​Read our last ten fun facts here!
 
1. The first documented immigrant that passed through Ellis Island hailed from Cork! The 17-year-old girl was named Annie Moore and she was traveling with her two younger brothers to reunite with the rest of their family in New York City on New Year’s Day 1892.
 
2. There’s a reason Ireland’s so green--County Dublin is home to over 130 named rivers and streams, not to mention innumerable unnamed tributaries! Some of the best names? Bloody Stream, Cemetery Drain, Cuckoo Stream, Kill o’ the Grange Stream, Little Dargle River, River Poddle, Robinhood Stream, Scribblestown Stream, and Sruh Croppa River are some of the most notable!
 
3. Limerick was briefly a Soviet City. During the War for Independence, the British government declared the area a Special Military Area—but the locals weren’t having it. The Limerick Trade and Labour Council went on strike in protest and declared the city “Irish Soviet.” They went so far as to print their own money and organize food supplies, despite the fact this only lasted for 12 days—April 15th-27th, 1919!

4. One of the most experienced early Antarctic explorers, Tom Crean, was from County Kerry. He was born in Annascaul and went on to join both the Discovery and Terra Nova expeditions (led by the even more famous Captain Robert Falcon Scott,) as well as Ernest Shackleton’s mission aboard the Endurance. He survived it all and went on to open a pub back in Ireland called The South Pole Inn. It’s still in operation today!
 
5. The first motorboat race in the world (and an international competition, to boot) was held in Cork in 1903! It’s was called the Harmsworth Cup (though it’s now more popularly referred to as the Harmsworth Trophy,) was held in the town of Cobh, and was held through 2011!

6. Little known fact: famed boxer Muhammed Ali has an Irish ancestor—with ties to County Clare in particular. Abe Grady, Ali’s great-grandfather, was born in Ennis before he immigrated to America in 1860. He later married an emancipated slave who became Ali’s great-grandmother.

​7. Galway has the largest Gaeltacht (aka “Irish-speaking community” that typically holds fast to Irish traditions and culture) in Europe (and thus, in the world.) Unfortunately, a recent study showed that up to 70% of people in Gaeltacht areas don’t speak Irish (aka Gaeilge) daily (meaning only roughly 27,000 people use it every day,) though there are many movements that hope to preserve the language.
 
8. While the words “Ireland” and “surfing” don’t seem to have much in common, people have been surfing in Ireland since a man named Joe Roddy cobbled together Ireland’s first surfboard together from spare pieces of furniture in 1949. The sport is currently having a surge of popularity in Ireland—especially as one of the world’s biggest, surfable waves breaks regularly in Mullaghmore, County Donegal.

9. Valentina Island in County Cork is home to the world’s oldest known footprints! Discovered in 1993 by an undergraduate geology student, these tetrapod tracks are thought to be 385 million years old.
 
10. Dublin is a UNESCO “City of Literature.” This honor was bestowed as acknowledgement for having produced so many literary giants including, but not limited to: Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, and Bram Stoker, as well as Nobel laureates W.B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw, and Seamus Heaney. (The other recognized cities are: Norwich in England, Iowa City in the USA, Edinburgh in Scotland, Melbourne in Australia, and Reykjavik in Iceland.)
 
This post is part of a series. Read our last fun facts post here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram.

Read our last ten fun facts here.
 
1. Newgrange, an exceptionally large and well-preserved grand passage tomb built by prehistoric farmers, is 5,200 years old (having been built around 3200 BC.) Located in County Meath, near the River Boyne, this monument is older than the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge!
 
2. While there’s a long-standing a negative stereotypes about Irish aggression (due in largely to The Troubles,) Ireland’s real legacy is that of peaceful protest. Daniel O’Connell, an Irish nationalist and revolutionary, didn’t want to repeat the violent upheavals France had suffered and instead advocated for nonviolent measures during his successful Catholic Emancipation movement in the first half of the 19th century (leading the way for Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., among others.)
 
3. Currently, 17% of people living in Ireland are of foreign birth. 46% of these new inhabitants arrived in just the last 5 years, putting Ireland far ahead of most OCED countries (with a 22% average.) This is a steep increase is likely due to Ireland joining the EU as 20 years ago that number was only 2%!
 
