Celtic Cultures Lesson 2: The Irish
Okay, I guess I should continue our Celtic Cultures Course. The next people on the list are basically the people that everyone think of when you say "Celtic Culture": The Irish.
The Irish people have a long, complicated and engaging history. Where Manx was easier to write about because it's just so quaint and lovely and endangered and dying, Ireland is hard to write about. Where the Manx are just the Manx, the Irish are vividly diverse. Their on-island variety is so complex it is rivaled in complexity only but Irish history and Irish politics. Irish culture isn't just Irish culture anymore, but a culture influenced not only by its ancient roots but also by the minds and brains that have come out of Ireland: Shaw, Joyce, Swift and many others. I really don't know where to start.
If you want to hear the history of Ireland in fifteen minutes in humor that will never be matched, ask my English teacher, Mr. Curtis. It's hilarious.
To begin with the basics, here is the introduction of Ireland by Wikipedia:
Does that help anyone understand something more about the Irish? Probably not. I guess we'll go into the parts of Ireland that I can approach. Their language is Irish Gaelic, though all Irish (with the exception of a few scattered grandpas that are virtually all gone) speak English today. Recently, encouraged by the efforts and success of the Welsh (whom we will learn about soon), the Irish Government has been hoping to revive the Irish language by making Irish language a required subject in all public schools, and also making it possible to study Irish language and literature in most all Irish universities, though it is never expected to become the mother tongue of the Irish again.
However, Irish is the official language of the Republic, and Northern Ireland recognizes Irish (and Ulster-Scottish) as officially recognized languages of the government. Ulster-Scottish is a language spoken in Ulster, which is a quite different region as technically the inhabitants are in Ireland, but ethnically and culturally they are actually Scottish.
Though Ireland (as addressed in the quote) is split into two parts, there are parts of Irish culture that are all-Ireland, as well as institutions that are all-Ireland. For example, in religions where each country has an Archbishop or a leader for that country, Ireland is considered one country. Many sports teams are the teams for "Ireland" (though many in North-Ireland are on teams for UK), and most sports have Ireland championships that cover all of Ireland. Some political parties, such as Sinn Fein (yes, I'm leaving out fadas. I'm sorry) and the Irish Green Party exist in both parts of Ireland. Another party, Fianna Fail (once again, no fadas), has considered merging with a Northern Ireland party that I don't remember the full name of, but it's something about the Socialists and Labourists and Democratics and stuff.
Ireland has a very moderate climate. The warmest temperature ever was only in the low 90s and the coldest ever was only a couple of degrees below 0. It always rains there and it's always windy. To tell you the truth, in a lot of ways, it's quite similar to Seattle. Interesting factoid about the land, there are only 26 land mammals native to Ireland, but there are approximately 400 species of birds. There are NO snakes in Ireland and only one type of lizard (attributed to St. Patrick who allegedly banished all snakes from Ireland). Also, wolves are completely extinct from Ireland, as well as their once signature animal, the Great Irish Elk.
Just for Brayden: Because geologically Ireland is a ring (with limestone in the middle and there's igneous on one ring and metamorphic in another and such), it's geologically diverse. The provinces of Galway and Donegal are Scottish Highland Coledonide. Ireland has also recently been discovered to have a boatload of oil in it. Also, Ireland is attempting to convert all operations in turbine wind-power. Frighteningly, it might actually work in Ireland. They have so much wind there. They're currently building a wind-plant off the coast of Ulster that is computed to be able to provide for 10% of Ireland's energy needs.
Agriculture has always been important in Ireland, and most traditionally Irish meals include potatoes and cabbage. We're skipping most history because it's SO complicated. That's a whole lesson in of itself, that I don't know if I'll include.
The most nutty thing about Ireland is that there are roads EVERYWHERE. During the potato famine, the English government had to create jobs, so they built roads. Roads that go places that already have roads, roads that go places you don't need to get to, roads that cross over themselves again, and roads that lead absolutely nowhere at all. They have nothing to do with the roads now, so they just kind of sit there.
About 86% of the Republic of Ireland is Catholic, and about 75% of the whole island is, the other religions being Protestant (most Anglican), with a slightly growing Muslim population, a mini-mini-mini bit of Jews and 4% of the population reporting themselves as non-religious.
I'm thinking we need more Ireland. So please vote at the bottom on which topic I should address, or if I shouldn't at all. It would be at the end of all the other topics, and I might end up doing with the Scottish and the Welsh as well.
