Ireland-irish Culture - Vasilopoulos Nikolas

7/31/2019 Ireland-irish Culture - Vasilopoulos Nikolas

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Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is

the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island

on Earth. To its east is the larger island of Great Britain, from

which it is separated by the Irish Sea.

Culture:

Farming and rural tradition

As archaeological evidence from sites such as the Cide Fields in

County Mayo and Lough Gur in County Limerick demonstrates,

farming in Ireland is an activity that goes back to the very

beginnings of human settlement. In historic times, texts such as

the Tin B Cailinge show a society in which cattle represented a

primary source of wealth and status. Little of this had changed by

the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century.
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Other pre-Christian festivals, whose names survive as Irish month

names, are Bealtaine (May), Lnasa (August) and Samhain

(November). The last is still widely observed as Halloween,

followed by All Saints' Day, another Christian holiday associated

with a traditional one. Important church holidays include Easter,

and various Marian observances.

Food in Ireland today

In the 20th century the usual modern selection of foods common

to Western cultures has been adopted in Ireland. Both US fast-

food culture and continental European dishes have influenced the

country, along with other world dishes introduced in a similarfashion to the rest of the Western world. Common meals include

pizza, curry, Chinese food, and lately, some west African dishes

have been making an appearance. Supermarket shelves now contain

ingredients for, among others, traditional, European, American

(Mexican/Tex-Mex), Indian, Polish and Chinese dishes.

The proliferation of fast food has led to increasing public health

problems including obesity, and one of the highest rates of heartdisease in the world. Due to the current "anti-meat fad", the

government has broadcasted television advertisements to

discourage meat consumption. In the north, the Ulster fry has

been particularly cited as being a major source for a higher

incidence of cardiac problems, quoted as being a "heart attack on a

plate". All the ingredients are fried, although more recently the

trend is to grill as many of the ingredients as possible. These

advertisements however, do not explain the health and vigor ofnative Irish people while eating their traditional diets high in both

fat and meat.

In tandem with these developments, the last quarter of the

century saw the emergence of a new Irish cuisine based on
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traditional ingredients handled in new ways. This cuisine is based

on fresh vegetables, fish, especially salmon and trout, oysters and

other shellfish, traditional soda bread, the wide range of hand-

made cheeses that are now being made across the country, and, of

course, the potato. Traditional dishes, such as the Irish stew,

Dublin coddle, the Irish breakfast and potato bread, have enjoyed

a resurgence. Schools like the Ballymaloe Cookery School have

emerged to cater for the associated increased interest in cooking

with traditional ingredients.

Irish (Gaeilge), also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of

the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and

historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as afirst language by a small minority of Irish people, as well as being a

second language of a larger proportion of the population. Irish

enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official

language of the Republic of Ireland. It is an official language of

the European Union and an officially recognised minority language

in Northern Ireland.

Irish was the predominant language of the Irish people for most oftheir recorded history, and they brought their Gaelic speech with

them to other countries, notably Scotland and the Isle of Man,

where it gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx. It has the oldest

vernacular literature in Western Europe. It began to decline under

English and British rule after the seventeenth century. The

nineteenth century saw a dramatic decrease in the number of

speakers especially after the Great Famine of 18451852 (where

Ireland lost 2025% of its population either to emigration or

death). Irish-speaking areas were especially hard hit. By the end

of British rule, the language was spoken by less than 15% of the

national population. Since then, Irish speakers have been in the

minority except in areas collectively known as the Gaeltacht.
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Ongoing efforts have been made to preserve, promote and revive

the language, particularly the Gaelic Revival.

Around the turn of the 20th century, estimates of native speakers

ranged from 20,000 to 80,000 people. In the 2006 census for theRepublic, 85,000 people reported using Irish as a daily language

outside of the education system, and 1.2 million reported using it

at least occasionally in or out of school. In the 2011 Census, these

numbers had increased to 94,000 and 1.3 million, respectively.

There are also thousands of Irish speakers in Northern Ireland,

and viable communities of native speakers in the United States and

Canada.
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Ireland-irish Culture - Vasilopoulos Nikolas