Fáilte! Welcome to the Volume 2, the first issue of RELATED☘️ magazine for 2026. What an exciting prospect. We’ve made it through our first year of publication.
As we step into this new season of research and discovery, I’m reminded that family history is a little like traditional Irish music: It lives in the spaces between what is written down and what is passed on, between the notes on the pages and the spirited way they are played in the moment.
Many of us began our Irish by Ancestry journey with lists of names, dates, places, and a nostalgia for a country and a culture we only understood through our own lens. That’s our basic melody. But there is so much more to uncover, in the rhythms of everyday life and in the history our ancestors carried with them in the forms of stories, songs, customs, and beliefs. Trad music runs like an accompaniment through Irish history—in kitchens and at crossroads, aboard emigrant ships and in far-off cities where Irish communities gathered to feel more at home.
Ireland today is changing, yet traditions hold fast. A new generation is lifting old songs and ways of performing into the modern purview. Look at Kneecap, Chasing Abbey, Máire Ní Churraoin and her sister Étáin—they and many others are bringing the Irish language into their songs and finding great success with it at home and abroad. They are lifting history into more modern settings, just as we are lift old records into the light with new research tools. When you listen to a reel in a crowded session, you are hearing the past and present at once, exactly what we aim to do as genealogists.
In this Trad Music-themed issue of RELATED☘️, you will find:
☘️An exploration of the enduring New Year traditions in Ireland
☘️The history of Nollaig na mBan, the post-holiday celebration for the women who make all the magic happen
☘️Tips from Irish by Ancestry genealogist Karlee Twiner for locating an ancestor who left Ireland under the Earl Gray Orphan Scheme in this month’s Ask the Heritage Help Desk
☘️My interview with Irish by Ancestry member Katie Makem-Boucher, who shares the joys of growing up with her father, the Godfather of Irish Music himself, Tommy Makem
☘️A roundup of all the hot acts at TradFest later in January
☘️The hottest spots to catch the best live music all over Ireland, by our roving reporter in Ireland Jonathan Beaumont
☘️A book review of Anna Carey’s first novel for adults, OUR SONG in our own @BrigidsLibraryBookClub
☘️The winning entries in this month’s Ancestor Memoir Contest, themed The Name on the Stone: What Did You Find?
And more!
Whether your Irish roots lead back to a rural townland where music was passed down by ear or to a diaspora community where a fiddle, a tin whistle, or a cherished ballad was the strongest link to home, your story is part of a larger composition. This year, I encourage you to revisit a branch of your tree and ask, What might they have sung, played, or listened to? Look again at place names in your research, parishes, towns, streets, and explore their musical traditions and modern festivals. Learn something new about contemporary Ireland through its music scene, from local pub sessions to global stages, and imagine how your ancestors would be astonished by the Ireland that we get to enjoy.
With 103,000 members in our Facebook group, Irish by Ancestry is a remarkable chorus of experience and insight. Together we can honor the old tunes while staying open to new interpretations, discoveries, and deeper understanding of Ireland and ourselves. RELATED☘️ is here to support that journey. We are so excited about the new features we’ll be rolling out for you this coming year.
Thank you for being part of this community and for keeping these stories, the music of memory, alive for future generations.
May the year ahead bring you unexpected finds in the archives, rich conversations with relatives and fellow researchers, and moments when a song suddenly makes the past feel close.
And as always, may you be blessed by the ancestors you seek.
Slán,
Your Admin and Editor, Shelagh
RELATED ☘️ 