I’m about to do an article on Irish Christmas carols.

In the States, we have a lot of “gee-it’s-winter-and-it’s cold-out-and-cool-things-might-happen-and-if-we’re-lucky-we’ll-get-presents” songs that many people mistakenly think of as “Christmas carols.” Things like “Let it Snow,” “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas,” “Frosty the Snowman,” etc.

The only such I’m award of in Irish is “Bualadh Bos.”

Before I commit to do an article featuring “Bualadh Bos” and two real Christmas carols (probably “Oíche Chiúin” and “Sa Stábla, Sa Mháinséar,” as I’ll need to go with fairly familiar tunes to people who aren’t all that familiar with Irish music), are there any other (for want of a better phrase) “secular” Christmas songs in Irish that anyone knows?

Redwolf

Soilse na Nollag le Mairéad Ní Mhaoinigh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUZn4i-dBWU

Don Oíche Úd i mBeithil : http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&featu ... so_DFCLmjQ

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

I'll have a look at the first one, but Don Oíche Úd i mBeithil is an actual Christmas song. What I'm wondering about are those "suitable for atheists" winterfest songs that are so ubiquitous at this time of year. Lots of snow and presents and warm fuzzies, and no God need apply.

I suspect there aren't any, other than "Bualadh Bos" (or, if there are, there aren't many), but I figured I'd do due diligence so nobody claims they're being neglected.

Edited to add that I listened to Soilse na Nollag, which is lovely (I'd never heard it before!), but it's an actual Christmas song as well.

Redwolf

There are plenty of other non-Christians in the spectrum between "atheists" and Christian, some of whom also have a good time at Xmas, but in any case I wouldn't expect too much "secular" from a country where until quite recently even the Jews had to declare whether they were "catholic" or "protestant" (as the old joke goes).

The priests would have certainly frowned upon it.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Well, that's pretty much what I wanted to know. I figured not, but felt it best to check.

Redwolf

Well, wait for a few more opinions on that, as always - you never know what the underground folk movement (or the revivalist Irish movement) might have gotten up to when the priests were out of earshot.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Haha yes! I heard the same one regarding religion in Northern Ireland... Are you Catholic or Protestant? Neither, I'm an atheist. Yes, but are you a Catholic or Protestant one?

but I think you can be both an atheist and a Jew, or an atheist and a Muslim (that's what I was told), because being Jew or Muslim also means that you belong to a particular culture but doesn't always mean you are religious.

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

That's true of Judaism, I know, but I think not of Islam.

Redwolf

That's definitely true about Jewish people. There is a big percentage of ethnically Jewish people in the U.S. who consider themselves to be "secular Jews".