Top Quotes: “The Great Book of Ireland: Interesting Stories, Irish History & Random Facts About Ireland” — Bill O’Neill

“It’s thought that the word Ireland originated from the old irish word Eire,” which stems from Ériu, who was a Gaelic goddess. According to Irish mythology, Ériu was believed to be the Goddess of the island, as well as the Goddess of sovereignty. The Germanic word “land” was added to the end of “Ire” to make up “Ireland.””

“The Vikings ruled over Dublin for nearly 700 years.”

“Ireland is the only country in the entire world that has a musical instrument as its national symbol.”

“Did you know that Halloween originated from Ireland?

Halloween originates from Samhain, a Gaelic harvest festival that’s held on October 31st. The festival signifies the end of summer and the beginning of winter or the “darker half’ of the year.

Traditionally, the Celtics believed that Samhain was a time when our world and the spirit world are most connected. They celebrated on the day that they believed the ghosts of the dead were able to return to earth.

On Samhain, the Celts built fires where they burnt crops and animals in a sacrificial ritual to the deities. The Celts also wore costumes, which they made from animal heads and skin. They also told one another’s fortunes.

When Christian influence began to spread through former Celtic lands, they renamed Samhain “All Hallows Eve,” with November 1st being “All Souls Day.” It was celebrated in a similar fashion to Samhain. People took part in parades and held big bonfires. They also dressed up in costumes and saints, angels, and devils. Over time, “All Hallows Eve” became known as Halloween.”

“It was the Irish who brought Halloween to America. The millions of Irish people who fled to America during the Potato Famine helped to popularize the holiday.”

“Ireland is actually a very small country. It’s 32,595 square miles — just a bit larger than the state of Maryland, which is 32,133 square miles. Ireland is only 300 miles at its longest point and 190 miles at its widest point.”

“More Irish people live in other countries than they do in Ireland. There are more than 34 million Americans who are believed to have Irish ancestry — which is more than seven times Ireland’s population of approximately 4.8 million! It’s been estimated that nearly one out of every two Australians are also part trish. Studies have also found that nearly 80 million people throughout the world also have Irish passports.”

“The top country for alcohol consumption was the Czech Republic, followed by Germany and Austria. While Ireland doesn’t rank highest for alcohol consumption, they do rank at No. 1 in terms of tea consumption! On average, every person in Ireland consumes 1,184 cups of tea per year.”

“A lot of Irish names begin with “Mac” (or “Mc”) or “O.” Mac/Mc” means “son of …”, while “O” means “grandson of ..” So, in the Gaelic language, for example, the name “O’Brien” would translate to “the grandson of Brien.””

“More people in Ireland speak Polish than they do Gaelic. Estimates have found that there are 119,526 Polish speakers and only 82,600 Gaelic speakers living in Ireland. This means that only about 2% of Ireland’s population speaks Gaelic.”

“Ireland’s first female president was elected in 1990. Mary Robinson was a woman who had socialist and feminist views. Her election marked liberalism in Ireland, which had been a very conservative country prior to that.”

“A popular stereotype is that all or most Irish people have bright red hair. This is another one of the myths about the Irish. Only about 9% of people in the country have red hair. That being said, it’s been estimated that nearly half of Irish people carry the redheaded gene.”

“An unusual Irish birthday tradition is to lift the birthday child upside down and gently bump his or her head against the ground for good luck. The number of times the child’s head will be bumped against the ground should be his or her age, plus one.”

“Legend has it that the word “quiz” originated from Ireland. It has been said that Richard Daly, who owned a theatre in Dublin, made a bet that he could invent a word and make it so that the people throughout the city would know it in days. He allegedly had his employees write it all over the walls and it was known within days. Some historians argue that this is really nothing more than a legend and that quiz was already used in other places at the time…”

“All polar bears that are alive today originated from one Irish female brown bear. It was once believed that polar bears could trace their origins to the brown bears that lived off the coast of Alaska. In 2011, results from a DNA were released that confirmed that all of the world’s polar bears could be traced back to Irish brown bears. It’s believed that the bears split into separate species between 400,000 and 2 million years ago. Irish brown bears are extinct today.”

“Known for her choice to remain private, Enya has never done a concert tour.”

“St. Patrick’s Day has traditionally been celebrated as both a religious and cultural holiday in Ireland. The holiday celebrates Christianity’s arrival in Ireland.

Celebrated on March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland generally involves attending mass at some point during the day. Traditionally, this day was meant to be spent in prayer and reflection. It wasn’t a day to go to the pub. For Roman Catholic people, it’s a holy day of obligation.

