Why Irish mumming endures

Winter now. All the old sounds again. Mist beading on the bough and tap tap tapping to the ground. The Velcro scratch of dead leaves. Bleurgh, says the sodden bird. Wind lurches off the Atlantic and trips on this little …

Why Faroe Islanders kill whales

Three bottlenose whales have come to Kaldbaksfjorður. They can be easily seen from the winding road that skirts the edge of the narrow sound, ten minutes’ drive from Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands. Two are adults, twice the …