The History Of The Jig

Even though there are many similarities between the Scottish and Irish cultures, there are also many differences. For one, the Scottish have trouble defining what Scottish culture is, this is because they joined the UK at a very early time. Because of this, much of Scottish culture has joined together with English culture. This could be seen when we were walking around Glasgow and saw many English Art and sculptures, as well as walking around the Holyrood house in Edenborough. And now that Scotland may break away from England, the people cling to fantasy and mystery, as well as their own accomplishments to create and define Scottish culture.

The Scotch-Irish can trace their ancestry through Scotland and Northern Ireland. (Everyculture) The Scotch-Irish are descendants from 200,000 Scottish Lowland Presbyterians who were forced to move to Ulster in Northern Ireland in the 1600’s. Due to the economic conditions along with religious and

Catholic Ireland tried to break away from England after the Reformation, but Elizabeth’s troops crushed the Irish uprising in the 1570’s and 1580’s.

Between the years of 1870-1882 there was a major push for land reform in Ireland. There have been

Everybody knows something about the American Revolution. But how many people know about the eerily similar, yet drastically different Irish Easter Rising and subsequent revolution? Causes, leaders, battles, treaties, resolutions, and effects are a part of every country. Sometimes they are similar, and other times not, as is the case with America and Ireland.

The start of the Irish’ peoples struggles began when the British came and destroyed their way of life. The Penal laws of 1691 stripped Irish Catholics of their freedoms by taking away their rights to become officers

Before the famine in the mid-1800s, “many English politicians and social reformers began to think that Ireland was a nation in need of transformation, that it’s people now needed to be yanked into the modern world by tossing out the old Gaelic traditions” (The History Place-Before the Famine). The English reformers wanted to end Ireland’s “cycle” of poverty and misfortune because in the “1800s poverty was thought to be caused by bad moral character” (The History Place- Before the Famine). The English politicians and social reformers also wanted to change the laid-back lifestyle of the Irish peasants. “ They professed the virtues of hard work, thrift and self-reliance and regarded the Irish as totally lacking in these qualities, a point of view also shared by many British officials and politicians” (The History Place-Before the Famine).

The English conquest of Ireland goes much deeper than just the events between 1565 and 1603. In the 1100’s, Ireland was not the Ireland we see

The turmoil of the second decade of the twentieth century gave way to a greater sense of peace and stability in the third, with a peace treaty signed between Ireland and Britain in December of 1921 and Home Rule finally established for most of the Irish isle (Ferriter, n.d.). At the same time, this new society did not lead to instant prosperity, and indeed poverty remained a major and growing problem in Ireland during this decade (Ferriter, n.d.). Economic and social problems that persisted during this decade certainly could have been pushes to increased immigration.

Why the Irish Catholics and Protestants fought in Northern Ireland for centuries – the conflict started when Ireland was split into two parts, Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom) and the Republic of Ireland (an independent country). In the 16th century, Henry VII turned England in a protestant country, but most of the Irish remained Roman Catholic. James I sent thousands of protestant colonists to take over the Catholic people’s land. The Catholics rebelled but they were defeated by the middle of the 17th century. They were left without land nor power. The conflict between the Protestants and the Catholics have been going on for over 400 years. 50% of Northern Ireland consisted of Protestants, while 40% consisted of Catholics and both groups lived separately.

During this time it is clear that many changes were occurring in Ireland, a land that was once dominated by tradition was now becoming a modernized country. Where then does

Irish independence has been fought for a long time ever since the British occupied Ireland in 1172. The King of England invaded and controlled Ireland. The invasion led to religious and territorial conflicts. There was an effort to create a church comparable to the Church of England in the 1500s. Catholics who live in Ireland were against the idea and a conflict for independence has emerged (Arena & Arrigo, 2004). The suppression of Irish nationalism by the British in the 20th century led to the creation of martyrs for the cause led by the Irish Republican Army (Combs, 2011).

Hyde’s speech argues that the Irish had by that point indiscriminately adopted all that was English with little thought as to its value, that the Irish had “[ceased] to be Irish without becoming English.”2 He criticizes those Irish who claim to hate British dominance, yet speak only English, anglicize their Irish names, and remain ignorant of Gaelic literature. His central view is that the Gaelic language is the most important aspect of an Irish identity distinct to that of the British, and that only a return to Ireland’s native language can halt the process of Anglicization. However, he is careful not to make the claim that nothing English is of value, but emphasizes the necessity of not neglecting that which is essentially Irish.

story. A jig can also be another name for a dance, meaning Jig and the man are dancing

The Irish had suffered long before in the hands of the English when Cromwell had been in control and had taken away land held by the catholic majority of the country to members of the protestant minority. This created a large tension among the population with the oppressed majority and the rather entitled minority who by Trevelyan’s snooty tone did indeed see themselves as the superior people in the country. (Trevelyan’s tone is probably the most dismissive when in discussion of the Irish, mayhaps showing his own true dislike.) (Trevelyan, p. 116-