7 Things about the Irish that foreigners are hard to understand

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when someone talks about Ireland? Too much beer, redheads, leprechauns and four-leaf clovers? So get ready, because in this post we will deny many stereotypes that exist about the country, analyzing everything from a new perspective. You will find, for example, that Ireland does not have that many redheads, and that the Irish are not the ones who consume the famous Guinness beer. Are you ready to be surprised? So let’s go!

Before we start, a spoiler: this post is really amazing and very interesting.

The Irish are often associated with beautiful, red-haired people. But we will be forced to break this stereotype with the help of statistics, according to which only 10% of Irish people have naturally red hair.

Many people know that the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula” was a real man, Vlad III Tepes (Vlad the Impaler, Prince of Wallachia, territory of present-day Romania), who lived in the 15th century. However, some historians claim that Stocker (born and raised in Dublin) constructed the image of the famous bloodsucker from Irish folklore.

According to one legend, Abhartach was the head of a detachment of soldiers, short and very pale. He terrified his subjects, who feared him and considered him a sorcerer. One day, their patience ran out and they all asked a warrior to kill his master.

The warrior killed the sorcerer twice, but he always rose from the grave demanding from his unfaithful subjects the payment of a tribute in the form of a cup full of their blood. Abhartach failed to come back to life only when the warrior followed the advice of a druid and first cut off the sorcerer’s head with an ash sword, burying him with his feet up, placing a huge stone over the grave.

Granuaile, or Grace O’Malley, daughter of a clan leader, was an Irish rebel who stirred up the northern seas. She lived in the 16th century, and after her father’s death, she beat her brother in a fair battle to take the place of leader of that group. He dedicated himself to piracy, he handled the sword to perfection, she fought on the front lines alongside men, she was courageous and daring, owner of a passionate nature and, at the same time, a recognized strategist. In addition, she had a talent for politics.

According to one of the legends, the day after giving birth, the brave Grace was already involved in a fight at sea against Algerian pirates, inspiring her people by saying that “giving birth was worse than fighting”.

Statistics claim that the Turks are the biggest fans of teas, followed by the Irish. It is worth mentioning that the UK is in third place, not first, as many think.

St Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17th and is a popular holiday in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Canadian province of Terranova and Labrador. In Canada, it is sponsored by the famous beer Guinness.

In Dublin and many other cities in Ireland, festivals, parades and, of course, beer parties take place in every pub in the country. In the image below, you can see the preparation for the party in one of the local pubs.

The symbols of the festival are the four-leaf clover, the Irish flag and the leprechauns. On this day, people usually dress in green. In the North American city of Chicago, even the river is dyed green on St. Patrick’s Day to match the celebration. It’s an impressive show.

Other countries in the world also celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Significant events are organized in the UK, Canada, United States, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.

Surprising information: of the 150 countries in which Irish Guinness beer is sold, Nigeria is the leader, both in consumption and in production volume. Yes, the African country drinks more than Ireland itself.

The Irish attitude towards life is something foreigners should learn about. This is one of the wisdoms of Irish folklore:

“There are only two things you need to worry about: whether you are healthy or sick.
If you’re healthy, there’s nothing to fear, but if you’re sick, then there are only two things you need to worry about: either you recover or you die.
If you regain health, you don’t have to be afraid anymore, but if you die, then there are only two things to worry about: whether you’ll go to heaven or end up in hell.
If you go to heaven, you have nothing to worry about. If you go to hell…You’ll be so busy shaking hands with your friends that you won’t have time to be afraid.”