☘️ Your Weekly Dose of Irish – August 18th, 2025

With Stephen from Irish Around The World 🇮🇪

Pull up a stool, pour a cuppa or something stronger, and enjoy your fresh pint of Irish stories, craic, and culture.

Snap from Ireland: Blackrock Castle, Cork

📖 Coming Soon: A Sneak Peek at the Daily Dose of Irish Book!

I was hoping to have the first page sample of my upcoming Daily Dose of Irish book ready for you this week, but I’ve run into a few formatting gremlins (you know yourself – fonts behaving like bold leprechauns and margins running off like banshees).

But not to worry — I’m working away at it and I’ll have a lovely sneak peek ready for you in next week’s newsletter. Can’t wait to share it with you!

💚 Irish Quote of the Week

“You'll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.”

— Irish Proverb

A little nudge from the ancestors to get out there and do the thing, whatever your “thing” is this week.

📜 On This Day in Irish History – August 18th

Let’s take a stroll through the Irish annals:

• 🕯️ 1941 – Douglas Hyde, Ireland’s very first President and a champion of the Irish language, passed away. He led the cultural revival that helped shape modern Irish identity.
• 🚢 1879 – The famous “Apparition at Knock” took place in Co. Mayo. Fifteen people witnessed what they claimed was the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and St. John at the gable wall of their local church. The event turned Knock into one of the world’s most visited Catholic shrines.
• ⚔️ 1649 – Oliver Cromwell set sail for Ireland. What followed was one of the darkest and bloodiest chapters in Irish history. The name “Cromwell” still raises a few curses in Irish homes today. And rightly so.

🎶 “Because maybe…!” – Irish Priest Steals the Show with ‘Wonderwall’ at Wedding

Only in Ireland could a wedding ceremony suddenly turn into an Oasis gig — and the man behind the mic? The priest!

Fr. Ray Kelly from Co. Meath surprised a bride and groom (and the entire congregation) by breaking into a full-blown performance of “Wonderwall” — right there at the altar.

It wasn’t just a few lines either — we’re talking chords, confidence, and pure craic.

He’s no stranger to viral fame either, having made headlines before with his version of Hallelujah.

“My priest barely looks up from the missal. This fella’s out here doing Oasis!” – every Irish person watching

📹 Watch the full video here:

👉 “Wonderwall” Wedding Performance – Fr. Ray Kelly

📚 Did You Know?

Ireland is home to the world’s oldest known field system, older than the Pyramids and Stonehenge!

Known as the Céide Fields, located in Co. Mayo, these date back nearly 6,000 years and show evidence of ancient farming life in Neolithic Ireland. Imagine – farmers working those lands before the wheel was even invented!

Wise Words from a 100-Year-Old Irish Doctor

Dr. Fergus O’Connor lived to 100 and left behind some brilliant life advice:

“Stop worrying so much. In 100 years, who’s going to care?”

“Moderation in all things — including moderation.”

“A sense of humour is as important as any pill.”

📖 Watch the rest of his gems here:

👉 Life Lessons from a 100-Year-Old Irish Doctor

📝 Irish Poem of the Week

Love Irish Poems? Check out my list of the top 100 Irish poems here.

“September 1913” — W. B. Yeats

First published in 1913, this is one of Yeats' most impassioned and politically charged poems. Disillusioned with the Ireland of his day, Yeats contrasts the greed and spiritual emptiness of the present with the heroic self-sacrifice of past Irish patriots. It’s a stirring reminder of what Ireland has stood for and what it must never forget.

September 1913

By W. B. Yeats

What need you, being come to sense,

But fumble in a greasy till

And add the halfpence to the pence

And prayer to shivering prayer, until

You have dried the marrow from the bone;

For men were born to pray and save:

Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone,

It’s with O’Leary in the grave.

Yet they were of a different kind,

The names that stilled your childish play,

They have gone about the world like wind,

But little time had they to pray

For whom the hangman’s rope was spun,

And what, God help us, could they save?

Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone,

It’s with O’Leary in the grave.

Was it for this the wild geese spread

The grey wing upon every tide;

For this that all that blood was shed,

For this Edward Fitzgerald died,

And Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone,

All that delirium of the brave?

Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone,

It’s with O’Leary in the grave.

Yet could we turn the years again,

And call those exiles as they were

In all their loneliness and pain,

You’d cry, ‘Some woman’s yellow hair

Has maddened every mother’s son’:

They weighed so lightly what they gave.

But let them be, they’re dead and gone,

They’re with O’Leary in the grave.

🇮🇪 Irish Quiz – Test Your Irish Smarts!

Take your shot at this week's Irish trivia. Answers below – no peeking!

1. What is the oldest surviving Irish manuscript?

A) The Book of Kells

B) The Cathach of St. Columba

C) The Lebor Gabála Érenn

D) The Annals of Ulster

2. What county is known as the “Rebel County”?

A) Kerry

B) Tipperary

C) Cork

D) Galway

3. Which Irish island is famous for its stone forts and puffins?

A) Achill Island

B) Skellig Michael

C) Tory Island

D) Inishbofin

4. What ancient Irish festival marks the beginning of harvest?

A) Samhain

B) Imbolc

C) Lughnasadh

D) Beltane

5. Who wrote the Irish classic "The Lake Isle of Innisfree"?

A) W.B. Yeats

B) James Joyce

C) Seamus Heaney

D) Oscar Wilde

📣 Quiz Answers

1️⃣ B) The Cathach of St. Columba

2️⃣ C) Cork

3️⃣ B) Skellig Michael

4️⃣ C) Lughnasadh

5️⃣ A) W.B. Yeats

That’s your Weekly Dose of Irish wrapped up like a hot turf fire on a rainy evening.

If this brought a smile, send it to a friend or two – let’s keep the Irish spirit flying high, from Cork to California 🌍☘️

Until next week,

Slán agus beannacht,

— Stephen from Irish Around The World