Did you know? In Ancient Ireland, sucking nipples of a king was a sign of submission.
Mind-Blowing, isn’t it? With over 6 million people, Ireland is not only one of the best countries to travel or live in, but it is also a country filled with interesting facts that you should know.
Fun Facts about Ireland
1. Ireland is known as the Emerald Isle because of its rolling green fields.
2. The population of Ireland is about 6.9 million. But it is estimated that 50 to 80 million people around the world have Irish ancestry, making the Irish diaspora one of the largest of any nation.
3. In Ancient Ireland, sucking a king’s nipples was a sign of submission.
4. If one of your grandparents is Irish, you could claim Irish citizenship no matter where you live or were born without knowing anything about Ireland.
5. Martin Luther King Jr. had Irish ancestry through his paternal great-grandfather.
Interesting Facts about Ireland
6. Ireland is one of the most religious nations in the Western World. In Ireland, Christians make up four out of every five people. And about 34 percent of Irish citizens attend church regularly.
7. Halloween got its roots from an Irish festival called Samhain.
8. In the Republic of Ireland, blasphemy is still a crime. The fine goes up to €25,000. So watch your mouths cause the fines will hurt you more than Satan ever will 🙂
9. The real St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish. He was born in Britain around A.D. 390 to an aristocratic Christian family.
10. Ireland has its ancient version of the Olympics called the Tailteann Games.
Crazy Facts about Ireland
11. Emerald Isle is home to over 20,000 castles.
12. Less than 10% of the population of the Republic of Ireland today speak Irish regularly outside of the education system.
13. In contrast to popular belief, only around nine percent of Irish people are natural gingers.
14. The prefix “Mac” in Irish surnames means “son of,” whereas the prefix “O” means “descendant of.”
15. There have never been snakes in Ireland because being cold-blooded, the snake couldn’t survive the frozen ground during the ice age in the past.
Ireland also lacks several species common elsewhere in Europe, such as moles, weasels, polecats, or roe deer.
Surprising Facts about Ireland
16. The population of Ireland still hasn’t recovered from the Irish Potato Famine of 1845-1852. The Irish population was at 8 million before the famine and is at 6.5 million today.
17. All polar bears alive today can trace their ancestry to one female brown bear that lived in Ireland 50,000 years ago.
18. Contrary to popular belief, the Gaelic harp is the actual national emblem of Ireland. Only Ireland has a musical instrument as its flag, making it the only nation in the world to do so.
19. The Titanic was built in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
20. Drinking is a central aspect of Irish culture. In terms of global average beer consumption per person, Ireland comes in sixth. However, “Happy hours” are banned in Ireland.
That’s it for this post guys, I hope you had fun while reading 25 Awesome facts about the Ireland.
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