Myths and True: Ireland and Irish

Ireland – a country with a beautiful nature and a rich history. Together with the founder of the Kiwi Education educational agency, Denis Vlasin, we decided to tell you about the most interesting myths and facts about the homeland of Celts, Irish dances and mysterious creatures.

All Irish redheads

Perhaps the most famous stereotype of the inhabitants of Ireland is that they all have red hair, freckles and light skin. However, today, the red hair color is observed only about 10% of the country’s inhabitants, which is still a lot in comparison with the share of owners of this color throughout Europe.

It is believed that red hair Irish got from the Celts, once inhabited most of the European continent. At the same time, the ancient Greeks and Romans described the Celts as "red".

One of the reasons for this securing the genotype is the remoteness of the island from the mainland, due to which there was no significant mixing with the peoples of the East or Asia. Because of his geographical position, Ireland was more often attacked by the nearest neighbors: British, Scottish or Scandinavians.

In general, the genome defining red hair and light skin is distributed to a greater extent among the northern or Central European peoples.

Holy Patrick – Irishman

The Christian Saint and the patron of Ireland was not at all an Irishman at all, but the British presumably born in Wales. For the first time Patrick fell into Ireland, being abducted and sold in slavery. Later after the liberation of St. Patrick returned to the country already as a missionary.

Today, St. Patrick’s Day is an annual public holiday, which is celebrated on March 17, on the day of death of the Holy.

Curious fact: Saint Patrick is also a patron of Nigeria.

In Ireland there is no snake

Truth! Exile Snake from the island attribute to St. Patrick. But in reality, the snakes in Ireland never happened, like ferrets, mobrats and many other rodents – all because the island is significantly removed from the mainland of Europe.

In Ireland always bad weather

Not certainly in that way. Despite the fact that the rain – the phenomenon is truly frequent, the weather in Ireland can rather be called a variable and non-permanent, especially in the spring and late autumn: a clear sunny sky can easily change the torrential rain, after which there is a hail … and everything in a circle falls. But the cold winters with snow in Ireland are uncommon, the average annual temperature on the island is approximately +10 ° C.

Only beer and whiskey drink in Ireland

Beer here, of course, very love, and from a long time – it is in Ireland that the world’s oldest Pub sean’s Pub, the walls of which are dating 900 years old. However, the Irish tea is not less popular in the country ranks second in the consumption of this drink in the world, yielding only Turkey. Daily norm is considered to drink five to six cups per day. At the same time, Irish prefer "Preli" – the standard is considered to brew two and a half spoons on a cup of tea, but often milk and sugar are added to it.

Here everyone speaks Irish

Myth. Despite the fact that the first state language of the country is Irish (Galsky), in the course of the residents of its official language – English. Irish today enjoyed, in various data, not more than 2% of the population, and know well – about 15-20%. At the same time, Irish remains mandatory for studying at school.

In many ways, the British occupation and accession to England in the XVII century, in the XVII century, has become forbidden to speak and write in Ireland in the fate of the culture and language of Ireland.

The revival of Irish culture and the popularization of Gelsky began at the beginning of the 20th century – after the country has gained independence. Despite this, it was not possible to return to everyday Irish in everyday life – in everyday life, the vast majority speaks English. True, with an emphasis, and in each province of the country he is.

Irish leisure and everywhere late

Oh yeah! Punctuality, let’s say straight, not peculiar to the Irish traits: here are late for both ordinary meetings and to work. And even civil servants.

Rhythm of life at the islanders pretty relaxed. This is especially felt in small towns and villages, where buses can sometimes come a little later or before the schedule, and the driver can easily stay on the road to say hello to the buddy.

All dance irish dancing

Truth. You really love to dance here, so in Ireland an incredible number of both professional and amateur schools, where this art is learning from an early. The splash of the popularity of Irish dances is not only in their homeland, but in the whole world happened after 1994 as a result of the performance of the Riverdance show at the break of the Eurovision Musical Competition.

Here everywhere there are leprechauns

Alas, but forced to disappoint. In Irish Folklore, Leprekona – small autonous men, dressed in a green suit and a hat that are often depicting with a boiler full of gold coins. Leprekona were known as shoes and guardians of gold, and therefore many were trying to catch them: according to legend, Leprechaun had to fulfill three desires or give his gold to someone who would find it.

And although today Leprekonov consider the creatures fabulous, they turned into one of the most recognizable and sold symbols of Ireland – images of fabulous shoes can be found on postcards, posters and all souvenirs. And no people’s fellow celebration of St. Patricks do not dressed in the green costume and hat.

However, in Fei Irish, even adults, believe much more. So, in 1999, in one of the provinces, the locals arranged a protest against the construction of the motorway – the fact is that they considered a big hawthorn bush along the road to the meeting place of two opposing clans of Fay.

In Ireland, there is a construction of older Egyptian pyramids

40 km north of Dublin in the valley of the Boyne River Located the cult architectural construction of Newgrejnj (or New Magrance). It is a mound with a height of 13 m and a diameter of 85 m. Inside the tomb there is a 18-meter corridor leading to a funeral room with a ritual bowl. In the Celtic mythology, NewGrending is referred to as Kurgan Fay and the House of the Land of Dagda.

According to archaeologists, the construction of about 5000 years, and therefore, this tomb is older than the ancient pyramids in Giza and Stonehenge!

Today, NewGrejnja is among the objects of the cultural heritage of UNESCO, and thousands of tourists come to this amazing construction every year, including those who were lucky enough to win in a special lottery: every year on the winter solstice day several people get a chance to visit the southeast of the tunnel and see How dawn rays are illuminated by the inner chamber.