Here is a collection of Irish toasts and blessings to help you ring in the New Year, with a little bit of Irish wit and wisdom.
Happy New Year To All!
Always remember to forget
The troubles that pass away.
But never forget to remember
The blessings that come each day.
May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light.
May good luck pursue you each morning and night.
May your heart be light and happy,
May your smile be big and wide,
May your pockets always have
A coin or two inside!
In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in
friendship and never in need.
May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the
happiest day of your past.
May you get all your wishes but one, so that you always have
something to strive for!
Count your blessings instead of your crosses.
Count your gains instead of your losses.
Count your joys instead of your woes.
Count your friends instead of your foes.
Count your smiles instead of your tears.
Count your courage instead of your fears.
Count your full times instead of your lean.
Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.
Count your health instead of your wealth.
Love your neighbor as much as yourself.
When we drink, we get drunk.
When we get drunk, we fall asleep.
When we fall asleep, we commit no sin.
When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.
So, let’s all get drunk, and go to heaven!
“Go mbeire muid beo ar an am seo arís.”
May we be alive this time next year!
Athbhlian Faoi Mhaise Daoibh!
(Happy New Year)
Irish American Mom
Thanks for sharing these. I will borrow one for our New Year’s Eve toast tonight. Happy New Year to you and your family.
– I just had brown bread and preserves for breakfast and I poached my chicken for Vol au Vent. I am enjoying your recipe postings!
Hope you had a lovely New Year’s celebration, Beth. So glad your brown bread turned out and hope your vol-au-vents were a big hit last night. I had great plans to do some baking today, but never got around to it. I think I stayed up too late last night.
Happy New Year!
I love these! And the pictures are so great! This is why I’ve nominated you for the Versatile Blogger award!
http://gram-cracker.com/blog/2011/12/am-i-versatile-cuz-i-got-this-award-thing/
Thanks for sharing these. Beautiful and fitting even in present day
Linda – Glad you enjoyed these. There is so much wisdom in the words of our ancestors. Happy New Year to you and yours.
Mairead
I wish there were a way to add the phonetic pronunciation to the English translation of your Irish sayings. I’d love to know how to pronounce them correctly.
Thank you for a wonderful blog.
Janie Horn
Jane – Thanks for a great suggestion. I’ll update this post in the next few days and add the phonetic English pronunciations.
Best wishes,
Mairéad