Tag: Ireland

Best of “Foreign Lands”

Dear Readers,

After renewing its website, “Words in Ideas” is preparing its 3rd year of fresh new articles, starting in October. While you wait, you can read (or re-read) the best articles under the category “Foreign Lands”. These articles aim to compare languages and cultures.

 

 
During the first year, articles described some traditional food around the world. Here are the 5 best:

 

 
In the 2nd year, we followed the discoveries of a group of language learners. Here are the 5 best:

 

 
This 3rd year, “Words in Ideas” will discuss some cultural crossroads.

 
If you wish to comment or send suggestions, please fill in the form at the end of each website page.

Thank you!
Words in Ideas
https://wordsinideas.com/
 

Best of “The Intrepid Book Society”

Dear Readers,

After renewing its website, “Words in Ideas” is preparing its 3rd year of fresh new articles, starting in October. While you wait, you can read (or re-read) the best articles under the category “The Intrepid Book Society”. This “Society” is a fictional book club, analysing a book per month according to a keyword or a key place.

 

 
During the first year, articles were written as reviews. Here are the 5 best:

 

 
In the 2nd year, fictional members discussed the plots between themselves. Here are the 5 best:

 

 
This 3rd year, “Words in Ideas” will test your knowledge (or, hopefully, making you curious in reading) the book of the month.

 
If you wish to comment or send suggestions, please fill in the form at the end of each website page.

Thank you!
Words in Ideas
https://wordsinideas.com/
 

Key place: IRELAND | Guinness beer

Nothing speaks Irish internationally more than Guinness beer. This is no coincidence. Arthur Guinness was a visionary and he wanted to brew such a beer that would be internationally recognized as an Irish product for many years to come. Hence, the choice of a harp as the symbol of the brewery. Yet, this is not just any harp, it is the “Brian Boru” harp, which you can see in the Long Room at the Trinity College Library in Dublin. It’s a medieval harp that stood the test of time and became the true symbol of Ireland. You can find it as the symbol of the Irish Government (adopted after the independence from England in 1922) and on Irish coins.

Founded in 1759 at St. James’s Gate in Dublin, where it is still being brewed today, Guinness is the most well-known stout beer in the world. Originally, when Arthur Guinness took hold of it, St. James’s Gate was an ale brewery, but he decided to change that and started producing a type of black beer. The final formula obtained in those early days was so unique that it gave rise to the “Irish Stout” style. To this day, “stout” is the only type of beer produced by Guinness. Their diversity is restricted to this condition, and they do not have that much diversity. When it is perfect, you do not need to change anything, right?

Back in 1945, Sir Hugh Beaver was hired as manager by the Guinness family and he underwent several changes that took the brewery to the next level. One day, while he was hanging out with friends at the pub, he engaged in a fierce argument about which was the fastest bird in the world. A conclusion was not reached, but an idea was born: to compile facts in a book to solve these kinds of questions. As the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature, Toni Morrison, said, “if there is a book you want to read, and it is not yet written, then you must write it yourself”. That was exactly what Sir Hugh Beaver did. Well, he did not write it himself, but commissioned who did. That book was “The Guinness Book of Records”. The idea grew and grew and now is a yearly publication that confirms all kinds of records all over the world.

 

Folklore

The word “folklore” is a composition of two words: “folk”, which means “people” and “lore”, which means “knowledge”. Together they mean “the knowledge of the people”. In other words, folklore is the collection of all stories, music, rituals, traditions, and other cultural material that is informally passed from generation to generation in a certain region or within a certain people. A people’s identity is based on its folklore, which gives them a sense of belonging.

In Ireland, for example, folklore is deeply embedded in Irish identity. Although Celtics were spread all over Europe, Ireland is one of the regions where their culture remained, with roots that still feed the entire society. The Irish language, also known as Gaelic (the name of the Celtic branch that was settled in Ireland), is a Celtic language, the tradition of storytelling comes from the Celtic oral tradition, and the almost compulsory requirement for coming together to sing, dance, and play games was a Celtic custom.

Storytelling was crucial in a time when writing was not an option and there was a need to tell the great deeds of their ancestors. Nowadays, we can read what has passed in history books, which is written in a purely informative fashion. Back then, if the deeds were told in the same manner, those listening to it would not pay any attention. Besides, it would be very difficult to memorise everything. Therefore, stories were built, most of them based on mythology. This was also a good way to convey values, beliefs, and teachings. Today, this tradition is still prevalent and it results in amazing writers, poets, and playwrights.

After fighting wars and after the hard work in farms, Celtics would come together to have fun and relax. Music was extremely important to such a purpose, which would inevitably lead to a lot of singing and dancing. Celtics developed a very unique style, which everyone can identify today. Due to this tradition, it is still much alive, all Irish are in touch with these arts since their infancy and they start practicing them from a very early age, formally or informally. This leads to many professional actors, dancers, and musicians.

Sports were also very important as they were part of war training. It was a great way to keep fit and to train how best to beat the enemy… or defend the community. Celtics had their own games that are still played nowadays, with fierce competitions all over the country.

Rituals were also significant as they would determine the rules of living in community, hence the role of religion. Before Christianity arrived in Ireland, Irish people had their own religion, strongly related to nature and the seasons. For example, they would celebrate the arrival of spring, which established the beginning of sowing, and the harvest in autumn. These festivals, especially the harvest festivals, are still celebrated today.

Christianity was very well received in Ireland. Contrary to what happened in other regions in the world, the Roman Catholic Church did not erase the native culture to impose itself. Instead, the Catholic Church and the Celtic culture merged. Some rituals were replaced, but traditions such as storytelling, games, music, and dancing were kept. Nowadays, you find that Irish people are deeply Catholic and believe in Celtic mythology to the full.

 

Key place: IRELAND | James Joyce

You do not just read James Joyce; you become an Irish person that participates in the narrative.

James Joyce was a true Irish man, to the core. More specifically, a Dublin man. Although he spent his life running away from his homeland and his background, his work was all about them both. It was not by chance that he said “When I die, Dublin will be written on my heart”. Although he had lost his religious faith very early in his life, he was strongly influenced by his Catholic education, maybe even traumatised. Furthermore, his father led the family to poverty mainly due to his heavy drinking. Both these themes are greatly portrayed in his work.

“Dubliners” was his first published work. It took him almost 10 years to get it published and he had to endure multiple rejections. The book is composed of short stories, although the last one, “Dead”, may be considered a novella. Nowadays, this possible novella is considered a masterpiece.

Each story aims to portray people living in Dublin, going about their own lives. The topic is different in each one and there is no interaction between the characters of different stories. Although it seems that the narrator is just describing the events that are unfolding, in reality the author is making us go beyond that and pay attention to what is not explicitly said, to what the main character is actually hiding. The situation could happen in any other city, but the choices characters make (the actions they decide to take or the things they decide to conceal) are based on Irish culture and can only be justified under that light.

His second published work, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”, is a fictional story that portraits his Catholic childhood and shows how much it influenced him and his life.

His masterpiece is “Ulysses”. Based on the “Odyssey”, by Homer, it describes a day of Dublin life. Most of the action is seen through the minds of the characters and each chapter has its own literary style. The aim of James Joyce was to portray Dublin in such detail that the city could be rebuilt exactly as it was from his book.

James Joyce died in Zürich in 1941, to where he moved from Paris after Nazis invaded it in 1940. “Finnegans Wake” was the last work that was published when he was still alive and it is considered an experimental book, where he plays with words to an extreme. He also left an extensive poetry work and many other fictional stories were published after he died.