An Old Fishing Village, Irish First Names and Celtic Harps…

Céad míle fáilte, welcome to your Letter from Ireland “Shorts”.  Each Tuesday we’ll bring you a quick-read of some of our favourite and interesting Irish things for this week.

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FAVOURITE PLACES IN IRELAND 
Claddagh Village, County Galway.

The Claddagh, translating as “the shore”, is an ancient fishing village dating back to the 5th century. They even had their own king! Check out this short documentary about Claddagh and its king.

Plus members, check out our homelands feature in County Galway here to see much more.

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FEATURED IRISH NAMES – Irish first names

Do you know that many English first names have an Irish equivalent? An example is “Seán” – the Irish form of John. Have a look at some English names and their Irish equivalents – see if you can spot your own first name among them!

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BOOK I’M READING NOW

“The Trap” by Catherine Howard. This week’s featured book was recommended to us by a member of the Green Room. Here’s what they have to say about the book: “It is a well written, chilling mystery that was inspired by disappearances (still unsolved) that occurred in Ireland in the nineties – a page turner I found hard to put down.” Click here to see the book on amazon.

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IRISH WORD OR PROVERB

“Is minic ciúin ciontach“

Which translates to “The silent person is often guilty”.

Click here to listen to how a native Irish speaker would say it

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IRISH CRAFT/PRODUCT WE LOVE

Matchetts Music has been a leading supplier of musical instruments in Belfast for more than 85 years. If you’ve been thinking about learning a new instrument, this could be the sign you’re looking for! We find that these beautiful harps are the perfect Celtic instrument to get in touch with your Irish roots.

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That’s it for this week. Send us an email with any of your own favourites for inclusion in future emails, or if you’re a plus member leave a comment below.

Slán for now,
Mike & Carina.

*Note: The above article may contain some affiliate links (for example Amazon) which means we get paid a small amount should you choose to purchase, at no extra cost to you. This helps us keep the show on the road!