Ireland Cultural Tips
Tips on the Irish lifestyle, speech and culture.
Irish Easter Eggs
Maybe it’s just me and my yankee upbringings, but Easter Eggs were actually real eggs when I was a kid.
We would have an exciting egg-decorating session with little dye kits and paints on Easter week. Those decorated (and hard-boiled, I should add) eggs would be stashed in the fridge a day or so before easter and then the easter bunny would come Easter Sunday while we were at mass. We would return home to find our dozens of decorated eggs hidden in improbable places throughout the garden and we would delightedly find a few candy-filled plastic eggs and an easter basket for each of us hidden somewhere as well.
This description of easter celebrations registers amazed disbelief on the part of local Irish people.
“Would the shops have little kits called ‘egg-dying kits,’ would they??!” I get asked.
You see, here in Ireland Easter and the associated Egg is a different kettle of fish altogether.
Date: April 8th, 2007 |
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Smoking in Irish pubs
If you’re picturing the Irish pub as a fascinating, dark, smoky place then you’re one-third right.
Ireland passed a blanket ban on smoking back in 2004. Since then your Irish pub experience has been smoke-free. I won’t lie to you, there are cigarettes lit up when doors are locked - should that ever happen. Such things are mainly due to proprietors who smoke themselves, however.
The decision to ban smoking in Irish pubs was heralded by many at the time as the end of the Irish pub. Funny enough, it seemed to have little or no impact. Wellll- that’s not exactly true. Suddenly, just about every pub that could manage it set up an outdoor beer garden (where, being outside, smoking is legal). Most of these are covered affairs with either canvas or retractable roof panels installed.
Date: January 28th, 2007 |
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Insight into the Irish personality
Maybe it was the pints talking. Maybe it was because we’d been at work for 14 hours and we were all tired. Maybe it was the magic of Sean’s Bar, the oldest pub in Ireland.
Whatever it was, the conversation among my coworkers last night turned to one of the great eccentricities of Irish culture and personality - the dichotomy of reticence and bumptiousness. In other words, how come, sometimes, Irish people are stubbornly polite and simply will not say what they think and, at other times, you couldn’t stop them for hell or high water from dancing on the tables like madmen?
The discussion began when someone at the table said that Irish people were known for never giving a straight answer. “You have to forgive me for saying so,” he began, “but sometimes we’re almost as reserved with our opinion as the Brits; we’ll go to great lengths to avoiding saying what we REALLY think.”
Date: January 23rd, 2007 |
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21 Kisses
So last night I attended El Rob-o’s 21st birthday party.
Last time I attended a 21st birthday party I neglected to mention this Irish tradition of 21 kisses. Aside from the key to the house thing (which is never done anymore), this seems to be the only other distinction to this particular birthday. The birthday person is placed in front of the band and 21 members of the opposite sex must queue up for a kiss, with the last kiss reserved for someone of particular significance; be it familial or romantic. So, if you happen to be in Ireland for someone’s 21st and they’re a member of the opposite sex - getcher smoochin lips on!!
Date: November 25th, 2006 |
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Breastfeeding in Ireland
Well, it’s Irish Breastfeeding week and, seeing as how I have some personal experience with the Irish attitudes toward the topic, I thought I’d share them in case any of you are planning an Irish trip with an infant.
The good news is that Irish people LOVE babies. You will be stopped on the street and told how beautiful your child is. People will talk directly to your child as if he or she can understand them. Women will accuse your baby boy of flirting with them. Your baby girl will be the recipient of numerous offers of arranged marriages. Your baby will be welcome everywhere: hotels, restaurants, pubs (up to 7:30pm in most pubs, though rural pubs can be more lenient). The long tradition of large, catholic families has ingrained into the Irish an acceptance of the presence of babies in everyday life and, in general, they love them.
The not-so-great (and kind of unexpected) news is that Irish people, in general, do not breastfeed.
Date: October 4th, 2006 |
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Pancake Tuesday in Ireland
Lest we forget - Ireland is still a Catholic nation. Today is the day before Ash Wednesday, the Tuesday commonly known as “Pancake Tuesday” here in Ireland.
