NEWS
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day / Là Fhéile Pàdraig Faoi Mhaise Duit
17th March 2026 – The Feast of Saint Patrick
Dear Members,
We wish you a very Happy Saint Patrick’s Day !!! today the whole world wears green. It is obviously the day of the Irish, it has also become the day of the Bretons of Brittany celebrating a common Celtic heritage.
The legend has it that Saint Patrick has driven the snakes out of Ireland; It is a great legend and we are all attached to it. It is just a legend, there never was any snakes in Ireland, nor in Iceland nor in Greenland. The climate is too cold for them. So, where is this legend coming from?
In the Celtic pantheon of Gods the snake represented the God of wisdom, knowledge, birth, and fertility. There are numerous antic representations of snakes in Celtic art, sometimes associated with the God of the forest Cervanos, represented as a stag with a human face. such as on the Gundestrup Cauldron. The cauldron is the largest known example of European Iron Age silver work dating from 100 BC to 200 BC, of La Tène period of Celtic art.
Therefore a working theory advanced by some scholars is that the legend of Saint Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland may symbolically represent the replacement of the Celtic deities by Christianity. It is, I personally feel, a good theory. However, as we know beliefs in Ireland die hard. It is striking, and it is the only country with such level of occurrence, that we find snakes in many coat of arms. We may here cite a few, O’Connor Don, MacCartan, O’Dea, O’Donoghue; O’Donovan, O’Flynn, MacGarry, O’Hea, O’Moriarty. It is a symbolic representation of the qualities of knowledge, wisdom and birth, finding its roots in the Celtic god.
We would like to share that we held, as planned the EGM on March 14. The two proposed amendments to the constitution were approved by a vast majority of voters. Our Runai, Rob O’Halloran will issue as statement with the exact figures of the votes.
We are now working on the Cultural Summit and the AGM. We hope to see you all there, a great moment of sharing and enjoying our common passion for clans and the Irish culture.
Truly Yours,
Michael O’Crowley
An Chathaoirleach,
Clans of Ireland/Finte na hÉireann
IMBOLC 2026
MESSAGE FROM CATHAOIRLEACH MICHAEL O’CROWLEY
The 1st February was the feast of Imbolc, marking the end of winter. This Celtic festival originally celebrates the goddess Brigid, the daughter of the chief of the gods, the Great Dagda. Brigid was known as a the triple goddess, she is associated with blacksmithing, poetry, healing, fertility and prophecy. Imbolc is also the feast of light with spring days arriving. As a result, it was a tradition to light candles on Imbolc. That tradition continues on the continent with the feast of “chandeleur” or the “hour of the candles” on February 2nd replacing Imbolc. It is the day when crepes are made for the feast. In Celtic Britanny at night the tradition was to throw a crepe over the cottage, meeting symbolically with the full moon. It is not said if the crepe was caught back and eaten…dimensions : 1 m x 1 m or 1 m x 1.5 m: the field should be a replicate of a coat arms without the shield such as the illustration pictured. There are many ways to have a banner made, it can be printed, it can be sewed which is considerably more expensive, or it can be painted. The most cost effective way is the printing.
CLAN GATHERINGS BEST PRACTICE – CONFERENCE
Saturday 7th February – 17:00 GMT
Registered clans of Clans of Ireland are invited to our first conference of 2026. With expert knowledges of organising and delivering successful clan gatherings, we will have four eminent speakers who have been leaders in their respective clan organisations, sharing innovative approaches:
Kieran O’Dowd of Clan O’Dowd
Shane O’Dea of Clan O’Dea
Dr. Joe Mannion of Clan Mannion
Amb. Frank O’Donnell of Clan O’Donnell
Join and hear a range of approaches including accessing heritage funding, incorporating parades and other ceremonial elements, preservation of monuments, partnerships with local bodies and authorities.
Please note that IRISH ROOTS magazine, winter addition includes an article produced by Clans of Ireland with the contribution of our four speakers.
The Zoom link to the conference has been circulated via email to all our registered clans. We look forward to welcoming you to the conference.
NEW YEAR 2026
MESSAGE FROM CATHAOIRLEACH MICHAEL O’CROWLEY
An Cathaoirleach, Michael O’Crowley reflects on the successes of the past year including the engagement of Clans of Ireland ~ Finte na hÉireann with key partners to launch “Memorialising Emigré Dignity, The Cultural
Heritage of St. Anthony’s College, Leuven”, which took place on the 7th September 2025 at the Royal Irish Academy., Dublin.
Michael also looks forward to upcoming events in the 2026 calendar, including a a hybrid event on ‘Clan Gatherings Best Practices’ and an upcoming EGM to clarify the process for the nomination of Board Directors.
Lastly, Michael looks forward to our AGM and Cultural Summit 2026. Our theme “Law and Legend. Discovering Ireland’s ancient system of laws”. You can read the full text of Michael’s new year message by clicking the link here: Cathaoirleach New Year Message to the Members of Clans of Ireland