Who are the Irish people?

Being an Irish-American I wonder who are the Irish people. The people of Ireland seem to be very diverse. There are some people that are fair with red hair and light skin, some that appear almost Italian or Spanish, some that are like the Britons, and some are fair with blond hair. To me there seems to be about 3-5 diffferent nationalites of people in the Emerald Isle.

Why is this important? I guess it's really nice to know who you are. Now we know that the Melesians made it to Ireland but how many were there? Could the Melesians be the darker complected Irish. Were the red and blond-haired Vikings? Im sure there are a lot of Celts and Britons. There are also the stories of the Fir-Bolgs and Tu nuta decaan. Could some of our folks from the UK shed some light. Thanks!

Maybe you can find some answers here:

members.tripod.com...

larkspirit.com...

Google Search

Well the irish aint the cliche of read hair and frekels anymore but the normans invaded and so did the english and vikings so many irish are desendents of them

i come from some of the spanish irish, apparently there were a lot of spaish people who arrived in ireland a while ago, dunno why

That would be the Irish, pictured above.

Or; you have the Irish Language [Gaeilge]
The Irish People.

My Wikipedia is a lovely place.

I'm irish and norweigian, my norwegian gramma always told me the norwegians gave the irish the red hair, if you get my drift

Originally posted by superduperman
i come from some of the spanish irish, apparently there were a lot of spaish people who arrived in ireland a while ago, dunno why

Possibly survivors of the Spanish Armada? I know that after the Armada was defeated, it set sail around the north coast of Scotland, and broke up as the huge fleet got caught on rocks etc., some ships running aground in Ireland.

Originally posted by tek_604

Originally posted by superduperman
i come from some of the spanish irish, apparently there were a lot of spaish people who arrived in ireland a while ago, dunno why

Possibly survivors of the Spanish Armada? I know that after the Armada was defeated, it set sail around the north coast of Scotland, and broke up as the huge fleet got caught on rocks etc., some ships running aground in Ireland.

Yup and the irish were asked to capture any spanish men they could and hand them over to the english for exicution and they would get paid for the spanish person they handed over most of the spanish landed in donegal around that area

Originally posted by Growling Lion
Why is this important? I guess it's really nice to know who you are. Now we know that the Melesians made it to Ireland but how many were there? Could the Melesians be the darker complected Irish. Were the red and blond-haired Vikings? Im sure there are a lot of Celts and Britons. There are also the stories of the Fir-Bolgs and Tu nuta decaan. Could some of our folks from the UK shed some light. Thanks!

are Melesians same as Malaysians? jw...

I'm Welsh with a dash of Irish blood. I had an Irish friend in college who once said (after a few pints) that the Welsh were the Irish who were too stupid to learn to swim. I replied that the Irish were the Welsh who were too scared to stay and fight the English. Luckily we both laughed at this point and didn't resort to fisticuffs.

[edit on 13-1-2006 by Darkmind]

Interestingly, it is also one of the few (only?) nationalities whose membership rises and falls every year - right around March 17th.

As a Roman, we never bothered with the place. Although we did finally send over St. Nicholas because we heard they believed in Santa Claus.

The Irish are a mix of Celtic/Briton/Scandinavian, when the vikings invaded Ireland setting up most of our major trading ports,they inter-married with irish and took on the language it was said that "They became more Irish then the Irish themselves". The romans never bothered to invade ireland or as they called it "Hibernia" because it was too cold, apparently.

And its true that most Irish dont have red hair ,infact very few do.

The Celts actually originated in mid europe around austria as far as I know.

Edit : Also some Irish are of Norman decent.

[edit on 13-1-2006 by Merkeva]

My Dad was Irish and my Mum was second generation Irish, of their four children one was a redhead (me), two were blonde and one of my brothers had black hair and with a bit of a tan could pass for Spanish any day (when he grew a tache he looked like a Mexican bandit). My Dad's side of the family claimed descent from a survivor of the Spanish Armada in Wexford and considering my brother, and taking into account that even I tan pretty easily and have very dark eyes, there may be some truth to the story. There is also Norman blood in the family too. I think we must've been a pretty typical genetic indicator of the various races that settled the place. The Irish are a big hotch potch of different races and nationalities, more so even than the British I think.

I'm irish, french descent

I'm irish, french descent

It really depends, through my father's father's father's etc. line I can claim to be pure Irish (to a point) but whether they are descended Celt, Viking or whatever would be impossible to tell.

According to the National Geographic's DNA study I'm participating in, I have some Irish blood.

That program is available at:

www3.nationalgeographic.com...

And, I read an article once that was quite convincing that the Irish were children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Evidently there's considerable evidence that Jeremiah's relative got to Ireland.
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One interesting link asserting such is:

www.bibleprobe.com...

Would you believe these are you (Isaiah says; to the "isles afar off")? Are they descendents of the British Isles, Ireland, the countries of northwest Europe, the United States and even Japan? In an irony to Jewish history, could the tribe of Dan have gone to Greece and later to Rome? Could descendents of Dan have actually been involved with all the holocausts of Jewish history (Greek, Roman, Inquisition and Nazi Germany)?

One important link/key is the term Scythians (Celts); "the people who dwell in booths".

Did the prophet Jeremiah (a Chief of Iber) die in Ireland?

Did he travel there in 583-560 BC from Egypt around the same time of the destruction of Jerusalem, with: the scribe Baruch, Ebed-Melech, Tea Tephi (daughter of Zedekiah & heir to the throne-line of Pharez), and the son of the king of Ireland who had been in Jerusalem at the time of the siege? Did Jeremiah come to Ireland to build the nation Israel in the Isles of the West and to plant the royal line of David upon Israels throne in the person of Zedekiahs daughter, Tea Tephi? Tea Tephi is the name of the most celebrated queen in early Irish history. With her the lion came into Irish heraldry, an emblem of the Israelites, but especially of the tribe of Judah. With Tea Tephi also a most remarkable 400 pound stone came to Ireland called the Lia Fail, or stone wonderful, or Stone of Scone upon which the Irish line of kings were crowned until about 500 A.D. Thereafter it was carried to Scotland and used as coronation stone there till 1296 A.D. Then Edward I carried it to Westminster Abbey where it has been ever since, until just recently when it was returned to Scotland, as the Coronation Stone of Great Britain.
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This link disagrees:

www.biblemysteries.com...

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Here's a link even asserting that Joshua settled there in his later years. What do I know. But it's fascinating.

www.cryaloud.com...

Tim Cahill has an interesting couple of books in the ball park:

[I][U]The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels[/I][/U]

And

[I][U]How The Irish Saved Civilization[/I][/U]
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What do I know. I think Cahill's books are quite worth reading. And it is interesting that the NG DNA study indicates that my own bloodline came through the middle east to the British Isles.

Thanks for your post.

Originally posted by Trooper
It really depends, through my father's father's father's etc. line I can claim to be pure Irish (to a point) but whether they are descended Celt, Viking or whatever would be impossible to tell.

Whats your second name ? Im pretty good at Irish translation I can pick it apart and see what secrets it holds

I have red haired family line...everyone always says irish, but I would say Scotts.
I know countless black haired irish. (After all, there are quite a few Irish Jews, and supposedly Jeremiah took the ark of the covenant there.) Cool stuff.

I remember seeing on TG4 a while ago an old programme (from the 70's or something) that was trying to connect the Irish people to the Arabic people due to the similarties in their music. THey had a sean nos singer singer and an Arabic singer and the two styles were very similar but i don't remember if they were trying to prove any genetic similarites or not