Irish Cultural Overview

The Irish are the people of Ireland, an island of the British Isles divided between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Geography

Ireland is the second largest of the British Isles, an archipelago located off the coast of Northern Europe. About 5/6th of its land area consists of the independent Republic of Ireland. The remaining northern counties make up Northern Ireland, a member state of the United Kingdom. Like the rest of the British Isles, Ireland is warmer and wetter than most countries at its latitude. Its landscapes are dominated by rolling hills, peat bogs, fertile plains, and temperate forests. The western half of the island is more remote and mountainous than the east, where the majority of its population can be found.

• Climate: Temperate and maritime

• Capital: Dublin (Ireland) and Belfast (Northern Ireland)

• Total Population: Approx. 7 million between both nations

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History

Ireland’s history is a story of incoming invaders, assimilation, and growth in the face of adversity. Its first residents likely settled on the island as the glaciers of the last Ice Age retreated. These early hunter-gatherers built massive stone monuments and gradually adopted farming as a lifestyle. By about 500 BCE, incoming Celtic peoples blended with and took control of Ireland’s indigenous people. They formed small warring kingdoms, or Gaelic courts, which would dominate Irish politics until the 16th century. These courts tended to remain independent, though they may have recognized a high kingship under powerful dynasties like the Uí Néill.

Ireland converted to Christianity while Rome controlled much of neighboring Britain. Beginning in 795, the island’s monasteries underwent a series of destructive Viking raids. The Vikings who chose to stay, or Hiberno-Norse, founded trading cities like Dublin, Cork, and Limerick. By 1169, England under the Anglo-Normans moved to invade and conquer the island. English influence in Ireland proved minimal, however, until Tudor King Henry VIII tightened his grip in the 16th century. At this time, Gaelic culture went through a period of suppression, right down to its customary yellow dyes and facial hair.

The Irish responded to English rule with rebellion, each of which resulted in greater English crackdowns. After the Nine Years’ War ended in 1607, the nobility of Ulster, including the Uí Néill dynasty, fled for mainland Europe. The Flight of the Earls left a power vacuum in Northern Ireland, which the monarchy solved by importing Scottish and English landowners. All across the island, native Irish Catholics began to lose their ancestral farms to larger, majority Anglican estates. This caused the slow impoverishment of many Irish families, who relied on subsistence farming to feed a booming population. When potato blight struck in the 1840s, hundreds of thousands died and more emigrated to nations like the United States.

Nationalism increased during the early 20th century. The Irish War of Independence was fought between 1919 and 1921, followed by a brief civil war. While most of the island chose independence, Northern Ireland remained within the United Kingdom. This division led to several decades of religious and political violence, known as the Troubles. Today, the two states enjoy closer cooperation as well as growing industrial economies.

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Daily Life

Historically, the people of Ireland have been mostly farmers. In the past, a person’s family determined his or her place in life, with most roles being passed down patrilineally. A court musician or doctor, for example, generally inherited that role and its associated knowledge. For commoners, this generally meant a life spent raising crops and livestock in close proximity to their extended family. Dairy products and hardy grains formed the basis of their diets. Upper class men and women wore long tunics and mantles called the léine and brat. The traditional houses of Gaelic Ireland were wattle-and-daub roundhouses with thatched, conical roofs. These formed wider farming compounds protected by circular fences or walls.

Over time, as English culture came to influence the island, the tunics and roundhouses of Ireland faded from view. They were replaced by Western apparel and cottages similar to those of Britain. In addition, new crops like the potato revolutionized Irish cuisine. Today, Ireland is a primarily urban nation; its citizens lead lives similar to those of other European countries.

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Society

In ancient Ireland, societies were organized around an orally transmitted law system known as the Brehon Law. This code outlined a class-based social system, where each person understood his or her position, pay, and duties. Ruling warrior classes were advised and educated by druidic priests, who served as both teachers and court priests. The Brehons studied in their schools, memorizing a complex legal system and weighing in on local disputes. The Brehon Laws dictated everything from what colors a person could wear to how many milk-cows a poetic ode was worth to the fines associated with various crimes. Among the lower classes, families fit into different classes ranging from slaves to free, landowning farmers.

