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!
Learn How To Say Happy New Year in Irish
If you’re interested in learning how to say “Happy New Year” in Irish or Gaelic, or in exploring some old Irish folk beliefs and customs for this holiday, why not check out my Happy New Year post for 2016 here.
Athbhlian Faoi Mhaise Daoibh!
(Happy New Year)
Irish American Mom
Phonetic pronunciation for Athbhlian Faoi Mhaise Daoibh goes like this “ah-vleen fway vah-sha jeeve.”
Beth says
December 31, 2011 at 10:22 amThanks 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!
Irish American Mom says
January 1, 2012 at 8:19 pmHope 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!
Grammy says
December 31, 2011 at 11:27 amI 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/
🙂
linda says
December 31, 2012 at 11:37 pmThanks for sharing these. Beautiful and fitting even in present day
Irish American Mom says
January 1, 2013 at 12:22 amLinda – Glad you enjoyed these. There is so much wisdom in the words of our ancestors. Happy New Year to you and yours.
Mairead
Jane Harrigan Horn says
January 31, 2014 at 5:05 pmI 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
Irish American Mom says
February 1, 2014 at 12:06 pmJane – Thanks for a great suggestion. I’ll update this post in the next few days and add the phonetic English pronunciations.
Best wishes,
Mairéad
alida holmes says
August 19, 2016 at 3:53 pmam doing a gift basket with Irish foods and drinks and saying. What would be a drink that real Irish would use to toast with.
Thank you
Irish American Mom says
August 19, 2016 at 5:45 pmHi Alida – In years gone by Irish whiskey would be the drink of choice for making a toast. Nowadays fewer people drink whiskey, so Irish people simply raise their glasses to make a toast, with whatever drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) they may be enjoying at the time. If you think whiskey may not be to the liking of the lucky recipient of your wonderful gift basket, then Baileys Irish Cream might work well. Good luck with putting your basket together, and thanks for stopping by.
All the best,
Mairéad
Joan says
December 30, 2017 at 6:22 pmI am if Irish decent but never knew my great grand parent to learn any thing of their Irish Background. I know they lived near abouts Cork.
Irish American Mom says
December 31, 2017 at 2:21 pmHi Joan – It’s a pity you never got a chance to learn more about Ireland from your great grand parent, but I’m delighted you found my website where we discuss all things Irish from food to ramblings about our heritage and culture. Thanks so much for stopping by and happy New Year to you and yours.
Mairéad