Interesting-facts-about-ireland.docx

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT IRELAND o o o o

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The Irish consume in average 131.1 liters of beer per year - the 2nd highest per-capita consumption after the Czech Republic. Famous Irish breweries include Guinness, Smithwicks (Kilkenny), and Harp Lager. The three most famous symbols of Ireland are the green Shamrock, the harp, and the Celtic cross. Halloween traces back its origins to the Gaelic festival of Samhain, a harvest festival held on 31 October to mark the end of summer. Samhain became associated with All Saints (1 November) from the early Middle Ages and the two progressively merged over the centuries, creating Halloween. 88% of Irish citizens are nominally Roman Catholic. The Republic of Ireland has one of the highest rates of church attendance in the Western World (around 45% of regular Mass attendance). The ancestral language of Irish people is Irish Gaelic. Nowadays 1.6 million people claim a self-reported competence in Irish, but only 380,000 fluent speakers remain. Advertisements

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Many Irish family names start with "Mac" or "O'...", which means respectively "son of ..." and "grandson of ..." in Gaelic. Since 1981, Slane Concert has been held annually on the grounds of Slane Castle, at the initiative of its owner, the 8th Marquess Conyngham. Artists who have performed at Slane include David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Guns N' Roses, R.E.M., The Verve, Robbie Williams, Bryan Adams, U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Madonna and Oasis. Ireland has won seven times the Eurovision Song Contest (in 1970, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1996), more than any other country. Londonderry's Banks of the Foyle Halloween Carnival is the oldest Halloween celebration in Ireland, as well as Ireland's largest street party. Dalkey, a suburb of Dublin, is Ireland's "Beverly Hills", home to a number of Irish celebrities, such as the authors Maeve Binchy, Roddy Doyle and Hugh Leonard, the film directors Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan, as well as

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several international music figures, including U2 members Bono and The Edge, Enya, Chris de Burgh and Van Morrison. Among former residents were James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, and more recently singer Jim Kerr, and F1 drivers Damon Hill and Eddie Irvine. The story of the world-famous vampire Count Dracula was written in 1897 by Bram Stoker, from Dublin. His real-life inspiration for his character was a friend of his, the actor Sir Henry Irving. Count Dracula was the culmination of 20 years of vampire stories in Victorian literature. Dracula is said to have been inspired by the early Irish legend of Abhartach, an evil chieftain who, after being betrayed by his subjects and slain by the hero Cathrain, rose from his grave every night to drink the blood of his subjects.

Land & Geography o

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Ireland is a snake-free island. Due to its isolation from the European mainland, Ireland lacks several species common elsewhere in Europe, such as moles, weasels, polecats or roe deer. At a height of 688 metres above the Atlantic Ocean, Croaghaun (on Achill Island) are the second highest cliffs in Europe - after Cape Enniberg in the Faroe Islands. Phoenix Park in Dublin is the third largest walled city parks in Europe after La Mandria in Venaria Reale (Turin) and Richmond Park in London. It covers 707 hectares (1,750 acres). The Irish National Stud's Japanese Gardens, laid between 1906 and 1910 by Japanese master horticulturist Tassa Eida, are considered the finest of their kind in Europe. They are located in Kildare.