St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated in Ireland since the 17th century. For the majority of the 20th century, pubs were actually closed on March 17th. At that point, St. Patrick’s Day was only considered a religious holiday in Ireland. It wasn’t until 1970 that St. Patrick’s Day officially became a national holiday and pubs were able to open for business again. Nowadays, many people in Ireland do go to the pubs for a few drinks — after they go to church.

The Irish also do celebrate by wearing green and shamrocks, the same way Americans do. St. Patrick’s Day parades weren’t commonplace in Ireland at one point, but American influence has led the country to partake in this holiday tradition.”

“It might shock you to learn that St. Patrick wasn’t Irish. He was actually born in Great Britain, though historians aren’t sure whether he was born in England, Wales or Scotland. His parents were Roman.

St. Patrick’s past was a tragic one. He was kidnapped when he was sixteen years old by Irish raiders. He was thrust into slavery and forced to work as a sheepherder. After six years, he managed to escape Ireland and returned home.”

“St. Patrick is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland.

After he escaped Ireland and returned home, he studied to become an ordained priest. He eventually returned to Ireland as a missionary. He converted many of Ireland’s pagans to Christianity. It’s believed that Patrick began to introduce Christianity to the Emerald Isle in the year 432 A.D. It’s been said that he baptized hundreds of people in just one day.”

“So, where did green come from? During the 1798 Irish Rebellion, the clover became a symbol of Irish nationalism. It’s believed that this is why the color has become so closely associated with St. Patrick’s Day.

The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was actually held in America. In 1762, the first St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in New York City. Irish soldiers who were serving in the English army paraded through New York City streets.”

“According to historians, the idea of leprechauns actually originated from real people. When the Gaelic invaded Ireland during the 5th century B.C., they found a race of men who were about five feet tall. The Gaelic invaders called them “little people.””

“It’s believed that St. Patrick used the shamrock when he converted the Irish to Christianity. He used the three leaves of the clover to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity.”

“It’s been estimated that there’s only one four-leaf clover for every 10,000 three-leaf clovers.”

“The phrase came about during the American gold and silver rush during the later half of the 19th century. Many of the miners who were the most successful were Irish immigrants or Irish-American. They were rejected on the east coast and moved west where they found gold and silver.

People — Native Americans, especially — despised the Irish because of these successes. People refused to believe that the Irish found gold or silver because they were smart enough. The expression “luck of the Irish” was a sarcastic, undermining or mocking way to say that the Irish miners could only succeed thanks to luck, rather than brains or hard work.”

“The traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal of corned beef and cabbage doesn’t contain corn. The term comes from the large grains of salt that were once used to cure meat, which was referred to as “corns.””

“Pork was a lot cheaper to raise and eat for the average Irish family. The tradition of eating corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day didn’t begin until the end of the 19th century. The tradition began in America where Irish immigrants living in New York City bought corned beef from Jewish delis. The beef was affordable and many of the immigrants were poor. Over time, it became accepted throughout the United States as traditional Irish fare even though it’s not.”

“On St. Patrick’s Day, the Irish prime minister presents the President of the United States with a crystal bowl of shamrocks. It’s viewed as a symbol of the, close ties between Ireland and the USA. The tradition dates back to the 1950s. However, in 2010, it was revealed that the shamrocks must be destroyed as part of the Secret Service’s policy.”

“Chicago’s Kerry River stays [green] for about five hours.”

“Irish Catholics are given a reprieve from Lent practices, like fasting, on St. Patrick’s Day. When St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Friday, Catholic-practicing Catholics are given permission to eat corned beef instead of going meatless during Lent.”

“Many view eating green food on St. Patrick’s Day is actually considered culturally insensitive. Due to the harsh conditions of the Irish Potato Famine, people resorted to eating grass. It’s been said that people’s mouths were green when they died from eating the grass. If you decide to serve green food on St. Patrick’s Day, it might be a good time for a history lesson!”

“The term “Pinch me, I’m Irish” is a purely American tradition that’s believed to have started in the 1700s. It was said that wearing green made you invisible to leprechauns. If you didn’t wear green, you risked getting pinched by a leprechaun. If you forget to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day and you feel someone pinch you, it just may have been a leprechaun.”

“Back in 1894, Joly designed a color photography system. His concept was based on taking viewing plates with narrow lines in three colors. The viewing plate would be marked with thin colored lines. The plate would be placed in the camera in the front of the camera.

