The New Year Craic 🍾🗓️

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back on this fine Friday evening of the year 2025, no less. As ever, we bring news from the Irish at home and bits and pieces of fluff about the Irish abroad. If you’ve been enjoying this wee newsletter, pass it on to friends and family by asking them to sign up here.

News from Home

Beer Heist. We’ve been chronicling the Guinness shortage in Britain over the last few weeks, and to be honest, it’s been a bit of a laugh to see the conspiracy theories and overreactions from the British press. But it seems things have gotten desperate, as some thirsty Brits decided to steal 400 kegs – that’s about 35,000 creamy pints of goodness – from a Guinness truck in Northamptonshire on Wednesday.

Still going strong. She’s lived through two World Wars, a couple of pandemics, and was born a decade before Marilyn Monroe. Ruby Druce, Donegal native and Ireland’s oldest woman, celebrated her 109th birthday on New Year’s Eve. Unsurprisingly, she’s never drank or smoked, but she does admit to being given a nip of poitín to help her combat the Spanish Flu back in 1918. Breithlá Shona, Ruby.

Big Niall in Chi-Town. We love the work done by the Irish American city networks to keep the connection strong between the two nations. And Chicagoans are in for a treat next Thursday as the INC (Ireland Chicago Network) has nabbed Big Niall Quinn (the Big is an affectation; his mammy doesn’t call him that) for their “In Conversation” series. Quinn approaches cult status among Irish soccer fans, and he’ll have a few tales to tell about the madcap glory days of the Irish soccer team in the 1990s. Tickets can be bought here.

Elections 2025. Yes, we are fed up with elections just as much as you are, but 2025 promises a lighter tone for the somewhat ceremonial role of President of Ireland. Candidates rumored to be jostling for the election include former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, GAA man Jarlath Burns, European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, and legendary comedian Tommy Tiernan. The big vote is in October. Please, please, please let it be Tommy.

The Irish Influence

One of the most interesting things about the Irish Diaspora is the meaning of ‘home’ and what happens when you find it. Morag Prunty, AKA best-selling author Kate Kerrigan, often deals with the complexities of being Irish yet never being fully accepted due to her English upbringing (and accent). In her hit stage show, Kerrigan has tackled the question of what it means to be Irish and, importantly, what it means not to be Irish. Am I Irish Yet? is a one-woman theater show that is ridiculously funny, relatable, and poignant.  Kerrigan’s humor has the audience in stitches, yet there is also a sense of mild embarrassment in realizing how all of us, not just the Irish, treat those we rightly or wrongly perceive to be outsiders. The show is touring the UK this winter and early spring.

Cúpla Focal

Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit {Ah-vleen fwee vosh-eh gwitch} Happy New Year to You, literally translating to New Year with Prosperity to You. If you want to say it to a group of people, then it’s Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh.🍾🥂

Blast from the Past

6th January. “…a day when Irish women finally get to drop the dishcloth, grab their gal pals, and celebrate themselves.” Unbelievably, we grabbed those words from a blog on an Irish jewelry website. Lads, it’s 2025, “finally get to drop the dishcloth,” really??!! It refers to Women’s Christmas, Nollaig na mBan, a tradition where women have a day to themselves after working hard during the festive period while the men do the household chores. The tradition still exists, but thankfully, it’s more of a marketing exercise for bars and restaurants to get people in through the doors rather than the only means for your mother to have a day off. It does feel a little dated, right?

And One Last Thing….

If you’re anything like us at The Craic, you’ll be struggling to keep those New Year’s Resolutions by the first week of January. Experts say the key is to promise to do manageable stuff that doesn’t feel like a punishment – drink more water, stop picking your nose, read more books. As to the latter, The Craic has you covered. If you want a list of the best Irish books published in 2024, you’ll find them here. If you want to keep an eye on the best Irish books forthcoming in 2025, then this list right here is for you. And for our American friends, the lads at Irish Central have this specially curated guide to the 20 books every Irish American should read.

Yay! You made it all the way to the end! If you liked this bit of craic, remember to pass it on to your mates. They can sign up here: https://www.thecraic.us/

The Craic is brought to you by the lads from the Shift app. Shift is a social network for the Irish everywhere, launching in 2025: GetTheShift.app.