The Rambler  Rambles Through the Year 2025 Photo Courtown Woods by Mick O Callaghan At my age of 78 years, I have acquired a certain perspective on life and living,. I have lived long enough to know that every year is exceptional. Looking back on the year just gone, I find myself agreeing,2025 was an exceptional year remembered for war and disasters. The world continued its uneasy balancing act. Wars already underway in Ukraine and Gaza did not conclude, and new tensions appe

Christmas time I was in Tesco, Gorey on Thursday 12 th  December to listen to Loreto Primary school pupils singing Christmas carols. This heralded the start of the Christmas season for me. They sang Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, the 12 days of Christmas and many more. They sang them all beautifully with cheery smiles on their faces while collecting for the Jack and Jill charity. We sang along with them. It was most enjoyable and a fitting start to the Yuletide

CHRISTMAS                       AN NOLLAIG At this time of year in the pre-Christmas season I think about my early childhood memories. I think about my grandparents coming into town on the pony and trap to buy the Christmas fare, the sack of flour, the whiskey and tobacco and the big red candle to be lit at 6 o clock on Christmas Eve by the youngest person in the house. A sizeable turkey or goose was dropped off at our house which was the standard Xmas present. They did all t

Wakes  I was recently proofreading an academic essay for a university student, and the theme was Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire. I have read about this before both in school and in adult life. I was fascinated with the topic and its historical context in Cork. The mná caointe or keeners were professional mourners who wailed and screamed at wakes and funerals in Ireland. This ritual was a throwback to pagan Ireland when women at wakes wailed in mournful tones for the dead, often