Celebrate Your Irish Heritage

Hi, we're Mike and Carina. We travel Ireland and the Irish ancestral trails of the world, connect with people of Irish descent and share the resulting stories, photos, videos and podcasts with you.

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Irish Homelands – County Cavan

Welcome to this “Irish Homelands”. This month, we are heading to County Cavan in the Irish province of Ulster.

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From The Vikings to The Normans (#737)

In this episode we look at the journey taken by a branch of Vikings and their establishment of a Dukedom in what became known as “Normandy” in northern France. We look at their culture and traditions – traditions that they brought with them to England in 1066 and then onto Ireland in the late part…

The Mother & Baby Homes of Ireland (#736)

In this week’s episode we look at the way that unmarried mothers – and other “social undesirables” were treated in Ireland, especially in the period from the 1940s to the 1960s. Carina reads out two letters – one on the Magdalene Laundries and the other shares the story of one mother who never gave up…

The Pogues & More – A Different Sort of Irish Music (#735)

In today’s episode, we explore the different sort of Irish music that was coming onto the scene from the mid-1970s. We first look at the story of that great London-Irish band – The Pogues – and then onto the more subtle music of Paul Brady. In both cases, lots of background stories, music and craic.…

Danny Boy and the Music and Songs of Ulster (#734)

In this episode we take a musical trip around the nine counties of Ulster: Derry (Londonderry), Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan. Alongside the immortal “Danny Boy”, we feature at least one tune or song from each of the counties. I refer to a map while talking – and you can see…