Dear RELATED ☘️ readers,
November has a different texture in Ireland. The air carries more than a bit of “soft” weather. Here, where the ancient festival of Samhain first marked the threshold between harvest and winter, between light and dark, and perhaps even between this world and the next, it is hard not to feel the nearness of those who came before us.
This year, that feeling followed us throughout our time in Armagh. We celebrated the Samhain festival at Navan Centre & Fort, a place long regarded as one of Ireland’s most sacred ancient sites. Standing there as dusk settled, with firelight flickering and stories rising into the cool evening air, I could easily imagine the old beliefs, that on this night the veil thinned and ancestral presences drew close. Whether we take that literally, there is something undeniably powerful about gathering in a place layered with so much ritual and history. There’s more than a bit of longing too, because in our Irish by Ancestry world, our ancestors matter.
Our stay at the Armagh City Hotel gave us a perfect base from which to explore a city that feels like a meeting point of timelines. Armagh is often called the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, and rightly so. Its twin cathedrals and sacred associations give it a heart, imagining these towering places of worship covering their opulence and turning to feed those suffering in An Gorta Mór.
And yet ancestral connection is not made only in solemn places. It is also found around a table, in shared laughter, in food passed from hand to hand. One of the most memorable moments of our visit was a beautiful barbecue meal with Niall and Fiona at On the Hoof restaurant. There was such warmth in that evening, the kind that transforms dinner into something more lasting, friendship. Hospitality has its own quality here. To be welcomed, fed, and made part of a community, even briefly, is one of the oldest, most satisfying human experiences. Our ancestors knew this, too.
Then there was the sheer delight of seeing another side of Irish life with Josh on our tour of the Tayto Factory, set, wonderfully, in a 500-year-old castle. There are not many places where history, crisps, and joyful excess come together quite so perfectly. We stuffed our faces, laughed more than we expected, and allowed ourselves the pleasure of being fully present without our phones. That feels important, too. If we speak of ancestors with reverence, we should also remember they once experienced delight, humor, and appetite as we do.
Touring the city, it’s obvious that heart still exists, amid a place finding its future. Armagh has big plans, and I will happily return to witness and support it. (You should come along!)
This first of November, my thoughts turn naturally to those who shaped us, and I find myself wondering what it will mean one day to become ancestors ourselves. What stories will remain of us? What traces will we leave behind? Will future generations know what mattered to us, what we loved, where we traveled, what we feared, what we overcame? This is why I write.
It’s also why I pause this season to remember and record. Label the old photographs. Tell the children who is who. Keep a journal, save a recipe, pass on the small family stories that seem ordinary now but may one day become precious. Documentation is an act of love. It says: We were here, and this is how we lived. We were part of the worldwide Irish by Ancestry community!
If the ancestors are pleased, perhaps it is because we are listening. And if we wish to bless those who come after us, we can begin by making remembrance easier. Our stories matter. Let’s not leave them untold.
To read this issue of RELATED ☘️, navigate to www.relatedmag.com and click on each November story from the home page. You’re also welcome to subscribe so new stories come right to your inbox. https://relatedmag.com/subscribe/
Slán for now,
Shelagh
Editor, RELATED ☘️