Gaelic Irish courts were gradually stamped out through English intervention, replaced by the laws and policies of the British Empire and United Kingdom. Today, the Republic of Ireland is a parliamentary democracy. Cultural differences can still be seen between its urban and rural populations, as well as on a county-by-county basis. In addition, the island is home to a population of nomadic Travellers. Its native language, Gaelic, is still widely spoken today, though English is more common.

• Major Languages: English and Gaelic

• Urban Population: 63.2% (Republic of Ireland only, 2018 est.)

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Economy

The people of ancient Ireland for the most part did not use coins as a currency. Instead, as outlined by the Brehon Law, their standard unit of value was the milk-cow. Cattle represented tangible wealth that could be exchanged easily. Gaelic lords paid their court poets, physicians, and craftsmen an annual stipend of cattle, and most criminal charges could also be settled by the payment of cows. Among farmers, the size of a family’s herd determined its social standing. Young warriors often led cattle raids to increase their own prestige and wealth. The lords did, however, fully understand the value of precious metals and gems, most notably gold.

Trade and urbanization came with the Hiberno-Norse, who founded some of the largest cities in modern Ireland. After the English takeover, these cities turned into export centers, shipping Irish agricultural goods and manufactures to fuel the British Empire. Land consolidated under majority Anglican landowners, impoverishing the common Irish people. Evictions, famine, and the prospect of indentured servitude through emigration all devastated the countryside. After gaining independence in the 20th century, Ireland has modernized its economy to include strong financial, technology, and service sectors. It has faced more recent challenges after the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.

• Major Industries: (Republic of Ireland only)

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Beliefs

Since its conversion to Christianity by Roman missionaries like Saint Patrick, Ireland has been a majority Catholic nation. Prior to that, its indigenous peoples practiced a form of Celtic polytheism, which has survived to the present day as mythology and folklore. Catholicism in Ireland became a divisive issue during the 16th century, when King Henry VIII split England from Rome’s papal authority. Religious freedom, as well as independence, would become a rallying cry for Irish nationalism from then on. At the same time, Protestantism slowly entered the island through English and Scottish immigrants. Catholicism is still the majority religion across the island, though its influence has decreased in recent decades.

Religious Demographics:

• Roman Catholic: 78.3%

• None: 9.8%

• Church of Ireland: 2.7%

• Unspecified: 2.6%

• Other: 2.4%

• Other Christian: 1.6%

• Orthodox: 1.3%

• Muslim: 1.3% (Republic of Ireland only, 2016 est.)

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Arts & Music

Ireland possesses a rich art history, particularly in the areas of music, illustration, poetry, textiles, and metalworking. Besides the rock art and heavy gold jewelry of its Celtic nobility, most of its surviving early arts were produced in Christian monasteries. Illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells showcase a form of insular art featuring complex interlace patterns and vibrant colors. Their metalworking used similar interlacing styles, exemplified by artifacts like the Armagh chalice and Tara brooch.

In addition, the people of Ireland have passed down a distinct music and dance tradition. The national instrument of Ireland, and its general symbol, is the harp played by its ancient class of bards and poets. Common instruments seen today include fiddles, guitars, pipes, and drums. Irish step-dancing is noted for its footwork, with an emphasis on careful control of the upper body. Modern Irish artists may keep these old traditions alive, invent their own styles, or both.

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References

Hegarty, Neil. The Story of Ireland: A History of the Irish People. Macmillan. 2012.

Hollis, Daniel Webster. The History of Ireland. Greenwood Publishing Group. 2011.

Joyce, Patrick Weston. A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland. Longmans, Green, and Co. 1908.

Ranelagh, John O'Beirne. A Short History of Ireland. Cambridge University Press. 2012.

Scanlan, Margaret. Culture and Customs of Ireland. Greenwood Publishing. 2006.

“The World Factbook: Ireland.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 24 Oct. 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ei.html.

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