4. The President of Ireland plays a slightly different role than ours (beyond the fact that while he’s elected by the people, he serves a 7-year term!) While he has certain powers, the actual head of government is the Taoiseach (Ireland’s Prime Minister)—a person appointed by the president!

​5. Speaking of presidents, 23 out of the 46 presidents the United States has had since its founding have at least some Irish ancestry. And that includes 6 of the last 7—Reagan, the Bushes, Clinton, Obama, and Biden! (Though JFK’s the president we think of when we think Irish!)
 
6. On the flip side, Ireland has the highest net emigration level in Europe, with approximately 1 in 6 people over the age of 15 living abroad. That’s about 17.5% of the population!
 
7. The first potato planted in Ireland (which, despite them being an Irish staple now, didn’t happen until 1589) was planted in Cork by Sir Walter Raleigh (yes, that guy from Disney’s Pocahontas--though that was a pretty skewed version!) The potato isn’t native to Europe, but rather, Peru!

8. Dublin was founded by Vikings—not once, but twice. First, in 841 AD, and then again in 917 (Scandinavian settlers were briefly expelled in 902, but they came back.) It stuck the second time, becoming an extremely wealthy port city that’s remained the hub of Ireland’s political life ever since!
 
9. But modern Dublin is considered Europe’s answer to the U.S.’s Silicon Valley—in the last 20 years, the city has become the European base to some of the largest tech companies in the world. This largely has to do with the fact it’s considered a tax haven for large companies, leading Google, Etsy, and Facebook, among others, to land there.
 
10. There’s no direct translation of the words “yes” or “no” in Irish (aka Irish Gaelic or Gaeilge.) While this sounds impossible to English-speakers, it just means the Irish need to use a few extra words in order to reply with the negative or positive. (I.e. If you ask “Would you like…?” in Irish, you could respond: Ba mhaith liom i.e. “I would like…”)

This post is part of a series. Read our last fun facts post here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram.

​Fun Facts About Ireland: Volume IX
 
Read our last ten fun facts here.
 
1. The seventh lion used in the famed MGM opening title sequence was born in the Dublin Zoo, located in the city’s beautiful Phoenix Park. His reign as a movie star began in 1957, and he’s the one we still see today! While they called every single one of the lions used “Leo,” this Dubliner was the only lion where it was actually his name!
 
2. Ireland is one of the only countries in the world whose population has been decreasing over the last two centuries. Before the Great Famine in the 1800s, the population was estimated to be 8 million people. Just afterward—6.5 million. And today? Only 5 million!
 
3. In the 19th century, County Cork was the world’s biggest exporter of butter (there was even a large market deemed the “Cork Butter Exchange”.) The butter made its way to not only the UK and France, but all the way to India and Australia! (If you ever visit Cork, you can even explore the Cork Butter Museum!)

​4. Ireland loves an unusual holiday. Take the “Puck Fair” in Killorglin, a small village located in the Kerry Mountains. Every year, locals wrangle a goat from the surrounding wilderness and crown the animal king for three days with much fanfare. After, the goat is safely re-released into the wild.
 
5. Speaking of Australia, there’s a privately owned island near Dublin that’s home to a population of wallabies. It’s not some quirk of natural selection, but a not-so-surprising culprit: man. The owners of Lambay Island imported a family of wallabies in the 50s, and they’ve been there ever since!
 
6. Dublin houses the oldest continuously operating maternity hospital in the world--Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. Opening in 1745, it’s been around for 275 years!

​7. You can see the Northern Lights from Ireland! While we usually associate the beautiful natural display with Iceland or Norway, the most northerly point in Ireland (Malin Head in Inishowen) is also a great place to watch. Just make sure to find a day with clear skies and no bright moonlight for the best show!
 
8. Ireland, on the stage of world politics, is neutral (something we generally associate with Switzerland.) This started during WWII, where Ireland officially stayed out of things (though there are many a story of them helping the Allied forces, including supplying the weather report that allowed for the D-Day landing, and they were bombed multiple times, though it’s thought that was accidental. The UK is an island too, after all.) Ireland technically isn’t even a part of NATO!
 
9. Despite being neutral, Ireland’s always been a politically progressive place. Take Leo Varadkar, who served not only as the country’s youngest prime minister starting in 2017, but also as the first of Indian heritage (as well as being the first openly gay party leader.) Talk about a lot of firsts!

