Craicntour

Bespoke guided taxi tours around the backroads of the Glens of Antrim
(Starting Summer 2017)

31/10/2026

31/10/2026

In many Irish Catholic homes, a small font of holy water hung beside the door, and on the morning someone left for good it was used one last time.

A mother would dip her fingers in it and bless her son or daughter on the threshold, making the sign of the cross on the forehead. Sometimes a few drops went into a pocket or a bundle. The words were short, in Irish or in English, because there was not much else to say.

The leaving was often the end of a night of music, food and talk. By morning the house had gone quiet. The cart was waiting, the road to the station or the port was long, and many people who walked out through that door never saw the inside of it again.

The font stayed where it was. The next person to leave the house, for school or for Mass, touched the water and blessed themselves as always. The blessing for the traveller had been spent, but the habit went on in the house, and in the family, for years.

31/10/2026

Traditional Irish Barmbrack: A Halloween favourite! 💚

Did you know that Irish barmbrack has a little bit of magic hidden inside?

This delicious fruit-filled tea bread has been a Halloween tradition in Ireland for generations. Traditionally made with dried fruit soaked in tea and sometimes Irish wh***ey, it's baked with a small ring hidden inside.

According to tradition, whoever finds the ring in their slice is said to be blessed with good luck and may be the next to marry! 💍❤️

Best enjoyed sliced with a generous spread of butter and a nice cup of tea.

31/10/2026

🕊️ Some of the people who shaped our lives are no longer here.

But their voices, their stories, and the love they gave us never truly disappear.

For Irish-American families, remembering those who came before us is part of keeping our heritage alive. ☘️❤️

30/10/2026

When someone died in an old Irish house, the first thing the family often did was open a window.

It was done soon after the last breath, to let the soul leave. Then came the other small acts. The clock was stopped, so that time would stand still for the person who had gone. Mirrors were covered or turned around, and candles were lit. Neighbours began to arrive, and someone would sit with the body through the night, because the dead were not to be left alone.

Most of these customs were never written down as rules. They were simply what you did, passed from the grandmother who showed you where the cloth was kept to the grandchild who watched her do it.

Many families still do some of them today without quite knowing why. The window stays open a little longer than the weather suggests. Someone looks at the clock and then looks away.

What looks like superstition was really a way of saying that a life mattered enough to stop everything for.

30/10/2026

☘️🌙 The banshee wasn't simply a ghost in old Irish folklore.

Her name comes from *bean sí* — “woman of the fairy mound.”

Tradition held that certain Irish families had a banshee whose mournful cry warned of an approaching death.

For generations, these stories traveled through Irish families, eventually crossing the Atlantic with immigrants to America.

Some family legends were never written down. They were whispered. 🌿

02/06/2026

On 4 June 1980, John Turnley was murdered as he drove home through Carnlough, County Antrim.

A Protestant by background, Turnley took a path that made him a target during one of the most divided periods in Irish history. He became a leading figure in the Irish Independence Party, advocating Irish nationalism and seeking a peaceful political future for Ireland.

That stance came at a heavy price.

As he travelled by car near Carnlough, he was ambushed and shot dead by members of the UVF. He was just 43 years old.

John Turnley's story is a reminder that during the Troubles, violence did not only target people because of their religion. Those who challenged expectations, crossed community lines, or sought political change could also find themselves in the sights of extremists.

More than four decades later, his assassination remains one of the starkest examples of the dangers faced by those who tried to build bridges in a deeply divided society.

Had you heard of John Turnley before today?

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