Top 12 Myths of Ireland

Top of the mornin' to ye! St. Patrick's Day is loved by all people (especially those who drink) and with it, out comes the American-Irish fads. Green, leprechauns, 4-leaf clovers, "luck of the Irish", fake Irish sayings, and unending novelties. It's surely a favourite time of the year. I like this holiday for a particular reason: I'm part Irish (back 6 generations). But that's about as far as my liking of St. Patrick's Day goes bacuse the way Americans view Ireland and the Irish are actually quite different from what's actually true and I want to reveal some of the myths of Ireland that America believes.

1. They say "Top of the mornin' to ya". Actually they do not. One thing about Ireland is that it's much like America. Culture is different depending on where you're at in Ireland. In Dublin area, most people seem Americanised. They talk like us and use a lot of the same language (and younger people seem to have an Americanised Irish accent). But Ireland is actually heavily English influenced so they use a lot of British terms and words that we don't in America. But as far as greetings, "Hello" seems standard just like here. There are obviously variations like here in America. If you venture to Co Kerry and more out west, Gaelic is prominent and you may hear Dia duit, Dia duit ar maidin, and other Irish phrases.
2. Leprechauns are a typical Irish character. This is also false. Yes, the leprechaun myth started in Ireland, but isn't really a big deal there like it is in America. If you go to gift shops or touristic areas, you will see it for the sake of the tourists and in Dublin, there is a leprechaun museum for tourists, but that's about as far as it goes. Creatures like fairies, Banshees, and Demons are more of a thing over there than leprechauns.
3. "Luck of the Irish". If you have ever read any Irish history, you would know that the Irish were far from lucky. In the middle ages, they were more like the pawns on the chess board. They were pretty well used by whoever would recruit them. More recently speaking, They were associated with England, but decided to have their independance and fought for it. Later on, someone with power was bribed to rejoin England and it was kind of a cycle. Who they are associated with largely has been dependant on bribes. Currently they are a republic, but Northern Ireland is still a part of the UK, so Ireland is currently split. And have you ever heard of the Easter Rising? IRA? Potato famine? The Irish have a history of migrating because of famine, lack of work, etc. They have migrated to England quite a bit (as my family did), and many migrated through Ellis Island to America. That is why a lot of Americans have Irish heritage. Not to mention their crown jewels have been stolen. So in short, the Irish were not so lucky.
4. Irish/Celtic/Scottish are all the same. Far from it. The cultures of Ireland and Scotland are completely different. Yes, there are some similairities, but they are 2 different countries. The food is different, the accent is different, the language is different (Irish vs. Scotish gaelic not the same), the dress is different, the history is different. The islands are close, but they are not the same. And Celtic is a different thing altogether. Many people use Irish and Celtic interchangeably, but they are not. The Celts actually started in Germany and spend hundreds of years in Europe long before migrating to what is now the UK. They later on migrated to Ireland as the vikings. The Celts were actually a religious group, similair to the Druids.
5. They all eat corned beef and cabbage. In Ireland, they pretty well eat the same as we do in England, Europe, and America. They do have their traditional dishes, but it's not a regular meal. In fact, even in a large town like Dublin, most restaurants don't serve traditional dishes. You have to go to select pubs. Most (younger) Irish people have never even eaten traditional dishes (look up videos on Youtube of Irish people eating Irish dishes for the first time).
6. They are always drunk. Ireland has the same standards as America, if not stricter, about working while intoxicated. Drinking all the time is no more feasible as it is here in America. Yes, they do drink their share and drinking age is younger than in America, but the steriotypical drunk Irish is exaggerated.
7. Accents. Here in America, we have the idea that every Irish person has the same accent and that we know what that accent is. Actually what we have is an idea of their accent based on the movies which are most of the time, inaccurate. Like America, the accent is different depending and where you are. In fact, it seems that the accent differs between counties. But the steriotypical "leprechaun, top of the mornin to ya" accent is off. This video is pretty accurate as to the accents in Ireland. However, some of the words we think they use are pretty accurate such as lad, las, fish n' chips, craic, and slainte, though the use of language varies throughout the county.
8. Ireland is all green hills. There is half truth to this. First, it is very green. Everywhere I went in Ireland, I saw green fields and plains. Most farm fields are green, but they still have brown fields like America. Even in Dublin, you will see green fields and parks. And the green is a different shade from America. It has a distinct look, and to top it off, there are so many shades of green. However, it is not all hilly and mountainous as most Americans believe. They do have their highlands and hills, but they are relatively small compared to America's hills and mountains. Even at Glendalough in the Wicklow mountains, they are smaller than what Americans are used to.
9. The Irish have red hair. This is partly true. Generally, it's the same anywhere. Hair colour can vary, but what I've found is most Irish actually have black hair. I think depending on where you go, you will see red haired people and Irish people are known for having red hair, but not all of them and most have black hair.
10. The Irish have always been catholic. Since Ireland was actually a viking, Celtic, and Druid island, it was very pegan. When missionaries, including St. Patrick, came over, Catholicism started to fade in. Though, most of the people would not just adopt Catholocism and would generally mix it with their already practicing pegan religion.
11. St. Patrick's Day is big in Ireland. Yes and no. St. Patrick's Say is known to be an Irish holiday recognising St. Patrick. But it wasn't really a big holiday in Ireland like it is in America. I think it has mostly been an American holiday, something Americans can have to recognise the Irish and pretend to be Irish for a day. However, it has recently become a growing things worldwide, mostly as reason to get drunk and act like a steriotypical Irish, partaking in the myths of Ireland. Though Ireland is awesome so who wouldn't want to pretend to be Irish for a day?
12. The shamrock is the symbol of Ireland. Actually this is not the case. Although some Irish businesses, such as Aer Lingus Airline, have a shamrock in their logo, it is not the symbol of Ireland. Ireland actually uses the Irish harp that is kept at Trinity College as their symbol which is on their currency or anything official. The harp on the Guiness symbol is actually not a copy from the one at Trinity college, but is a seperate harp at the Guiness brewery. Nonetheless, the harp is more of an Irish symbol than the shamrock.

So now you know the truth behind some of the myths of Ireland that so many Americans believe. There are obviously a lot more, but this also gets person to wonder how many steriotypical views we have of other countries that are false. Hmmm.

Ireland Day Seven

It's been fun and to be honest, I don't want to leave. I've become quite used to Ireland. I can say that I'll be ready to come back here. 

 

Today was my last day eating the continental breakfast here, so I ate a pretty big one. I had to be at the bus station before 10:00, so I was up pretty early. I did make sure to have some warm clothes packed. 

At the bus station, I bought my ticket for the Glendalough tour. I figured that the tour would fill up quick, so I got my ticket an hour before departure. I managed to take a short nap prior to departure. 

As we boarded, I learned that only three of us were going on the tour. The other two were from Hong Kong and were interesting to talk to. 

The first part of the tour was in Dublin. As we made our way out of town, the guide gave us the history of certain areas of the city. However, our first stop was at Powerscourt Garden this was a garden owned by a wealthy landlord back in the 1700's. At first, it didn't look like much, but after walking through, it was impressive. The Japanese garden was particularly cool. 

After there, we headed for the Wicklow Mountains. The route went through heavy farmland where we saw lots of sheep. As we got closer, the mountains became visible. 

Our first stop was near the visitor center. We geared up because of the light rain and headed off. The bus driver, named John, led us to the ruins of a monastery. The ruins were unique. There's a gate that we entered through that was used in protecting the monastery. Inside the gate and to the right is a tall bell tower. Tall bell towers were common at monasteries, not only for the bell but also for defense. We saw the catherdal that was used there as well as the St. Kevin's chapel. St. Kevin was the monk who founded this particular monastery. 

Next to the cathedral is St. Kevin's cross. Finally, littering the whole grounds were thousands of grave stones, many of them Celtic crosses. 

The guide left us here to go exploring where I took many pictures of the site. I followed the path to the smaller lake which is more like a swamp. But walking farther, I came to the big lake which was awesome. The lake is in between two mountains which creates a valley. It rained most of the time and because of the geographics, was very windy. Though it was not uncomfortable. The path we took to get to the lakes goes by several unique forests, one of which was used to film the wedding scene in Braveheart. 

I made my way back towards the bus (as we had to be there at 3:30). Along the way, I came across a Scotsman who was dressed in an 1800's British uniform with a black kilt. He was portraying a Scottish British soldier and was telling stories. When England got involved with Ireland, they recruited Scottish soldiers because the Scottish were already used to the hills. At the end of his storytelling, he played his bagpipes. Actually they were smallpipes, which are smaller and quieter bagpipes. It was cool watching him tune it and started taking song requests, including Amazing Grace. 

We took off from there and headed up the mountains. The driver pulled over on the top of one of the mountains so we could take pictures of the valley. We didn't stay there long because it was windy and cold. The thermometer said it was near 0 degrees Celsius, which is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. 

As we made our way back, we went through the mountains so we could see it from different angles. 

We got back, close to the bus station and I made my way to the hostel where I took a quick shower and did a load of laundry. As I waited for laundry to finish, I hung out in one of the common areas and talked to someone from Minnesota. After that, I went out for dinner and finished up souvenir shopping. 

On returning to the hostel, I finished my packing for the trip home, to include my backpack and pannier. I spent about 20 minutes disassembling my bike and packed it up. This must occur here often because no one was phased by it. After this, I was set for the flight home. My flight goes out at 8:30 so I need to be there at 5:30. I will probably get up at 5 to make it to the bus station for my ride to the airport. 

It has been an awesome trip and I will definitely do it again. I think the only two things I would do differently are spend more time here than a week, and take someone else. I would love for other people to enjoy this. I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have. 

Ireland Day Six

One more day to go and I must say, I'm not ready to leave. There's so much more to see and I'm really liking the culture here. Not to mention, the sights are beyond compare. 

Today started like most of the others: getting up early, eating breakfast, and getting my pack ready for the day. When I woke up, I heard it raining outside. After looking at the forecast, it was supposed to have light rain all day. I made the short walk to the bus station, which wasn't bad, and got my ticket to Trim. 

As I waited, I met an older Irish woman of whom I talked to for nearly 30 minutes. She was quite interesting and friendly. 

My bus was boarding, with only 3 of us, then we were off. It was a shorter ride than yesterday, maybe an hour. Unfortunately, the bus stop is quite a ways from the castle. 

I walked to the castle along the roads, later to find out there was a shortcut. The castle has ruins of walls with paths that lead to other ruins. I crossed a bridge, over the Boyne River, to a series of paths that lead through a field and a few ruins. One of the ruins was a bell tower from St. Mary's church. The bell tower is all that's left. 

Another path led to the city gate. All thats left is the gate. Back in the 13th century, most cities were surrounded by walls, but all that's left of the wall is the gate. 

I made my way back to the castle and towards the entrance. Near the entrance is a cannon that was once used in the castle in the later years. 

The admission to the castle is €4, but I paid the €7 for the tour of the keep. The keep is the main structure of the castle. Surrounding the keep is remnants of the certain wall. The main gate that we entered through was actually a restoration, but there's another gate that has not been. The other gate is pretty cool. It was equipped with doors and bridges that could be mechanically moved to prevent people from entering. 

Along the curtain walls, were 10 short round towers. Some of them still stand. In one corner is the Great Hall, which was added several years after the original building of the castle in the 1100's. A small apartment building was also added for the few residents that lived in the castle. Walking along the walls was pretty cool, seeing the secret enterances and arrow slits. 

We were finally able to tour the keep and met the tour guide at the bottom of the stairs. The door is actually about 10 feet off of the ground with intention of making it harder for enemies to get in. To get in the door into the castle, the guide had to unlock it. I think the lock was the coolest thing being that it was from the 1700's. Not to mention the awesome key. 

The keep has been restored with new floors and some walkways. Most of the rooms looked similar but most had a different purpose. The building has a square center and 4 other square buildings coming off of it. One of them was the "septic tank". One building, however collapsed several years ago. 

The lower rooms were used as a cellar for food. Some of the upper rooms were bedrooms along with a kitchen, dining room, chapel, and great hall (which was later replaced by the second one built). 

The tour was pretty cool. We were able to walk to most of the rooms, including the upper rooms. We even got to use the spiral staircases, which were a little difficult to walk down. We eventually ended up on the upper most part of the castle where the guard towers were. We had a awesome view from here, though it was really windy. 

The castle was used starting in the 1100's as a fortress for the city. It was owned by the lords in controll of the area. However, it was partially own by the king of that kingdom. During its lifespan, it had 3 additions onto it done by 2 different lords. 

The tour lasted maybe 2 hrs, but I spent an additional hour looking at the ruins around the castle. One of the cool aspects of the castle is the fact that Braveheart was filmed here. 4 scenes were filmed including the seige on York, the execution, when Longshanks threw the guy out of the window, and one of the scenes when the French princess met with Wallace. I was fortunate enough to miss the rain in Trim. 

(The wooden object was a part of the rack used to torture Wallace in Braveheart. The only piece they have here from the movie)

It was a bit of walk back to the bus stop, though it was shorter because I cut through a nearby field with ruins. Fortunately, it was only an 8 minute wait for bus. I did quite a bit of walking today so I took a short nap on the way back. 

After getting back, I decided to go souvenir hunting for family back home. I had planned to do it tomorrow but don't think I'll have time. On getting back to the hostel, I took a shower and headed out for dinner. 

Today is Cinco de Mayo so the hostel celebrated. There was Mexican music playing, sombreros, and a piñata before turning on the football (soccer) game on the tele. 

As I sat here watching, I met 2 people who are also here on there own. Heather from Toronto and a German of whom I'm not sure how to spell his name. I later met a guy from Croatia and a guy from Russia. We had a pleasant conversation for while be ogre they took off for dinner. It seems like everyone I meet tries to teach me some of their language, which is pretty cool. 

Tomorrow is the last day and will be going to Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains. That is an all day tour so I should have a lot to share with you. Oh, and I almost forgot. I was supposed to represent Donnellson Fire Dept. in Ireland, so here it is.