Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Although Irish (Gaeilge) was their main language in the past, today most Irish people speak English as their first language. Historically, the Irish nation was made up of kin groups or clans, and the Irish also had their own religion, law code, alphabet and style of dress. [citation needed] There have been many notable Irish people throughout ...
A larger minority have Irish as a second language, with 40.6% of people in the Republic of Ireland claiming some ability to speak the language in the 2011 census. [45] Article 8 of the Constitution of Ireland states that Irish is the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland. [ 46 ]
Other traits far more prevalent among people of Celtic ancestry include lactase persistence and red hair, with 46% of Irish and at least 36% of Highland Scots being carriers of red-head variants of the MC1R gene, possibly an adaptation to the cloudy weather of the areas where they live. [53] [54] [55]
The Irish are often stereotyped as being devoutly religious and conservative. Christianity has been the largest religion in Ireland since the 5th century. As of 2011 [update] , 78% of Ireland's population adhered to the Catholic Church , [ 12 ] and both Irish people and people with red hair are stereotyped as being Catholic. [ 7 ]
The Celtic nations or Celtic countries [1] are a cultural area and collection of geographical regions in Northwestern Europe where the Celtic languages and cultural traits have survived. [2] The term nation is used in its original sense to mean a people who share a common identity and culture and are identified with a traditional territory.
In Early Modern Irish, it was spelled Gaoidheal (singular) and Gaoidheil/Gaoidhil (plural). [19] In modern Irish, it is spelled Gael (singular) and Gaeil (plural). According to scholar John T. Koch, the Old Irish form of the name was borrowed from an Archaic Welsh form Guoidel, meaning "forest people", "wild men" or, later, "warriors". [19]
One of the most symbolic structures of modern Irish architecture is the Spire of Dublin. Completed in January 2003, the structure was nominated in 2004 for the prestigious Stirling Prize . From the 2010s and onwards, several new mid to high-rise buildings have been erected in Dublin, such as Capital Dock , The Exo Building and College Square .
Modern scholars believe that the tale is mostly an invention of medieval Irish Christian writers. [1] [2] They sought to link the Irish to people and events from the Old Testament, to liken the Irish to the Israelites, and to reconcile native pagan myth with Christianity.