It turned out that Joly’s method was effective. Since it was also easier to use than any other type of color photography technologies that came before his invention, he’s credited with the first “practical” method of color photog-raphy. Joly’s then-innovative technology paved the way for the color photography that we see on a daily basis today.”

“Today, potato crisps come in all sort of flavors, ranging from Sour Cream and Onion to Ketchup. But have you ever wondered who thank for potato crisps or, as the Americans know them, potato chips?

The credit goes to Dublin native Joseph “Spud” Murphy. Back in the 1950s, Murphy hated the taste of plain potato crisps. At the time, the only flavor offered was salt. Sure, there are salt-flavored potato crisps that taste just fine today, but back then you were given a packet of salt that you had to pour over the potato crisps. Murphy would have told you that they weren’t very good.

Thanks to his hatred of the crisps, Murphy opened a potato crisp company of his own back in 1954. Located in the Republic of Ireland, the company was named Tayto.”

“Humphrey O’Sullivan was an Irish immigrant from Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland who worked in the United States at a printing press in Lowell, Massachusetts in the late 1890s. O’Sullivan found himself in a lot of foot pain after standing all day.

The idea for his invention was born when he stood on a rubber matt, which he used as a cushion. He found that the rubber matt helped relieved his foot pain. Once his co-workers caught on, they even began stealing the matt from him to try to ease their own feet pain.

O’Sullivan cut two pieces from the mat the size of his heels and nailed them to the bottom of his shoes. He was very happy with the results of his idea.

Shortly after he came up with the idea, O’Sullivan began to make full rubber heels, using hidden washers to hold the nails in place.”

“You can thank an Irishman [for inventing] both chocolate milk and milk chocolate!

During the 1660s, Hans Sloan was a Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland native during the 17th century. Sloan later went on to become a physician. At one point, he was studying in Jamaica. It was while he was there that he came up with the idea of chocolate milk. Sloan noticed the native Jamaicans mixing cocoa with water. When Sloan tried the concoction himself, he didn’t think it tasted good. In fact, he even found it ‘nauseating.’ Inspired by their mixture, Sloan tried to come up with a concoction of his own. He added cocoa to milk and found that it tasted a little better. It might surprise you to learn, however, that Sloan didn’t originally sell his cocoa-mill mixture just for drinking purposes.

When Sloan later moved to England, he took the recipe with him and sold it to an apothecary as a medicine: It was used to treat digestion and consumption.

Later, Sloan went on to boil cocoa with milk and sugar. His invention was milk chocolate. Cadbury began to produce his invention, which was first sold as “Sir Hans Sloane’s Milk Chocolate.””

“Up until 2010, all Irish blood donors were offered free Guinness. The practice stopped because the country no longer wanted to promote the idea of alcohol as medicine.”

“Irish coffee is one of the most popular recipes to come from the country. An Irish coffee is a mixture of black coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar. It’s topped off with cream. It was invented back in 1942 when a flight of American passengers was delayed in Ireland due to bad weather conditions. Joe Sheridan, who worked as the restaurant chef at the airport, put Irish whiskey in their coffee to warm them up.

“The act of boycotting, or deliberately abstaining from buying, using or supporting certain services, businesses, organizations or people, got started in Ireland. The act was also named after an Irish native, Captain Charles Boycott. Some disgruntled people from an Irish village in Mayo came up with the concept in the late 19th century. It was during the “land war” when tenants have a difficult time gaining rights to their land. Boycott’s estate imposed higher rent and threats of eviction after a poor harvest. The tenants protested against this. Instead of using violence to get what they wanted, they refused to work in his fields or stables, trade with him or do anything else they normally did to help him out. Boycott was forced to hire new workers to harvest his crops. Eventually, Boycott ended up leaving Ireland completely.”

“Have you ever wondered where the phrase “Kiss me, I’m Irish” comes from? If you guessed that its origins come from the Blarney Stone, you’d be right.

According to the legend, kissing the stone will give you the gift of eloquence or persuasiveness. It’s been said that kissing an Irish person is the next best thing.

The stone is set in a wall of Blarney Castle, which is located just outside of Cork, Ireland.”

“During the Easter Rising of 1916, the zoo ran out of meat. In order to save its lions and tigers, other animals from the zoo had to be sacrificed for food.”

“Did you know that one of Dublin’s parks is twice the size of Central Park in New York City? Phoenix Park in Dublin, which encompasses 1,750 acres, is the largest enclosed park in all of Europe. For comparison’s sake, Central Park only takes up 843 acres. Phoenix Park is also larger than all of London’s parks combined.”