Help. I need to know somethings about ireland for girl scouts.?

Question

Simple food receipes we can do. Interesting history, geograhy information (maybe something within this type of information can tie in with the Thinking Day 'Water Theme'),customs,types of clothing worn (past and present),what they do/did for work, jokes (not crude of course) told in Ireland, stories, fun facts and anything else you think might be of interest.

Answer 1

Hi I was a guider for a long time.  Be careful with these answers some of them are not from Irish people.

We have two branches of Guides here, one is CGI the Catholic Guides of Ireland and the other is the Irish Girl Guides a non-denominational organisation.  Originally only IGG was a member of WAGGS but a couple of years ago an agreement was reached to form an umbrella group which allows both organisations access to WAGGS.

If you are having Thinking Day you are really allied with IGG.  This is divided into Ladybirds, Brownies, Guides and Rangers.  There is a Guide Cottage in Enniskerry Co. Wicklow and also one in Co. Offaly.  IGG guides wear blue uniforms, nowadays consisting of a sweatshirt and sash over jeans or dark blue trousers.

I have never heard of the brush/broom dance and fear it is something invented for tourists!  We speak Gaeilge (note spelling) which we call Irish,but the main language here is English.  Irish is really only spoken in small areas of the country called Gaeltachts.   You could make scones, 8 oz self raising flour, 2 oz butter rub this into flour then add teaspoon of sugar and some milk to make a dough not too wet.  Roll out about 1 and a half inches thick and cut into small round shapes and bake in oven for about 15 mins until brown. Delicious with butter and jam.  

Originally agriculture was a huge part of the economy. However, nowadays we are very modern and have industries of all kinds including many computer industries, e.g. Dell.

Our national drink is Guinness, a black stout.  You could use coca cola with the guides as a substitute.

Many famous people had Irish heritage, e.g. Grace Kelly (Rainier), Presidents J F Kennedy and President Ronald Reagan.  Some of our actors are Gabriel Byrne, Patrick Bergin, Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell.

Clothing is very modern now same as anywhere but years ago some was made from a type of wool called bainin.  Fishermen particularly in the Aran Islands wore thick white wool sweaters and these were hand knit with each pattern having a meaning.

the fun bit is we are supposed to have little people called leprechauns who guard a pot of gold and live at the end of the rainbow.  If you spot one you must never take your eye off him  or he will disappear!!

We learned that the Isle of man came from Finn McCumhaill (a giant) losing his temper and tearing a piece out of Northern Ireland which became Lough Neagh and throwing it into the Irish sea where it became the Isle of Man.

Joke: Paddy the Irishman was working on a building site measuring  A man came up to him and said I work for NASA and I am very impressed with how accurate your work is.  We   work to a millionth of an inch.  Paddy turned to him and said that wouldn't do us....we have to be spot on!

Hope some of this helps.  Will think of you on Thinking Day.

Answer 2

A popular traditional dance there is called the brush dance.  In rural Ireland, past and present, the youngest girl in the household had to sweep(brush) the floor.  Since it was a boring job, many young Irish girls made a dance using the broom.  Today for show men and women both perform the dance.  Below is a link to a YouTube video showing a man and woman doing the Brush Dance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P4k7SJAM...

Answer 3

Ireland was largely a rural economy until the mid eighties. It is mainly a 'service' economy now offering a huge amount of IT led services to the EU.

It has its own language known in Ireland as Gaelge tho they do claim the dialect Ulster-Scot as a language in some parts of the island.

Artists do not pay tax in the Republic of Ireland.

It has four provinces - Ulster, Leinster, Munster and Connacht. Ulster is made of nine counties of which six make the country known as Northern Ireland.

Answer 4

Jokes(sorry they're mainly aimed at England,not my views):

Paddy English man, Paddy Scotsman and Paddy Irish man were on a plane and it went on fire. Paddy English Man jumped out and said, "God bless England, Paddy Scotsman jumped out and said,"God bless Scotland", and Paddy Irish man jumped out and said,"God help the person I land on.

Paddy English, Irish and Scotsman were in a Landrover in the desert and it ran out of petrol. Paddy Irish man got out and took the keys, Paddy Scotsman got out and took the radio. Paddy English man got out and took the door. When someone came they asked Paddy Irish man why did he take the keys."So no one could steel the jeep", he replied.They asked why did Paddy Scotsman take the radio."So I won't be lonely", he answered. They asked Paddy English man why he took the door."So if it gets too hot I can roll down the window!"

paddy englishman, paddy irishman, paddy scotsman and paddy welshman were stranded on a raft without enough food for all of them. paddy scotsman starts to feel really patriotic and says "this is for scotland" and throws himself to the sharks!....a while later paddy welshman does the same...then eventually paddy irishman feels really patriotic, says "THIS IS FOR IRELAND!!" and throws paddy englishman to the sharks!!!!!!

Answer 5

Did you know that the Isle of Man was created when two Giants -one in Ireland and one in Scotland had a disagreement and threw clods of mud at each other? One clod fell into the Irish Sea and lo and behold you have the Isle of Man!!