The Letter from Ireland Podcast Mike Collins

We visit one of the many, many Holy Wells around Ireland and chat with the lady whose family is responsible for the upkeep of this ancient Irish shrine. This is probably a place that was used and venerated from pre-christian times.
In the show we share lots of tales, cures and tradtions that many of your Irish ancestors would have practiced and been familiar with.
With lots of great Irish music and song along the way! Enjoy!
Music featured in this episode:- "St. Patrick's Day Jig" - performed by St. Patrick's Day.
- "Hail Glorious St. Patrick" - performed by The Three Tenors.
Support the Letter from Ireland Show:Thank you for listening to the Letter from Ireland show. To support the podcast, get lots of member-only features and follow Mike and Carina behind the scenes as they travel around Ireland go to ALetterfromIreland.com/plus .

In a follow-up to our recent episode about traveling from Cobh to Ellis Island - we head back to the Cobh Heritage Centre in County Cork and hear 7 stories of emigration from this very spot to many places around the world.
Many thanks to Jack Walsh and all the team at the Cobh Heritage centre for this fascinating tour - and 7 fascinating tales (none too tall)!
With lots of great Irish music and song along the way! Enjoy!
Music featured in this episode:- A Ship from Cobh: "The Irish Rover - sung by The Dubliners and The Pogues.
- A Place in Cobh: "The Holy Ground" - sung by The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.
- A Man from Cobh: "The Contender" - sung by Finbarr Wright.
Support the Letter from Ireland Show:Thank you for listening to the Letter from Ireland show. To support the podcast, get lots of member-only features and follow Mike and Carina behind the scenes as they travel around Ireland go to ALetterfromIreland.com/plus .

Join us as we attend a Saint Patrick's Day Parade of Story and Song. In this episode we sharetwo stories - one all about the places in Ireland where Saint Patrick is said to have walked and the next looking at the Shamrock and the gorse, two plants associated with this time of year in Ireland.
We've lots of great Irish music and song along the way! Enjoy!
Music featured in this episode:"Boil the Breakfast Early" performed by The Chieftains.
"A Song for Ireland" performed by Dé Dannaan and Mary Black.
"Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore" performed by Paddy Reilly.
Support the Letter from Ireland Show:Thank you for listening to the Letter from Ireland show. To support the podcast, get lots of member-only features and follow Mike and Carina behind the scenes as they travel around Ireland go to ALetterfromIreland.com/plus .

In this special episode of the Letter from Ireland show we start our journey in Cobh (Queenstown) in County Cork. We chat with the manager of the Cobh Heritage Centre who has his own immigration stories to tell. We then take the route across the Atlantic that our ancestors would have followed (just slightly upgraded!) to New York and meet with a group of our Green Room members on Ellis Island for Saint Patrick's Day - providing a day of stories, sight-seeing and much more to share.
All accompanied by lots of great Irish music along the way! Enjoy!
Music featured in this episode:"The Holy Ground" performed by Mary Black.
"Thousands are Sailing" performed by The Pogues.
"Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears" performed by Celtic Woman.
Support the Letter from Ireland Show:Thank you for listening to the Letter from Ireland show. To support the podcast, get lots of member-only features and follow Mike and Carina behind the scenes as they travel around Ireland go to ALetterfromIreland.com/plus .

In this week's episode we go back in time. First we go back to a time when the first Celtic peoples arrived in Ireland - we then go back even further to look at the period when the Celts appeared on the continent of Europe for the first time. Much of this "history" is relayed to us through old Irish annals and texts - all written in the ancient Irish language. As a result, the language of Irish provides us with a window into a Celtic past that does not exist in any other literature in Europe.
The music, very appropriately, all feature songs and tunes with Irish titles.
We do hope you enjoy.
Music featured in this episode:"Caoineadh Cú Chulainn" performed by Davy Spillane.
"Deora Ar Mo Chroí" performed by Enya.
"Ebudae" performed by Enya.
Support the Letter from Ireland Show:Thank you for listening to the Letter from Ireland show. To support the podcast, get lots of member-only features and follow Mike and Carina behind the scenes as they travel around Ireland go to ALetterfromIreland.com/plus .

In this week's episode we look a little closer at how our Irish ancestors lived and worked through the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday each year. This was a time known as "Lent". It was treated very seriously by the Roman Catholic church - who were very specific in their directions to the flock as to how they should live their lives over this time of penance, fasting and piety.
We start with a letter that looks at something called "The Skellig List" and then focus on a Lenten letter that was read out from the pulpits across County Wicklow in the late 1800s.
The music starts with a tune of celebration - "Chasing the Fox" (celebration/carnivale) - then moves onto a suitable religious song, the "Our Father" sung in Irish, before celebrating Easter (and the end of Lent) with "Easter Snow".
We do hope you enjoy.
Music featured in this episode:"Chasing the Fox" performed by The Chieftains.
"Ar nAthair" performed by Michael Nash.
"Easter Snow" performed by Matt Molloy and Martin Carthy.
Support the Letter from Ireland Show:Thank you for listening to the Letter from Ireland show. To support the podcast, get lots of member-only features and follow Mike and Carina behind the scenes as they travel around Ireland go to ALetterfromIreland.com/plus .