The Online Gift Shop For All Things Irish

17/03/2021

Today being the day it is, did you know these five interesting facts about St. Patrick's day?
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03/03/2021

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15/12/2020

Who are the Irish?

It's reckoned Ireland has been inhabited for about 12.500 years. In all this time they have mostly had their own music, religion, law, alphabet, dress, sports, language and mythology.

It's estimated that today roughly 50 to 80 million people around the world have Irish forebears.

The terms Irish and Ireland are probably derived from the goddess Ériu and one legend states that the final wave of inhabitants were decended from Míl Espáine - the mythical ancestor whose progeny - the Milesians came from Galicia.

The waves that arrived in Ireland are broken into 6 groups:
1. The Cessair. Cessair(f), whose father's father was Noah arrived in Ireland to escape the Great Flood.
2. Partholón. For 300 years Ireland is uninhabited until Partholón (decended from Noah through Magog - who we'll see again) arrives. He introduces farming and defeats the mysterious Fomorians.
3. Nemed. Ireland is uninhabited for another 30 years until Nemed (again decended from Noah). Nemed is defeated by the Formorians. The Formorians were thought to be a supernatural race from Tory island.
4. Fir Bolg - After Nemed's defeat to the Formorians some of Nemed's original settlement fled to Greece. After being slaves there for 230 years they return to Ireland.
5. Tuatha Dé Danann. Some of Nemed's original settlement also fled the Formorians to the north. They now return. They fight the Fir Bolg and defeat them. The Tuath De enjoy 150 years of unbroken rule.
6. Milesians. The final wave led by Míl Espáine. It is here that the Tuatha Dé Danann make an agreement with the Milesians and they (the Tuatha Dé) agree to enter the "World Below" and enter the Sidhe Mounds. These Sidhe Mounds are known today as fairy mounds and they - The Tuatha Dé - now live in a parallel existance to our own and sometimes cross into ours existence.
To get a sense of the Míl Espáine lineage is goes as follows:
Adam - Noah - Noah's son Japheth - Japheth's son Magog, Magog's son Boath, Boath's son Fénius Farsaid (created Ogham - the perfect alphabet because it was created after he created Hebrew, Greek and Latin), Nel son of Fénius Farsaid weds Scota who is daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh and they have a son Goidel Glas. Goidel Glas crafts the gaelic language from the 72 languages that arose from the confusion of tongues which occured as a result of the building of the Tower of Babel. Goidel's offsping - the Goidels (Gaels), leave Egypt at the same time as the Israelites (the Exodus). From there we come to Brath, Breogán, Bile and finally Míl Espáine.

Genetic research backs this up too by being able to match Irish men who have Irish surnames with males from the areas of Spain and Portugal - especially Galicia.

What of any of this is true cannot be said with accuracy (besides the genetics part), but many legends are told after events occur, and even though their accuracy cannot be proven, there may always be some part of the truth contained within them.

So, if you've gotten this far, please check out our shop here. We've loads of stuff and are constantly expanding the product range.🇮🇪☘️

Looking for Irish souvenir gifts - cups, hats, caps, badges, t-shirts, etc.? Look no further. Here at Irelandisms you can buy all of those items online. High quality Irish souvenir gifts are only a few clicks away.

08/12/2020

BE KIND TO THE STRANGER

Growing up in Ireland we were always keenly aware of how intertwined our lives were with that of the spirit world and with those other denziens of the netherworld - namely the good folk, more commonly known as the fairies.

Whenever the family got together and as the evening grew darker the voices became more hushed and the tales would start to sound. Everyone listened, nobody scoffed. There was a respect there for story teller and for the subjects of the stories.
There would be stories about how an outsider would try to build a house in a field where he had been warned to keep out of. The field was seen locally as a place where the fairies had been seen or heard and under no circumstances should you be messing around or disrespecting the 'occupants' of that field. Of course, the outsider dismissed such childish superstition, continued to disturb that hallowed ground, only to end up dead a short time later through some tragic accident.

Or another one, where late in the evening a stranger knocked on the door whilst the men were playing a game of poker. No doubt to swindle the poor stranger he was invited in to the game. However, during the game a card from one of the men fell on the ground and when he bent down to pick it up he saw cloven hooves where instead the stranger's two feet should have been. At this discovery there was a bang, the stranger disappeared and only a rancid smell of sulphur remained.
No doubt, it was the last game of poker played in that house.

If you heard such stories when you were growing up, consider posting them below and we will add them, where wished, (and with credit of course) as a blog.

So remember above all else - be kind to the stranger because you may never know who in fact you're dealing with.

Looking for Irish souvenir gifts - cups, hats, caps, badges, t-shirts, etc.? Look no further. Here at Irelandisms you can buy all of those items online. High quality Irish souvenir gifts are only a few clicks away.

02/12/2020

Made in Ireland. Shaped by the wild Atlantic ocean

We come from a place called Donegal. It's located in the northwest of Ireland and it's, to us anyway, one of the most beautiful places in the world. Granted, it might rain 360 days in the year, but it's mostly just a soft rain that you'd be all right going out in so long as you wear a hat.

The reason for this site is that we know there are people all over the world who - whether they be emigrants or people with family connections or just want to have a connection with Ireland in general - want to have something which brings Ireland to them. That's why we have such a wide range of products - there's something to meet everybody's needs. Not only that, but our selection is growing all the time, and while you might not find something suitable on your first visit, remember to come back again later and we might just have the ideal item for you.

Not only that, but we want to hear from YOU. Tell us what you want and we will do our very best to get it.

There is a second side to this website however. That is, we are not just about providing you with those perfect gifts, but we also want to impart through our blog, stories about Ireland; personal memories, audio interviews, the myth and magic of the old stories. We hope you will like it and we hope you can also add to this blog with your own stories.