10. Ireland holds some of the most unexpected (and funniest) Guinness World Records, including: world’s largest tea towel, most cups of tea made in an hour by a team of 12, the highest combined age, and the most cookies baked in an hour (yum!)
 
This post is part of a series. Read our last ten fun facts here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram.
​

Yuletide Edition!
 
Read our last ten fun facts here.
 
1. Before the island was anglicized and adapted to having a sweet Christmas pudding (meaning cake) on December 25th, the traditional Irish Christmas cake was a “seed cake.” It’s exactly what it sounds like—a not particularly sweet cake filled with seeds and spices we’d generally consider savory, like carraway and poppy.
 
2. If you head into the Irish countryside around Yuletide, you’re likely to see a few whitewashed buildings. Traditionally, families would clean and whitewash every building on their property come December. This wasn’t only in order to clean up for visiting relatives, but symbolic of purification before the Christmas celebrations. (This one is a tradition in many cultures in Central Europe, too!)

3. December 8th is considered the beginning of the holiday season in Ireland. While in America, we’ve started putting up Christmas decorations the day after Halloween (that’s capitalism for you,) Ireland’s Christian roots start the Yule season on the feast day of Immaculate Conception. In times past, this was the day the hordes would flock to Dublin to do their Christmas shopping—and now it’s the day the decorations go up! (Schools are generally closed that day, too!)

4. While people all over the world are dreaming of a white Christmas, you’re not too likely to get one in Ireland! It barely ever snows anywhere on the island. and though we tend to think of Ireland as cold and wet, it is an island—meaning its temperate climate stops it from getting too hot or too cold. The average temperatures range from 48 to 39 degrees Fahrenheit in December! (It’s already colder here!)

​5. One of Ireland’s most…surprising Yuletide traditions actually occurs the day after. Known as Saint Stephen’s Day in Ireland, it’s like a rowdier second Christmas celebration that’s celebrated with horse races and Wren Boys—men dressed in over-the-top homemade costumes who sing and play music through the streets as they “hunt the wren” (i.e. carry around the effigy of a wren in a holly bush on the top of a pole.) This tradition stems from an old Irish tale where a wren, known for its loud song, betrayed a group of loyal Irish to the British.
 
6. January 6th is known as the end of the Christmas season in a lot of places, but Ireland has their own special twist on “Little Christmas.” The Irish call the day Nollaig na mBan or “Women’s Christmas.” Traditionally, most women were hard at work through the holidays, and the 6th was the day they were supposed to take a rest while their husbands took down all the holiday decorations (it’s considered bad luck to do it before or after!! We hope things are more equal now, but it still sounds like a nice break to us!

7. While it’s fallen out of favor in lieu of milk and cookies, it used to be popular to leave out a Guinness and a mince pie for Santa! (After all, Guinness is a very sustaining beverage.)
 
8. It’s believed that the Christmas carol with the longest history originated in Ireland. The Irish (and others) have been singing “The Wexford Carol” since the 12th century, leading it to be named the longest sung carol in the world. It’s based around the nativity and is also known as “Enniscorthy Carol” as it originated in, you guessed it, Enniscorthy in County Wexford. Want to hear it? Click here!

9. The Mourne Mountains in County Down is Santa’s (or as the Irish often say, Santy’s) official Irish residence! These mountains are very secluded, perfect for Santa to take a rest and help out his elves with the rest of the toys before Christmas is here, along with Rudolph and the rest of his reindeer. Want a tour? Check out this video.
 
10. Ireland has a lot of Yuletide traditions, but perhaps none so frosty as the Christmas Day Swim at Forty Foot in South Dublin! Christmas morning, hundreds gather to leap from Forty Foot Rock into the Irish Sea in nothing but their bathing suits (which is about 50 degrees Fahrenheit usually—the real problem is getting out,) often using the opportunity to raise money for charity.
 
This post is part of a series. Read our last batch of fun facts here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram.

Spooky Edition!
 
Read our last ten fun facts here.
 
1. Dunluce Castle, surrounded by water on all sides and only connected to main land Northern Ireland by only a wooden bridge, reports a ghostly woman in white who gazes out upon the sunset each night. While no one knows her origins for sure, the castle did once slide into the ocean in the 1600s, so we have a guess! (For our Game of Thrones fans, you’ll recognize the now ruined exterior as the Greyjoy’s seat!)
 