In Cuba it’s “Mardi Gras” and in the states it’s “Fat Tuesday.” The proper Catholic term (and still used by some older Irish folks) used most by formerly (or current) British colonies is “Shrove Tuesday”. “Shrove” comes from the old English “shrive,” which meant to confess one’s sins for absolution.
Why pancakes? Well, when Lent hits, rich ingredients like eggs, butter, cream and sugar are avoided for unleavened bread and other dispiriting fare. Thus, the practice of eating pancakes began.
Now, if you’re anything like me when you hear the word “pancake” you picture something like that lovely stack of flapjacks there to the left.
This is not what you will get in Ireland when you ask for a “pancake.”
Date: February 20th, 2007 |
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Irish Schools’ sexophobia prompts student homophobia?
I came across some of these flyers around the town the other day.
Let me first say that, in my experience, the Republic of Ireland is an astonishly accepting place for all peoples, regardless of ethnicity, sexual orientation or creed. I recall with great fondness a visit to Ireland in 1996 with an ethnically Indian friend of mine. He certainly stood out of the crowd back then, but the locals’ interest was open and forthright and stemmed from obviously good-natured curiosity. This is the same attitude that I’ve seen (generally) toward alternate sexualities in Ireland. I’ve noted openly gay relationships around Athlone - even public displays of affection. There’s an openly transgendered fella I’ve seen around and nobody seems to even raise an eyebrow.
Date: January 26th, 2007 |
5 comments
Culinary Confusion
So there is one thing here in Ireland that, until today, I have been quite confused about: the names for meals.
Don’t get me wrong, the terms breakfast, lunch and dinner are used here, but so is “tea” (to refer to a meal). And what about “supper,” the term I grew up using interchangeably with “dinner?”
So what means what?
Well, today a coworker of mine asked me if a local cafe served dinner. I told her that I was certain they closed around 5pm; she was out of luck. She frowned at me, obviously confused by my answer. She passed that confusion back to me when she explained that she was looking for her afternoon meal at the cafe. Thus began a protracted conversation about the terms used for meals in Ireland.
Date: December 1st, 2006 |
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Bad pint/Good pint - rules for finding the perfect pint in Ireland
This is something that is of grave and serious concern in Ireland: the quality of one’s pint.
Arguments are started, families have been split and lives have been formed around the difference between a pint served in one place and the pint served in another. It can be argued sensibly that there are, of course, some places where you’re guaranteed a bad pint, but there are also places where the opposite is true. To your average Irish punter, it makes complete sense that beer distributors (well, some of them) spend a huge amount of money checking every single venue where their beer is served throughout Ireland to ensure consistency.
Before moving to Ireland, I really thought that this was a myth. If you have ever been with an Irishman (or woman) stateside when they’re ordering a pint of stout you may have seen them refuse a pint because it was not allowed to settle before being served to them.
I myself have seen the dumbfounded shock and horror firsthand on an Irishman’s face when he ordered a Guinness stateside and the bartender placed a non-tulip glass on the drain under the tap, hit the handle to dispense, walked away, returned as it was overflowing and then simply wiped the spill off the outside of the glass with a bar towel before serving it to him.
Here in Ireland This. Is. Simply. Not. Done.
Date: November 19th, 2006 |
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Nightclubs and the etiquette of Irish drinking
Irish pubs close at 11.30pm. They close at 12.30am on Fridays, Saturdays or nights before a bank holiday.
From Thursday through the weekend, strolling around your average Irish town after 2am means you will be greeted by THRONGS of young people in the street, searching for a taxi or a quick food fix from the local chipper (this is a phenomenon I had never noticed before moving here - alchohol in Ireland is, apparently, laced with a substance that makes you really hungry for disgusting food at early hours in the morning . . . mmmm, garlic curry cheese and bacon chips, mmmmm . . . ). So, where are they all coming from?
The night club.
Ah, yes, but how do they get there? On a Thursday? Well, to understand this, you need a bit of background on “going for a drink” here in Ireland.
There’s a thing about going for a pint in Ireland. When you go “for one,” it never means one. Hospitality won’t allow it.
Date: September 23rd, 2006 |
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