11/08/2026
ANCESTRAL NEST 2026 | THANK YOU !
On 1 August, Swords Castle once again became a place where history was no longer something confined to the pages of books.
There was the clash of weapons and the weight of armour. There were historical camps, crafts, music, voices and stories told by people who do more than study the past – they know how to bring it back to life.
And there were hundreds of smaller moments that could never be written into an event programme: conversations around the camps, people from different backgrounds meeting one another, children discovering history up close, the emotion of the fights and music carrying across the castle grounds.
That was Ancestral Nest 2026.
And none of it could have happened without the people, institutions and groups who created it together.
Our first thanks go to Fingal County Council for their cooperation and for making the extraordinary setting of Swords Castle available to living history, culture and community.
We would also like to thank the
Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Dublin
for its patronage and support for an initiative that presents Polish culture in Ireland as part of a much wider story of history, heritage and cultures meeting one another.
At the heart of Ancestral Nest were the historical and reenactment groups without whom this event simply could not exist:
Inis Fáil combat and living history
Clann na Fíanna
Clann nA Ulaidh
Dubh Linn Ostmen
Sons of Ivar
Fragarach Armoured Combat
You brought living history to Swords Castle.
Not decoration. Not history observed from a distance.
Real camps, weapons, armour, crafts, knowledge, experience and hundreds of hours of preparation that the public may never see, but without which none of what happened on 1 August would have been possible.
Because of you, visitors could walk among the camps, examine historical equipment and craftsmanship up close, meet people who understand the periods they recreate in remarkable depth, and moments later hear the clash of weapons and watch history move before their eyes.
You made sure that Swords Castle was not simply a backdrop for the festival.
For a few hours, it became a place where the past genuinely came back to life.
Thank you for your time, effort, knowledge, professionalism and, above all, for sharing your passion with everyone who walked through the castle gates that day.
Ancestral Nest was created so that history would not simply be something we read or hear about.
It could be experienced.
Without you, that would not have been possible.
A huge thank you also goes to Kukawica.
Your outdoor performance brought its own unmistakable energy to Ancestral Nest, combining traditional sounds, white singing and music inspired by folk and early musical traditions.
Later, two a ca****la pieces performed inside the castle chapel created something completely different: an intimate moment where the historic space and the human voice needed nothing else.
The music was not simply a background to the event.
It became part of its world.
We would also like to thank our sponsors and partners:
Brown Box Catering
Realtime Accountants
Anderson & Gallagher Solicitors
Thank you for your trust and practical support, helping turn ideas into a real event.
Our thanks also go to all the craftspeople, creators and exhibitors who brought their own part of the story to Ancestral Nest:
Chyla-Kaczmarek for the Viking Ceramic Workshop
Kukawica
PinkArt braids
Black Anvil Shaving,
Wicker Creations,
Valkan Tattoo,
Ireneusz Matak
Alekandra & Krzysztof for their journey through the history of the Piast dynasty,
and everyone else who helped create the festival space.
A very special thank you belongs to our volunteers and the entire team working behind the scenes.
The public sees the finished event.
You saw everything that came before it.
The preparation, logistics, equipment, backstage work, last-minute problems, long hours and hundreds of small tasks without which nothing functions.
These are the things most visitors never see, yet together they create an event that can eventually look as though everything simply fell into place.
Without you, Ancestral Nest would have remained an idea.
And finally, thank you to our audience.
To the families, children, history enthusiasts, people of Swords, members of the Polish and Irish communities and everyone who walked through the gates of the castle on 1 August.
Your curiosity, reactions, conversations and presence were what truly brought Swords Castle to life.
From the beginning, Ancestral Nest was meant to be more than a historical festival.
A meeting place.
A place where the histories of different nations and cultures do not divide us, but give us a reason to stand beside one another, talk, learn and discover how often our stories are connected.
And that is why this story did not end on 1 August 2026.
It was another chapter.
The next one is already ahead of us.
ANCESTRAL NEST III.
New stories.
New encounters.
Even more living history.
Last, but very deliberately not least, we would like to thank
Photo4u Ireland, Media Patron of Ancestral Nest.
Because when the last warriors remove their armour, the music falls silent, the camps disappear and the castle gates close, an event slowly becomes a memory.
This time, it was also recorded.
In battles and portraits.
In music and craftsmanship.
In the people working behind the scenes.
In the reactions of the audience.
In the spectacular moments and the very small ones that so often tell the story best.
Through photography, the people, emotions and history of Ancestral Nest remain with us long after the festival itself has ended.
Thank you to everyone who created Ancestral Nest 2026.
See you at Ancestral Nest III.
TEAM Polonica Eire &
Polonica Eire Community