2. Wicklow Gaol is not only considered one of the most haunted places in Ireland, but one of the top ten most haunted places in world! Often compared to Alcatraz, it remains Wicklow’s biggest tourist attractions. You can even take a paranormal tour where you can learn about all the spooky occurrences—from the mysterious smell of roses in Cell 5 to the ghostly apparition that’s known to greet visitors in the dayroom.
 
3. While Egypt might be the country best known for mummies, Ireland has its fair share! Time and dry conditions transformed the bodies in the crypt under St. Michan’s church in Dublin into perfectly preserved mummies—even as their wooden coffins have decayed. And we can’t forget all the bog mummies on display at Dublin’s National Archaeology Museum!

​4. Speaking of Egypt, another one of Ireland’s scariest hauntings is the now ruined building that was once Seafield (or Lisheen) House. Located on the Coolera Peninsula in Sligo, this mansion was built by a rich landowner named Phibbs during the height of the famine. Karma came back for one of Phibb’s decedents who filled the house with stolen Egyptian artifacts (including a mummy—there’s way more mummies in Ireland than we ever would have believed,) and apparently conjured a violent poltergeist! The family left suddenly in 1938, leaving the huge property to fall into disrepair.
 
5. On Saint Patrick’s Day in 1888, the front page of The Weekly Irish Times proclaimed to offer “Fireside Tales of Many Counties”—which it turns out meant ghost stories and creepy legends! While we don’t usually associate scary stories with Saint Patrick’s Day, this newspaper decided it was on the table that year and reported on everything from the haunted house of Bride Street to the Queen’s County ghost. Click here to read the stories in full!
 
6. Belvelly Castle (Ireland has even more castles than mummies) in Co. Cork is a 14th-15th century structure overlooking the bridge connecting Fota Island and Great Island, and is said to be haunted by a 17th century inhabitant (among others!) Lady Margaret Hodnett was known for her vanity and was said to keep innumerable mirrors around her. After a spurned suitor laid siege to the castle, Lady Margaret’s beauty faded as her health did and she smashed all her precious mirrors! Her spirit is said to wander the halls, rubbing at spots on the walls until they gleam so she might see her reflection again.

​7. Marsh’s Library in Dublin is best known for being the oldest public library in Ireland (it’s been around since 1707!), but is also said to play host to the ghost of its founder, Archbishop Narcissus Marsh. It’s said that Marsh’s niece, whom he raised as a daughter before she ran off to elope, left a note for Marsh in one of the library’s many volumes—and his spirit is still searching for the letter!
 
8. You’ve heard of haunted houses, but how about a haunted river? Nore River in Kilkenny was the site of a great tragedy when John’s Bridge collapsed during an overwhelming flood in 1763. Today, residents of the area report eerie figures in the river, on the banks, and leaning up against the structure built to replace the collapsed bridge!

9. While St. Patrick’s cathedral in Dublin is said to contain multiple ghosts, perhaps the best boy of them all is Captain John Boyd’s faithful dog, whose spirit is said to still wait for his master after over 150 years. Captain Boyd was considered a hero after he passed on trying to save the lives of those on board 135 ships caught in a storm between Howth and Wicklow. A life-size statute was erected and his faithful black Newfoundland pup is still seen as his feet today. The good boy never left his side, no matter the time passed!
 
10. While vampires (though called the Abhartach) have long been lore in Ireland (that’s where Irishman Bram Stoker got it from!), Slaughtaverty in Co. Derry has it’s own, particular vampire lore. It’s said that under a grassy mound called O’Cathain’s Dolmen (marked only by a single thorn tree,) a brave man named Cathain was able to contain the Abhartach back in the 5th century. The locals still avoid the area at night!

This post is part of a series. Read our last batch of fun facts here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram.

​Read our last ten fun facts here.
 
1. Ireland is home to the longest running television “chat” (not “talk” in Ireland!) show in history--The Late Late Show began in 1961 and has continued on for 59 years! The show resembles The Tonight Show or any of the late night interview shows we’re used to—except for the annual The Late Late Toy Show. Once a year the show gets into the Christmas spirit and “…transforms the usually serious chat show into a wonderland of bright colours, pantomime-esque acts, excited children and an even more excited audience of adults in Christmas Jumpers.”
 
