Irish Culture
extract from Microsoft Encarta

"Ireland, Republic of," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Celtic Cross

In the 5th century AD Ireland's Saint Patrick led the conversion of the Celts, the Iron Age invaders of Ireland, to Christianity. Although Christian churches and monasteries were founded for the Celtic people, many of the converts retained much of their Druidic religion. This Celtic cross near the Shannon River in Ireland, with its elaborate stylized relief of earth gods and woodland spirits, illustrates how the Celtic people preserved many of their Druidic beliefs.

In the beginning ...

Ireland was probably first occupied by Neolithic people, who used flint tools, and then by people from the Mediterranean, known in legend as the Firbolgs, who used bronze implements. Later came the Picts, also an immigrant people of the Bronze Age. Extensive traces of the culture of this early period survive in the form of stone monuments (menhirs, dolmens, and cromlechs) and stone forts, dating from 2000 to 1000 BC. During the Iron Age, the Celtic invasion (about 350 BC) introduced a new cultural strain into Ireland, one that was to predominate. The oldest relics of the Celtic (Gaelic) language can be seen in the 5th-century Ogham stone inscriptions in county Kerry. Ireland was Christianized by Saint Patrick in the 5th century. The churches and monasteries founded by him and his successors became the fountainhead from which Christian art and refinement permeated the crude and warlike Celtic way of life.

Ireland is famous for its contributions to world literature. Two great mythological cycles in Gaelic-the Ulster (Red Branch) and the Fenian (Ossianic)-tell the stories of such legendary heroes as Cú Chulainn (Cuchulain), Maeve (Medb), Finn mac Cumhail (Finn MacCool), and Deirdre. After a long and bitter colonization by England, Ireland gave the world some of the greatest writers in the English language, including Jonathan Swift, Oliver Goldsmith, and George Bernard Shaw. Associated with the struggle for independence in this century is the Irish literary revival, which produced the works of William Butler Yeats and Sean O'Casey. James Joyce was a formative influence on much of later 20th-century European literature.

Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, is the most important national holiday in Ireland. The national sports are hurling, a strenuous game similar to field hockey, and Gaelic football, which resembles soccer. Horse racing is a highly popular spectator sport throughout the republic.

Art

From the 5th to the 9th century the Irish monasteries produced artworks of world renown, primarily in the form of illuminated manuscripts. The greatest such work is the Book of Kells, which has some of the most beautiful calligraphy of the Middle Ages (see Celts: Art). Native art seems to have disappeared during the period of English domination, but after the 17th century a number of Irish painters and sculptors achieved fame. The Irish painters George Barret, James Barry, and Nathaniel Hone were cofounders, with Sir Joshua Reynolds, of the Royal Academy in 1768. James Arthur O'Connor was a noted landscape artist of his period, and Daniel Maclise painted the magnificent frescoes in the Royal Gallery of the House of Lords. Notable among Irish painters of the 19th century were Nathaniel Hone, Jr., and Walter F. Osborne. More recently, the expressionist painter Jack B. Yeats, the cubist painter Mainie Jellett, and the stained-glass artist Evie Hone have achieved widespread recognition and acclaim for their work.

Music

Irish harpers were known throughout Europe as early as the 12th century. The most celebrated of these was the blind harper Torlogh O'Carolan, or Carolan, who composed about 200 songs on varied themes, many of which were published in Dublin in 1720. About the same time, an annual folk festival called the feis was instituted, devoted to the preservation and encouragement of harping. Irish folk music ranges from lullabies to drinking songs, and many variations and nuances of tempo, rhythm, and tonality are used. At the Belfast Harpers' Festival in 1792, Edward Bunting made a collection of traditional Irish songs and melodies, which he published in 1796. Thomas Moore, the great Irish poet, made extensive use of Bunting's work in his well-known Irish Melodies, first published in 1807. Classical forms of music were not widely known in Ireland until the 18th century. Pianist John Field was the first Irish composer to win international renown, with his nocturnes. Michael William Balfe is well known for his opera The Bohemian Girl. Among the most prominent of Irish performing artists was the concert and operatic tenor John McCormack.

Cultural Institutions

The most important Irish libraries and museums are in Dublin. The National Library of Ireland, with more than 500,000 volumes, is the largest public library in the country. Trinity College Library, founded in 1601, contains about 2.8 million volumes, including the Book of Kells. Together with exhibits in the fields of art, industry, and natural history, and representative collections of Irish silver, glass, textiles and lace, the National Museum houses outstanding specimens of the remarkable metal craftsmanship of the early Christian period in Ireland, including the Tara Brooch, the Ardagh Chalice, and the Moylough Bell Shrine (all dating from the 8th century), as well as the Lismore Crozier and the Cross of Cong (both 12th century). The National Gallery in Dublin has an admirable collection of paintings of all schools. Most cities have public libraries and small museums.

Interest in the theater is strong in Ireland. The famed Abbey Theatre and the Gale Theatre, both in Dublin, receive government grants. The Arts Council, a body appointed by the prime minister, gives grants to arts organizations and publishers; the Gael-Linn promotes the Irish language and culture.

"Ireland, Republic of," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

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