Ireland is so high on my ‘to see’ list, that I
can taste it. I don’t know why I haven’t been here yet, but I do know that I’ll
get there eventually. Maybe I haven’t gone yet because I know that once I do, I
won’t want to leave! Anyways, here is…
PEOPLE & CULTURE
The Irish
consume in average 131.1 liters of beer per year – the 2nd highest
per-capita consumption after the Czech Republic.
Famous
Irish breweries include Guinness, Smithwicks (Kilkenny), and Harp Lager.
The three
most famous symbols of Ireland are the green Shamrock, the harp and the Celtic
cross.
Halloween
traces back its origins to the Gaelic festival of Samhain, a harvest festival
held on 31 October to mark the end of summer. Samhain became associated with
All Saints (1 November) from the early Middle Ages and the two progressively
merged over the centuries, creating Halloween.
88% of
Irish citizens are normally Roman Catholic. The Republic of Ireland has one of
the highest rates of church attendance in the Western World (around 45% of
regular Mass attendance).
The ancestral
language of Irish people is Gaelic. Nowadays 1.6 million people claim a self-reported
competence in Irish, but only 380,000 fluent speakers remain.
Many Irish
family names start with “Mac” or “O’…”, which means respectively “son of…” and “grandson
of…” in Gaelic.
The story
of the world-famous vampire Count Dracula was written in 1897 by Bram Stoker,
form Dublin. His real-life inspiration for this character was a friend of his,
the actor Sir Henry Irving. Count Dracula was the culmination of 20 years of
vampire stories in Victorian literature. Dracula is said to have been inspired
by the early Irish legend of Abhartach, an evil chieftain who, after being
betrayed by his subjects and slain by the hero Cathrain, rose from his grave
every night to drink the blood of his subjects.
LAND & GEOGRAPHY
Ireland is
a snake-free island. Due to its isolation from the European mainland, Ireland
lacks several species common elsewhere in Europe, such as moles, weasels,
polecats or roe deer.
At a height
of 688 metres above the Atlantic Ocean, Croaghaun (on Achill island) are the
second highest cliffs in Europe – after Cape Enniberg in the Faroe Islands.
Phoenix
Park in Dublin is the third largest walled city parks in Europe after La
Mandria in Venaria Reale (Turin) and Richmond Park in London. It covers 707
hectares (1,750 acres).
GOVERNMENT &ECONOMY
· One of the
most successful beer brands worldwide, Guinness was once the largest brewery in
the world (from 1914), and remains the largest brewer of stout in the world.
Ireland is
the only EU country where abortion is still illegal (except to protect the
mother’s life).
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