2. The word boycott was coined in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo when Irish tenants took Charles Stewart Parnell’s lead. Parnell was an Irish Nationalist politician in the 1880s who popularized this form of protest (i.e. isolating a person or country as punishment or to force a specific action) during the Irish Land Wars. Ballinrobe tenants (successfully) ostracized a British estate manager named Charles Cunningham Boycott, and the name stuck!
 
3. For many years, Teltown in Co. Meath was best known the version of the ancient tradition of “handfasting” that became popular there. A “Teltown Marriage” refers to the custom that on St. Bridget’s Day a couple could wed simply by walking towards each other. They could also choose to divorce by walking away from each other on the same day, a year later. (Read more about handfasting in our Valentine’s post here.)

​4. Rhianna is of Irish heritage! The singer’s full name is Robyn Rhianna Fenty, and her father, Ronald Fenty, is descended from Irish indentured servants who were brought to the island of Barbados in the 1600s as cheap labor on the British-colonized sugar plantations. The history of the Irish indentured servant is a complicated one—you can read more about multimedia artist Marianne Keating’s research into the practice in Jamaica and Barbados here.
 
5. Tuckey’s Cork Remembrancer, a historical record of the area, claims a man died in the town of Ovens in the early 1800s at 127 years old! The text describes him as perfectly healthy and surrounded by 7 generations of his descendants. (For comparison: the oldest verified person in human history was a French woman named Jeanne Calment. She passed on at the age of 122 years and 164 days old in 1997. Let me do that math for you: that means she was born in 1875!)

6. You know Irish Gaelic is hard to pronounce, but try out this town name: Muckanaghederdauhaulia. Or, in Irish Gaelic: “Muiceanach idir Dhá Sháile.” No? In all fairness, this is the longest town name in Ireland (located in Co. Galway,) and even natives find it difficult. It translates to: “ridge shaped like a pig’s back between two expanses of briny water.” Which is…a mouthful too!

7. Ireland’s beautiful Cliffs of Moher in Co. Clare have starred in some of your favorite movies, including: The Princess Bride, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Leap Year, Far and Away, and Snow White and the Huntsman (to name a few—along with innumerable TV shows and even music videos!)

8. In the 1980s, there was a legal battle been Germany and Ireland over the use of the symbol of the shamrock (a three-leafed clover—never four!) Germany began using a blue shamrock (a kleebatt) as a trademark on German meat and dairy products and eventually sued Ireland over the country’s use of the symbol (albeit, usually in green.) Ireland lost the first case, but it eventually moved on to the German Supreme Court which ruled in favor of Ireland!

9. Due to higher than average birthrates over the last 50 years (at least compared with the EU,) Ireland has one of the statistically youngest populations in the world (and thus, one of the healthiest—especially coupled with the highest rate of increase of life expectancy anywhere in Europe.) 21% of the population is reportedly under 15!
10. The Céide Fields in Co. Mayo are considered the oldest and most extensive Stone Age site ever found! The site has the oldest known field systems in the world at nearly 6,000 years old and Europe’s largest stone enclosure—the wall encloses 5 square miles and hundreds of Stone Age farms. There’s even more to uncover, but the boggy land has made excavation slow and difficult.

This post is part of a series. Read our last batch of fun facts here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram.

Check out our last ten fun facts here.
 
1. The first, national language of Ireland is, well, Irish (or, in its own language: Gaeilge.) It’s used on all official government documents and you’d be all to see it on public transport, road signs, and all public buildings. (And it’s not “Gaelic”—that’s what they speak in Scotland! “Irish Gaelic” refers to Ireland’s national language.)
 
2. While Irish government sticks close to its roots, the reality is that only an estimated 2% of people in Ireland speak Irish Gaelic regularly and the majority of Irish people claim English as their first language. Gaeilge is part of the national curriculum…but how much of that high school French do you remember?
 
3. In the same vein, more people regularly speak Polish in Ireland than Irish Gaelic. Polish people account for the largest non-Irish group within Ireland, making up approximately 2.5% of the population!

4. The ball that drops each year in Times Square on New Years Eve is Irish in origin! (It’s made of famously beautiful and coveted Waterford crystal from, you guessed it, Waterford—a county in the southeast of Ireland.)
 
