Ireland
Move Over, St Patrick
Ireland’s Brigid is a cipher representing the country’s changing values. A saint sidelined by the Catholic Church, her star is ascendant today as more people identify with her alternative presentation as a pagan goddess. But records of the real Brigid, unlike those of many early saints, are compelling.
Ireland’s Silent War?
Months after independence from British rule, a short and brutal civil war swept Ireland. Earlier this year, as villages and towns across Ireland commemorated the centenary of the war’s worst atrocities, the state released archival material that forced a reevaluation of the conflict’s imprint on Irish politics.
Once-Banned Irish Dance Style Is Back
As the Gaelic revival swept across Ireland in the late 1800s, the once huge variety of Irish dances dwindled. But in the wild countryside of the south-west, Munnix survived – and when the pandemic arrived, this unusual dance gained a surprising new lease of life.
The Lasting Pain of Ireland’s Partition
This year marks the centenary of one of those malicious acts of history: the partition of Ireland, the establishment of a sectarian statelet in the northeast of the island, and the beginning of a whole new set of injustices that have fueled successive outbursts of civil strife.
How a Nearly Forgotten Man from Derry Forged Peace in Ireland
John Hume, whose legacy was nearly lost after he succumbed to dementia, realized that in order to improve conditions in his hometown, he would have to change the world