Join us on this episode of the Letter from Ireland show as we look at a Celtic Festival that celebrates the arrival of Spring. Maybe you even celebrate it yourself? Our shared Irish ancestors had a lot of traditions around this festival – and the Saint who became associated with this time of year in Christian times.

The Letter from Ireland Show is a weekly podcast that goes out each Thursday from our cottage in County Cork. Tune in to this episode - and dive straight in to a bit of Irish caint, ceóil agus craic (conversation, music and craic!).

Join us on this episode of the Letter from Ireland show as we look at the influence of the Normans on Irish surnames and families - we then take off for Wales where we visit just some of the castles where many of the originators of various Irish surnames in Ireland were born and bred.

If you have any of the following Irish names in your family tree, then you will be really interested in this episode:

Archdeacon/Cody, Aylward, Barrett, Barron, Barry, Bermingham, Blake, Bluitt, Bonds, Bourke, Brannagh, Brett, Brew, Britt, Britton, Brown, Browne, Bryan, Burke, Butler, Campion, Cantillon, Cantwell, Carew, Chambers, Clare, Codd, Cody, Cogan, Colfer, Comerford, Condon, Cooney, Courcey, Crosbie, Crozier, Cullen, Cummiskey, Cusack, D’Arcy, Dalton, Darcy, Day, Dillon, Fagan, Field, Fitzgerald, Fitzgibbon, Fitzhenry, Fitzsimmons, Fitzsimons, Fitzstephens, Fleming, Flemming, Francis, French, Furlong, Gibbons, Grace, Griffin, Griffith, Hackett, Hays/Hayes, Hussey, Jordan, Joyce, Keating, Lacey, Lawless, Liston, Logan, Lovett, Lucey, Lynch, Lyons, Marshall, Martin, McQuillan, Molyneux, Morris, Morrissey, Nagle/Nangle, Nugent, Plunkett, Power/Powers, Prendergast, Prior, Punch, Purcell, Redmond, Rice, Roach/Roche, Roberts, Rochford, Russell, Savage, Sinnott, Wade, Wall, Walsh/Welsh, White, Wolfe, Wyse, Stapleton, Stephens,Talbot and Tyrrell.

The Letter from Ireland Show is a weekly podcast that goes out each Thursday from our cottage in County Cork. Tune in to this episode - and dive straight in to a bit of Irish caint, ceóil agus craic (conversation, music and craic!).

Join us on this episode of the Letter from Ireland show as we travel to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania in Australia) and visit some really interesting locations associated with Ireland's convict and emigrant association with the area!

So, come on in - sit down and have a listen to stories, people and places of this most beautiful part of the world!