5. In Irish Gaelic, there’s no words for yes or no. Well, at least not directly translated. Some common Gaeilge phrases used instead include: tuigim (“I understand”) and níor mhaith liom (“I wouldn’t like.”) More or less, the Irish always need to use more words to get the point across!
 
6. An Irishman is responsible for answering every kid’s favorite question: “Why is the sky blue?” A scientist named John Tyndall made the discovery in the 1860s (and why the sky turns red at sunset!) (Still curious yourself? This article breaks it down better than we can!)

7. While Americans love to go on and on about the beauty of Central Park in New York City (which is still true—protect our green spaces!), Phoenix Park in Dublin is twice the size! (P.S. It’s not Phoenix like the mythical bird, but the Irish Gaelic fionn uisce or “clear water” is also the size of all the parks in London put together!)
 
8. Ever wondered why so many Irish surnames include Mac/Mc or O’? Mac just means “son of,” while “O” means “grandson of.”

9. The oldest yacht club in the world is the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Knocknagore, Co. Cork. It’s been in operation since 1720 and sits on second biggest natural harbor in the world (Cork Harbor—only beat by Sydney Harbor in Australia!

10. If you make it to 100-years-old in Ireland, you receive a “Centenarian Bounty”: €2,450 and a letter from the President. Every subsequent year you receive another letter and a commemorative coin! This tradition started in 1940 with Irish President Douglas Hyde. (You do need to apply to receive it, though. Click the above link for an application for your Irish grandparents!)

This post is part of a series, read Volume IV here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram.

St. Patrick’s Day Edition!

Check out our last ten fun facts here.
 
1. One of the most recent Leprechaun “sightings” was in 1989. A man named P.J. O’Hare claims he saw one and now has the clothes the wee faerie folk left behind on display in his pub in Carlingford, Co. Louth. The town even holds an annual Leprechaun hunt every year!
 
2. They’ve been dying the Chicago River green every Saint Patrick’s Day since 1962—but the first time was an accident! The year before the tradition began, then-mayor Richard J. Daly approved dumping some green dye in the river to help see where sewage was being dumped and fix the problem. A local named Stephen Bailey, a member of the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local, realized with a little more dye they could (safely! It’s a vegetable-based dye now!) color the whole river and the tradition was born. These days, they use 40 pounds of orange powder to get that garish green hue!
 
3. The odds of ever finding a four-leaf clover are about 1 in 10,000. (Though check out this 2014 story about a woman who found an astonishing 21 four-leaf clovers in her yard!)

​4. From 1999 to 2007, the Irish town of Dripsey claimed the title of “Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the World.” The parade route was only 26 yards long! (Nowadays Hot Springs, Arkansas has claimed the title for themselves.)
 
5. An estimated 13 million pints of Guinness are consumed every St. Patrick’s Day—that’s a steep increase from the more typical 5.5 million a day. (Beer sales in America alone rise 174%!)

6. Leprechauns are a protected species under EU law. A man named Kevin Woods from Carlingford (yes, the same place with the annual Leprechaun hunt!) managed to get his local Sliabh Foy Loop trail protected under the European Habitats Directive, including the 236 Leprechauns the local lobbyists claim live there!
 
7. The special type of marshmallows everyone loves to pick out of Lucky Charms cereal are called “marbits” and were originally just chopped up circus peanuts! (AND! The original incarnation of Lucky Charms didn’t have a sugar coating. A General Mills project manager named Paul Bunyon had to find a solution for all the excess Cherrios, so he did what any sane person would do…mixed them with candy.)

8. We’re used to thinking about the story of Irish Immigrants coming to America, but what about Australia? In 2010, the Sydney Opera House went green to celebrate 200 years of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the country. The first was when the then-Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquaire, provided entertainment for Irish convict workers on March 17th, 1810!

9. You may have noticed there isn’t any corn in that corned beef and cabbage you have once a year on March 17th…the “corned” bit actually refers to the large salt crystals that were historically used to cure meat and called, you guessed it, “corns”! (That’s why it had to be boiled—to get rid of the excess salt!)
 
10. There’s a 50-year-long tradition that, on or around St. Patrick’s Day, the current Prime Minister of Ireland (the Taoiseach) presents the current U.S. President with a crystal bowl of shamrocks. It’s both a symbol of the close ties between the two countries, and a political move that helps a relatively small country retain a familiar relationship with the U.S.! While it most likely won’t be happening this year, it did in 2020, just days before the world went into lockdown.

