I read The Banshees of Inisherin as an allegory of this vicious civil conflict, told in a loose but recognisable metaphor of the breakdown of a once close friendship. Continue reading
Filed under Irish Studies …
Fintan O’Toole’s Latest – an antipodean perspective
For the marginal outsider like myself, this book explained the geopolitical realignments that occurred so quickly and unexpectedly in Ireland between 1958 and 2018. Continue reading
What’s On – August to September, 2023
Lughnasa Bacon and Cabbage Night, Films to watch, Courses, conferences and seminars to attend, and a Battle of the Bands. Continue reading
Community Gatherings in Ireland: part two
The very earliest communal gathering and feasting for which we have solid evidence are known as fulachta fia. These were the locations where an animal, probably a deer or boar, was cooked following a hunt. The sharing of food is a social act that creates and maintains bonds and obligations within a group or community, which seems to have been the entire function of these feasts. Continue reading
What’s On – July – August, 2023
National Famine Commemoration, Lughnasa Bacon and Cabbage Night, Films to watch, FIFA Women’s World Cup Continue reading
You’ll take a cup of tea? Archaeological evidence for tea drinking at Baker’s Flat, South Australia
The fineness of the design and the stippling indicate a manufacture date in the early nineteenth century, suggesting that the teacup may have been brought to South Australia in an emigrant’s baggage rather than purchased locally in the years after arrival. Continue reading
Twin Room as Gaeilge
This poem was published in English as ‘Twin Room” in Tinteán on the 7 May, 2019 (see https://tintean.org.au/2019/05/07/twin-room-by-david-harris/). Here is a version as Gaeilge. Continue reading
A Right Royal Cup of Tay
Tea drinking may be associated with English culture, but it is still very much part of Irish culture too. Continue reading
The Irishman who Shot the Duke of Edinburgh
The author, Simon Smith, is a filmmaker who has recorded stories from around the world, and that background is seen in the writing as he fills in little details and concentrates on the lives, likes and troubles of the main characters. Continue reading
Remembering Hugh O’Flaherty
With honours from the US, Britain and Israel, he is almost forgotten in Ireland, sixty years after he died. Continue reading