“The Year in Ireland” is series of videos by the children at Áirc Damhsa Culture Club which looks at Irish customs and traditions that happen from one end of the year to the other. Inspired by folklorist Kevin Danaher and Edwina Guckian’s book ‘Sparks from the Flagstones’ over 120 children at the club have been researching, creating, directing and producing short films about these traditions through music, song, dance and story. Each of the 20 short films will be released throughout 2024 on the specific date that the custom is associated with starting with Imbolc, Brigid’s Day and The Biddy Boys launching 31st January 2024 on Áirc Damhsa social media platforms and youtube.
The Year in Ireland is supported by The Arts Council – Young people, children & education with mentorship by Edwina Guckian
Episode 1 - St. Brigid’s Day
Welcome to the first episode in our new series The Year in Ireland.
Brigid’s crosses, Imbolc, Spring, Biddy Boys and all the traditions we
on the 31st January and 1st February for St. Brigid.
Episode 2 - The Riabhóg Days
On the 1st day of April, the Old Brindled Cow is said to have boasted that not even March’s terrible weather could kill her. And so March borrowed 3 days from April and unleashed her worst weather of all on the poor old cow.
Episode 3 - May Eve
On May Eve we celebrate Bealtaine - the beginning of summer in Ireland. We travel the roads and fields picking the yellow May flowers from the hedges. Then we visit all the houses and sprinkle the flowers on their doorsteps. It keeps the fairies away as they like to cause lots of trouble at this time of year. We pick yellow flowers because the fairies don’t like yellow! We even put some at gates into our cow sheds and fields to protect the animals.
Episode 4 - May Day
As the sun rises on The 1st of May we wash our faces in the May morning dew to keep us young. It is said that if you wash your hands in the dew you can untie any know or unlock any door. Hares seen on May morning are thought to be the fairies out trying to steal the cows milk. The hare is believed to be one of the fairies in disguise and can change from hare to human to fairy as it wishes. Fairies are up to the most mischief on May Day. You might hear them having a dance with the fairy piper but be sure not to join them!
Episode 5 - The May Bush & May Boys
On Lá Bealtaine we decorate the May bush or May tree in our gardens to celebrate the beginning of summer. We usually pick a hawthorn tree as it’s the tree of the fairies but any tree or bush in your garden will do. When all the decorating is done, we spend the evening celebrating the return of summer having a feast with our friends and family, dancing around the May tree.
This morning as the sun did rise We decorated this bush for you to surprise With our fiddles flutes and tin whistles we’ll play To bring you good cheer on the first of May Have you ever heard of the May Boys? They’re kind of the same as the wren boys at Christmas but the May boys celebrate Bealtaine. Boys and girls dress in colourful cloths and floral crowns carrying a branch from the May bush decorated with ribbons and rags. The May Queen carries the May Babóg made from straw or rushes. Going from house to house they play music, sing and dance on the doorsteps, bringing the summer with them.
Episode 6 - Samhain
We welcome Winter on the first day of November. It is the beginning of the dark half of the year; a time for long, dark evenings and colder, wetter weather to set in and the animals to return to their sheds, a time for people to gather in each other's homes and tell stories around the fire, and a time for the dead to come back to the living. The festival of Samhain marks the end of the old Celtic year and the beginning of the new one.
Episode 7 - The Last Night of Samhain
On the 30th of November, the last night of Samhain, it's said that the dead are dancing in the hills. One last night of celebration before they head back to the otherworld until Samhain returns the following year. But us humans are never to join them, no matter how enticing their music is. For if the dead were to recognise you as one of the living, they'd be sure to bring you with them.
Episode 8 - The Wren Boys Lá an Dreoilín
St. Stephen’s Day 26th December, Lá an Dreoilín. It's on this day that the Wren Boys hit the roads going from house to house, entertaining their neighbours and bestowing good luck upon their homes in return for some money. They travel in disguise, wearing costumes of old rags and ribbons, tattered clothes, straw, tinsel, tea towels, net curtains and their presence firmly marked with wild and joyous behaviour.
‘The wran, the wran the king of all birds
On St. Stephen’s Day was caught in the furze
Although he is little, his family is great
Put your hand in your pocket and give us a treat
Now up with the kettle and down with the pan
And give us a penny to bury the wran’.