This post is part of a series, read Volume III here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram.

​Check out Volume I and Volume II!
 
1. Hook Lighthouse in County Wexford is one of the oldest in the world. While the present structure has been around for 848 years, there’s evidence that a lighthouse has stood on that spot back to the 5th century.
 
2. St. Patrick is also the patron saint of Nigeria. He was named the patron saint of the country by Irish bishops in 1961—the same year Ireland opened their embassy in Lagos (there’s actually a long-standing Irish Catholic presence in the country!)
 
3. It may or may not be a coincidence that Nigeria actually beats Ireland in Guinness consumption (though it’s only second on the list--the UK takes the top spot!)

​4. And while Ireland doesn’t drink the most Guinness in the world, it does drink almost the most tea (impressively beating the UK), at an average of 1,184 cups of tea a year…per person. (Only Turkey has Ireland beat!)
 
5. Still, Guinness is one of Ireland’s most renowned exports—the famous Guinness Brewery located in Dublin and the top tourist destination while in town. Don’t worry, it will still be there when you’re able to travel again: in 1795, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease on the land.
 
6. If you are planning on visiting one day, consider going in April or June: they’re the driest months of the year there, depending on where you are in the country. But any month will work! While Ireland’s often considered one of the wettest places in the world, it’s actually 80th on that list (though it does have one of the oldest rainfall records in the world—300 years old!)

7. The infamous Billy the Kid, real name Henry McCarthy, was born to two Irish immigrants in New York City in 1859. While his career as an outlaw and his life were short, he was said to be fluent not only in English, but also Spanish and even Irish Gaelic!
 
8. Ireland has won the Eurovision Song contest more than any other country in the world, seven times since 1970. They’re also the only country that’s won three times consecutively! (Not really sure what Eurovision is? Most Americans aren’t really—just think of it was “a cross between ‘The X-Factor’ and a Miss Universe pageant.”)
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9. An Irish art director and film production designer named Austin Cedric Gibbons designed the statue we call an “Oscar” today in 1928. If you look closely, the coveted Academy Award is a knight holding a sword, standing on top of a film reel.

10. Students at Trinity College in Dublin have a much-believed and almost beloved curse: if you pass beneath the “Campanile” (a bell tower,) you’ll fail all your exams. Even those who don’t believe in superstitions admit avoiding the area—if only because it’s also believed to be built over the graveyard of a medieval monastery.
 
This post is part of a series, read Volume I here and Volume II here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram.

 Check out our first ten fun facts here!
 
1. The Wild Atlantic Way is the longest, uninterrupted coastal driving route in the world. Officially opened in 2014 by the Irish tourism board, the route covers the entire west coast of the country, from the border of Northern Ireland all the way to (almost!) Cork. Passing through three provinces and nine counties, the route displays some of Ireland’s most beautiful scenery.
 
2. As Dracula is set largely in England, most people don’t realize its author, Bram Stoker, is an Irishman. In fact, the character of Dracula and this concept of vampires that became our standard was based on the Irish legend of the Abhartach.
 
3. The Titanic was built in Ireland—in Belfast at the Harland and Wolff shipyard, specifically. Pre-COVID, there was even a large, interactive, narrative monument and museum dedicated to Belfast’s shipbuilding called “Titanic Belfast.” (Miss Courtney's been!)

​4. While we tend to think of it as an “Irish accent,” there’s really hundreds of Irish accents, all specific to different areas, education levels, and classes, with a variety of complex, social histories behind them. (Though phonologists tend to divide all these varieties into 3-5 larger groupings.)
 
5. The Croaghaun Cliffs on Achill Island in County Mayo are the third highest sea cliffs in all of Europe at 752 meters (that’s about half a mile!) Only Hornelen in Norway (860 meters) and Cape Enniberg on the Faroe Islands (754 meters) has them beat! (Barely.)
 
6. There’s evidence that people have populated Ireland for over 10,000 years. It’s a little later than much of Europe due to the climate (and the fact it’s an island,) but impressive nonetheless! The oldest artefacts have been found in the North of the country.
 