The Irish people have a long, complicated and engaging history. Where Manx was easier to write about because it's just so quaint and lovely and endangered and dying, Ireland is hard to write about. Where the Manx are just the Manx, the Irish are vividly diverse. Their on-island variety is so complex it is rivaled in complexity only but Irish history and Irish politics. Irish culture isn't just Irish culture anymore, but a culture influenced not only by its ancient roots but also by the minds and brains that have come out of Ireland: Shaw, Joyce, Swift and many others. I really don't know where to start.
If you want to hear the history of Ireland in fifteen minutes in humor that will never be matched, ask my English teacher, Mr. Curtis. It's hilarious.
To begin with the basics, here is the introduction of Ireland by Wikipedia:
The population of the island is slightly over six million (2007), with 4.34 million in the
The name
Does that help anyone understand something more about the Irish? Probably not. I guess we'll go into the parts of Ireland that I can approach. Their language is Irish Gaelic, though all Irish (with the exception of a few scattered grandpas that are virtually all gone) speak English today. Recently, encouraged by the efforts and success of the Welsh (whom we will learn about soon), the Irish Government has been hoping to revive the Irish language by making Irish language a required subject in all public schools, and also making it possible to study Irish language and literature in most all Irish universities, though it is never expected to become the mother tongue of the Irish again.
However, Irish is the official language of the Republic, and Northern Ireland recognizes Irish (and Ulster-Scottish) as officially recognized languages of the government. Ulster-Scottish is a language spoken in Ulster, which is a quite different region as technically the inhabitants are in Ireland, but ethnically and culturally they are actually Scottish.
Though Ireland (as addressed in the quote) is split into two parts, there are parts of Irish culture that are all-Ireland, as well as institutions that are all-Ireland. For example, in religions where each country has an Archbishop or a leader for that country, Ireland is considered one country. Many sports teams are the teams for "Ireland" (though many in North-Ireland are on teams for UK), and most sports have Ireland championships that cover all of Ireland. Some political parties, such as Sinn Fein (yes, I'm leaving out fadas. I'm sorry) and the Irish Green Party exist in both parts of Ireland. Another party, Fianna Fail (once again, no fadas), has considered merging with a Northern Ireland party that I don't remember the full name of, but it's something about the Socialists and Labourists and Democratics and stuff.
Ireland has a very moderate climate. The warmest temperature ever was only in the low 90s and the coldest ever was only a couple of degrees below 0. It always rains there and it's always windy. To tell you the truth, in a lot of ways, it's quite similar to Seattle. Interesting factoid about the land, there are only 26 land mammals native to Ireland, but there are approximately 400 species of birds. There are NO snakes in Ireland and only one type of lizard (attributed to St. Patrick who allegedly banished all snakes from Ireland). Also, wolves are completely extinct from Ireland, as well as their once signature animal, the Great Irish Elk.
Just for Brayden: Because geologically Ireland is a ring (with limestone in the middle and there's igneous on one ring and metamorphic in another and such), it's geologically diverse. The provinces of Galway and Donegal are Scottish Highland Coledonide. Ireland has also recently been discovered to have a boatload of oil in it. Also, Ireland is attempting to convert all operations in turbine wind-power. Frighteningly, it might actually work in Ireland. They have so much wind there. They're currently building a wind-plant off the coast of Ulster that is computed to be able to provide for 10% of Ireland's energy needs.
Agriculture has always been important in Ireland, and most traditionally Irish meals include potatoes and cabbage. We're skipping most history because it's SO complicated. That's a whole lesson in of itself, that I don't know if I'll include.
The most nutty thing about Ireland is that there are roads EVERYWHERE. During the potato famine, the English government had to create jobs, so they built roads. Roads that go places that already have roads, roads that go places you don't need to get to, roads that cross over themselves again, and roads that lead absolutely nowhere at all. They have nothing to do with the roads now, so they just kind of sit there.
About 86% of the Republic of Ireland is Catholic, and about 75% of the whole island is, the other religions being Protestant (most Anglican), with a slightly growing Muslim population, a mini-mini-mini bit of Jews and 4% of the population reporting themselves as non-religious.
I'm thinking we need more Ireland. So please vote at the bottom on which topic I should address, or if I shouldn't at all. It would be at the end of all the other topics, and I might end up doing with the Scottish and the Welsh as well.
Comments
Thus the Irish flag is the Protestants (Orange) separated from the Catholics (Green). Notice, the green is closest to the flag pole. ;-)