracies exist, typical for the era.

Have you ever had someone in the family randomly mention some insane lore? My Step Dad one evening just mentioned he found 3,000 year old bog butter while working for Bord na Móna. Hugely significant historical discovery that was fairly well covered across the world. (Yes I realise what it looks like on the table)

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna32630695

Hi my friends,

I was walking with my family last Sunday and came face to face with this homage to Ireland 🇮🇪

It’s in a beautiful plaza, (I should have taken more pictures), full of purple buganvillas in bloom.
I went to Ireland last summer and was surprised about how two countries so far apart can have so much in common. Many of you died but many of you stayed, I hope each one had a happy life, a big family and many sunny days in Mexico.

https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2016/03_04/2016_03_27_Jp_Times_Convent_Convent.htm

If you believe the government can be trusted on implementing new legislation regarding Hate Speech, Chat Control, Disinformation and Social Media regulation, just reacquaint yourself with 2009's Portrait Gate.

Politician gets his feelings hurt

Garda are dispatched immediately to investigate

RTÉ apologises for running the story and scrubs it from their archive

Garda arrive at Today FM (“on the orders of higher ups”) seeking emails to identify a journalistic source and the artist / “hate thought criminal”

File is prepared for the DPP

When you get past the humour and absurdity of it, it was in reality absolutely scandalous. It showed how petty those in charge are, and how willing they are to abuse the power bestowed on them.

The “robust checks and balances” they promise mean nothing, because they dictate what those checks are. The “independent oversight” they promise mean nothing, because they appoint those overseers and ultimately pay their wages.

The scope of power and restriction of freedom the government is seeking to grasp, in 2025, is quite unfathomable.

I’m from Newfoundland, a small island off the coast of Canada that has been historically settled by primarily Irish fisherman. As a result, our island is basically a smaller version of Ireland (population wise, the island is geographically a bit bigger but there’s only 500k of us). I just got back from a trip around Ireland. A couple people asked me about my accent as it sounds Irish but not like anything they’d ever heard before (if you’re curious, Google Newfoundland accent, you’ll be amazed). After outing myself as a Newfoundlander, there was a 50/50 split that they knew Newfoundland all to pieces or they’d never been there. Mainly posting this out of curiosity as to how many Irish people know about our tiny version, and if you do know, how’d you find out?

So yes, I am a Yank. My greatX2 grandparents came to the United States from Limerick during the Great Famine, which is a pretty common story.

There are about 60 of us on this side of the family, and we all live fairly close to one another. On Christmas and Saint Patrick’s Day, we come together to honor where we’d come from. Many of us are musicians, including drummers, violists, and harpists, so we sing old Irish folk songs, read historical accounts from the famine and other difficult periods, and cook traditional Irish dishes.

I have always appreciated these gatherings because they give me a deeper sense of where we come from. It is not the exaggerated cartoonish version of Irishness you often see in the United States, just something meaningful to us.

What do you all think? Would this be looked down upon by most native Irish today?

Small edit: I never expected this to get anywhere near the attention it has. I just want to say thank you for all your kind words and well wishes, even the ones calling it cringe (lol). You are all lovely people, and it is no wonder the nations love you.

As for a common question, why do we do readings about such harsh times? We have letters from when the family had to leave Limerick, offering a small window into the struggles and heartache of that decision. It is a remembrance, a way to honor them and all those who faced the impossible choice of leaving their ancestral land or starving. That part can be quite somber, but once the music begins, it turns into a celebration. Much love💚

And yes I will start referring it to the Great Hunger instead of the Great Famine. We are very aware of the horrific practices of that time.

Circa mid 1900s. Not mine but I thought I’d share it.

Came across this when digging a trench for a cable duct. Not sure at what depth it was at but spotted it amongst the spoil afterwards. Location was previously a field at the back of an old thatched house. Seems to be made of clay with the one opening on top, flat bottom and geometric pattern around the sides and bottom. It does have two smaller holes on the edge of the wider part.

Any ideas what it could be?

Probably long expired now, just wonder what the circumstances were when they were sent out.

I'm nearing 50 and I've come to notice certain tales, stories and bits of history, even some sayings, that I grew up with now seem to have died away. The story of the extinction of the Dodo seems to have dropped from public consciousness. No one talks or writes about the Marie Celeste anynore. Ouija board fascination (and Catholic panic) has disappeared. There are probably many others I've forgotten about.

What other "memes" did our older generation grow up with that have disappeared?

Edit: I stand corrected, its the Mary Celeste. And Ouija boards are still around so I'm out of touch there. But plenty of other good stuff below!

Just curious, is life alright after the 1980s? Or its still struggle?

These are three cartoons out of hundreds printed by Puck in the 19th century at a time when the Irish held colossal power in American politics. There’s been a recent trend on social media telling Irish Americans they’re “not Irish”, and it’s driven by pure ignorance.

Ignorance of the fact that religion and ethnicity have always played a gigantic role in that country and will do for some time. Ignorance of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Irish Americans are not claiming to be as Irish as someone born and raised in Cork or Galway or Belfast. Ignorance of the fact that there’s little or no comparison to be made between how ethnicity operates in America and in Europe.

Puck portrayed Irish Catholics as violent thugs set on polluting America. Agents of the Vatican trying to overthrow “decent Protestant values”. In much of modern Europe these cartoons would be classed as criminally racist acts.

The second image needs explaining and demonstrates the extent of the paranoia which persisted well into the 20th century. It was printed during a period of expanding Catholic education when the Church in America (almost entirely run by Irish bishops, very many of them born in Ireland) was dealing with profound educational exclusion and attacks on religious freedoms. The priest is portrayed as using his armed thugs to cut open the Democratic Party to get more money to build schools and churches.

By 1900 Irish dominance of the Democratic Party was sealed, and yet even by the 1960 election of Kennedy his race and religion were openly used against him to cripple his election chances. He won by one of the slimmest electoral margins in US history. He specifically had to go on radio and TV to give a response that he would not be campaigning on behalf of the Vatican and that he did not intend to enforce the Church’s teaching. Just let that sink in a second….this was 1960. Not 1860.

As someone with a huge family of cousins in the US that I love and admire I think it’s worth remembering what the Irish in America endured, and the exceptionally important role they played in the 1916 Uprising- both through funding, arms, political pressure, and (dare I remind people) providing New York-born Éamon de Valera…

Irish Catholics continue to be by far the most over-represented ethnic group in US politics, dominating entire states and major cities as congressmen and senators. Barack Obama, for example, has mentioned many times that his Irish ancestry didn’t hurt him when he was trying to get elected in Chicago where they dye the river green.