7. Ireland once had its own version of the Olympics! They were called the Tailteann Games (or the Lughnasa games after the Irish hero of legend, Lugh.) They took place in 1924, 1928, and 1932 and were a celebration of traditional Irish sporting events. Unfortunately, the event didn’t take off worldwide, but smaller versions still exist to this day!

8. Speaking of sport (as they’d say in Ireland,) Ireland has one of the oldest consistent sporting traditions in the world (at least 3,000 years old!): hurling. It’s considered the fastest game played on grass and bears a vague resemblance in equipment to field hockey or even lacrosse (though definitely not in play.) P.S. The women’s version of hurling is almost identical, but called camogie.
 
9. The hollow, hypodermic needle was invented by an Irishman and surgeon named Dr. Francis Rynd in 1844. The world’s first subcutaneous injection was even performed at the Meath Hospital in Dublin! Even if you hate needles, this was a revolutionary advancement that has allowed to save and better billions of people’s lives.
 
10. In 1970s Ireland (and still today at English boarding schools and some places in India) there was a tradition known as “bumps.” Essentially, if it was your birthday, you’d be grabbed by your classmates and thrown repeatedly into the air to be “bumped” on the floor, often upside down—once for every year of your life. It would often end in a big finale throw where you might or might not be caught on the way down. (You can see why it’s not often practiced these days!)
 
This post is part of a series, read Volume I here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram

Sometimes, in researching blog posts, we come upon information that, while it isn’t necessarily enough to write a whole page on (at least not an interesting one,) is too surprising not to share. So we present our first installment of our Fun Facts series, where we collect little details we’ve learned about Ireland and Irish dance into a quick read for you to enjoy. Let’s start with some truly unexpected ones:
 
1. More Irish people live abroad than in Ireland! There are approximately 50-80 million people of Irish descent in other countries (after about 10 million have emigrated over the years,) and only a couple million currently in Ireland.
 
2. The submarine was invented in Ireland by John Phillip Holland who sold his invention to the U.S. Navy in 1895 after coming to America in 1872—though the first successful launch wasn’t until 1900: the U.S.S. Holland.
 
3. Only around 10% of Irish people have red hair (compared to 13% of Scottish people, the highest concentration in the world.) Though, maybe this can be considered a good thing: redheads are often more sensitive to pain and can require more than a normal amount of anesthesia in surgery! (Also, bees are more attracted to them!)
 
4. The U.S. President’s home, The White House, was designed by an Irishman named James Hoban. He emigrated just after the Revolutionary War and based the design on Leinster House in Dublin, where the Irish Parliament meets. George Washington himself suggested Hoban enter the contest for the commission to design the new seat of the executive branch.

​5. Ireland is home to the oldest known bar in the world! Sean’s Bar opened for business in 900 AD. Located in Athlone, it was originally an inn near a location where people came to ford the River Shannon. And if there’s any doubt: a renovation of the building in the 1970s revealed 9th century building materials still in the walls!
 
6. Ireland has had two female presidents (or “Uachtarán na hÉireann,”) more than the majority of the countries in the world. The first was Mary Robinson and the second Mary McAleese—both elected in the 1990s. Upon her election, Mary Robinson said: “I was elected by the women of Ireland, who instead of rocking the cradle, rocked the system.”
 
7. Ireland, as a country, has higher than average birthrates. This has changed its population’s makeup considerably with approximately a third of their population under 25—the youngest population in all of Europe. Estimates say that this will increase Ireland’s population from 4 million people to almost 6 million people by as early as 2040.
 
8. Despite so many young people, Ireland has one of the most highly educated workforces in the world! Not only is it in the top ten educated countries with its number of college educated citizens doubling in the last decade, it’s been reported that 53.5% of Irish people between 30-34 have a tertiary degree.

9.  Despite being considered the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick was Welsh. He was born in Wales in 386 AD and was kidnapped by pirates at the age of 16. The pirates sold Saint Patrick as a slave, and he escaped after being forced to work six years as a sheep herder. His escape was treacherous, and after wandering for 28 days in France he made it home—only to return to France to become a priest and then to Ireland as a missionary.
 
10. There’s actually a little more to debunk about the Saint Patrick legend: though the Welshman’s most legendary act is thought to have been driving all the snakes out of Ireland, there’s actually no evidence that there’s ever been snakes in Ireland. It’s simply a bad climate for cold-blooded animals!

This post is the first in a series. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram.