✨Wild Goose are delighted to announce that we will once again be at the trade show Showcase in the RDS, Dublin, running from the 21st-24th of January. Come by our stand D52 to experience our beautiful new collection! ✨ #TradeOnly #Showcase2018 #IrishDesign

✨We here at Wild Goose Studio have been in hiding too long! We plan to get more active with our Facebook community so expect to see a lot more posts and content coming your way!✨ ⭐️To celebrate, we are launching a fantastic competition for our followers. To be in with the chance of winning ‘Sláinte’, one of our beautiful new Story of Ireland bronze plaques please⭐️: 1. Like this post 🎉 2. Tag one friend (we’ll send them a little prize too if you win!) 🎉 3. Like our Facebook page 🎉 The winner will be announced next Thursday 25th January ’18 so keep an eye on our page! 👀🙌 Good Luck 🍀⭐️🍀

Christmas Order Dates To celebrate the coming of Christmas, we are including a free bronze ornament (see below) for your Christmas Tree with all orders made before final posting days: Ireland - 18th December 2017 GB - 15th December 2017 USA - 8th December 2017 Continental Europe - 8th December 2017 Rest of the World - 5th December 2017 To order, go to: www.wildgoosestudio.com

Special Offer - Price Reduction for November For the month of November we have a special price for these three pieces from Donn Darach – which is Irish for heartwood. Each has a unique story and draws on the deep cultural well and rich folk traditions of Aran sweater patterns and basket-weaving, combining them with sustainability and unique designs to create gifts of meaning and beauty. For more, go to: https://www.wildgoosestudio.com/product-category/donn-darach/

Donn Darach

We've been working on this new range of engraved wooden pieces for a while and it's finally ready. This short film looks at some of the Irish folk traditions which lie behind the images...

St Patrick's Cross

On the eve of 17th March, find out more about Ireland's oldest High Cross, St Patrick's Cross at Carndonagh, Co. Donegal...

St Brigids cross HD

On the eve of St Brigid's Day, the beginning of Spring in Ireland, here's a short film which looks at some of the stories and traditions surrounding one of Ireland's patron saints and ancient goddesses... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UwJD00w9UM

Newgrange Triple Spiral HD

It's the shortest day of the year today. Some lucky people got to witness the sun's first rays creep along the ancient chamber of Newgrange Tomb in Co Meath. If you weren't so lucky but are fascinated (like us!) by the culture that built this structure you might enjoy our short film about Newgrange: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rz9dC_U5lo

Timeline Photos

As we approach Christmas, it’s worth remembering that people have been celebrating this time of year for thousands of years in Ireland. The shortest day of the year is the 21st of December and it’s no coincidence that the festival of Christmas falls close to this date. Winter Solstice Newgrange passage tomb in Co Meath, one of our most ancient monuments, is testament to the importance of this time of year to our ancient ancestors. The engineers, who built the structure 5,000 years ago, designed it so that at sunrise on the shortest day of the year the first rays of sun would travel along the passage and light up the inner chamber. Wild Goose recently visited Newgrange to find out more about the inspiration for the bronze Triple Spiral we make. We spoke to eminent archaeologist Elizabeth Shee Twohig and she told us about the care and precision involved in capturing this particular angle of light at Winter Solstice. You might enjoy the short film we made about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rz9dC_U5lo It’s clear that the shortest day held huge significance for our Neolithic ancestors. And now 5,000 years later, Christmas is widely regarded as our most important festival. While we can’t know what rituals and traditions were maintained by the civilisation that built Newgrange, we do know about some of the folkloric traditions that survived for centuries in rural Ireland. Christmas Traditions The association of light with Christmas appears to be a deep rooted part of the Irish tradition. The lighting of a special candle on Christmas Eve is described by many sources: the ‘Christ candle’, as it’s called in many parts of rural Ireland, was lit by the youngest member of the family and left to burn all night. Similarly there was also a tradition of lighting a Christmas log on Christmas Eve. A tradition that is described in many parts of rural Ireland is that of clearing out and cleaning the property before Christmas. Barns and sheds were whitewashed, the house was cleaned, and when everything was ready the children were sent to gather Holly. Sharing One of the recurring themes around the traditional Irish Christmas is that of sharing. Families with more food and resources shared with their neighbours so that everyone could celebrate with a special meal. West Cork folklore collector Seán Ó Croinín quotes fisherman Seán Ó hAo who lived in Cregg near Glandore: “The people who lived by the sea were fisherman and didn’t have cattle, a horse or a sheep. A few days before Christmas their neighbours and relatives brought milk, butter and other foods to those who lived from fishing. They also brought turf and potatoes. Richer people helped the poor so that they would have an enjoyable Christmas.” (This was collected in 1940 and was published in book form in 1985 entitled Seanchas Ó Chairbre (Folklore from Carbery)) https://www.irelandsown.ie/christmas-in-olden-days-in-west-cork/ ) Wren Boys One of the most distinctive Irish traditions involves the tiny wren. All around Ireland the wren boys were a feature of St Stephen’s Day, the 26th of December. Even now in parts of the country (Dingle in Co Kerry holds fast to the tradition), groups of boys and young men dress up in costume and go singing and dancing around the community. They perform at every house and are given some coins. Tradition has it that the body of a wren is stuck on top of a stick and the captain of the wrenboys carries this stick . Why the the wren should be treated thus is open to various interpretations- in one version the mythological wren betrayed the Christian Martyr St Stephen and as such was a fair target. (Interesting pictures at http://www.doolin2aranferries.com/blog/the-day-of-the-wren-la-an-dreoilin/ and at http://www.dingle-peninsula.ie/home/culture-and-language/wren-s-day/23-language-and-culture.html) Some believe the word "dreoilín" (the Irish for "wren") has its roots in the term "Druid's bird" and that it acted as as messenger between this world and the next. Perhaps the role of the wren in Irish Christmas tradition is an example of the fusion of ancient pagan customs with the emergence of Christian beliefs in Ireland. What Irish customs are part of your Christmas Tradition? Does your family light a candle on Christmas Eve? Do the wren boys visit your community on the 26th?

Timeline Photos

Samhain Everyone is familiar with Halloween but not so many people know that the roots of this popular celebration lie in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. Samhain is an intriguing insight into the traditions of pre-Christian Ireland. Falling just as Autumn gives way to Winter at the end of October, Samhain originally marked the beginning of the Celtic New Year and was celebrated with a festival running over three nights and three days. These were extraordinary days that were considered “out of time” - the old year had ended but the new one did not begin for three days, leaving the world “in between” the years and creating a space where normal rules were suspended and all sorts of unusual things happened. Fortune telling and divination were practised, costumes were worn, tricks were played, bonfires lit and ritual offerings made to the ancestors. Then, just as now, the end of October brought clear evidence of the imminent descent into Winter: falling leaves, falling temperatures, failing light. From the pagan point of view, the sun’s power was diminishing and in its place rose the power of the underworld, the earth, the feminine principle. Samhain was seen as a time of transition, a liminal space - and so it was the festival which honoured the dead, celebrating and acknowledging the ancestors who had gone ahead to the other world. At Samhain, the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead was especially thin and the dead were able to come and go between them. This made it a potentially dangerous period when ghosts - some benign and some not so benign - could roam. Bonfires and candles were lit to warm the wandering souls, and as part of the Samhain feasting, food was prepared and set aside for the ancestors. If the appropriate rituals were undertaken, then no harm would come from the wandering souls. Aspects of these traditions live on to this day in Ireland. As part of the Catholic holy days of All Hallows and All Souls prayers for the ancestors are offered - it is a time to remember the dead, to ask for their assistance and offer prayers for the salvation of their souls. Samhain was one of the most important celebrations in the Celtic year. We know it was celebrated at the Hill of Tara because the Stone Age Mound of the Hostages at Tara is aligned with the Samhain sunrise. The nearby Tlachtga appears to have been the location for the great fire festival of Samhain which saw the lighting of a central bonfire from which fires were lit all around the country. In Celtic spirituality, Samhain marked the beginning of the Giamos, the dark part of the year where the Goddess reigned and the focus shifted to “being”, rather than doing. At this time of year, the crops were harvested and traditional agricultural communities hoped that the work done over the previous months would provide sufficient stores for the coming winter. Traditionally any agricultural work not finished by Samhain had to be left until Spring. People conserved their energies and embraced Winter by reducing their physical output and directing their attention inward. It was a time for focus on the home, for contemplation and ultimate regeneration. Just as the early pagan famers knew that their seeds had to germinate in the dark of the earth, so they understood that people also needed this time in darkness to be ready for growth in the Spring. Even the intrepid warriors of Na Fianna chose Samhain to wind down operations for the winter. Every year at Samhain they would come to live amongst the general population until Bealtaine when Summer came again. Links to sources used: http://www.newgrange.com/samhain.htm http://www.knowth.com/hill-of-ward.htm http://www.doloreswhelan.ie/courses/celtic-year/

Timeline Photos

Another piece from our new range, the Story of Ireland, this celebrates clann, or family...