St. Patrick's Day Quiz

Hibernia means the "land of winter". The Romans never invaded Ireland but they did produce some of the earliest maps and geographical accounts of the country. The word Hibernia's derivatives include Éire which is the Gaelic name for Ireland.

Newgrange was built in the Neolithic period. Its entrance is aligned with the rising sun on the winter solstice so when sunlight shines through the passage it floods the inner chamber with light.

Halloween is said to be largely influenced by Samhain, a Gaelic festival that marks the end of the harvest season and the start of the darker half of the year. According to Irish mythology, Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “SAH-win”) was a time when the 'doorways' to the Otherworld opened, allowing supernatural beings and the souls of the dead to come into our world.

The River Shannon is the longest river in Ireland. The river is named after Sionna, a Celtic goddess.

The Plantation of Ulster was the biggest of the Plantations of Ireland. It created a lasting Protestant community in the province with ties to Britain which would eventually result in the partition of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Bram Stoker wrote Dracula in 1897 during an era of extraordinary literary talent in Ireland. Irish writers from this time include James Joyce, Oscar Wilde and W.B Yeats.

Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin. It is one of two, Gaelic Games which are still played in Ireland the other is Gaelic football which has similar scoring rules. The game is said to be 2,000 years old and features strongly in Irish mythology.

The famine was a defining moment in the history of Ireland, which at the time was ruled directly by Britain. It's effects permanently changed the island's demographic, political, and cultural landscape, spurring a century-long population decline which to this day has not recovered to pre-famine levels. It also fueled Anti-British sentiment and political unrest, which eventually lead to Ireland gaining independence from Britain in the early 20th century.

The Rolling Stones are not Irish. Ireland is famous for it's musical traditions and is the only country in the world to have a musical instrument - the harp - as it's national symbol. Ireland has also won the most Eurovision song contests with 7 wins.

After Ireland gained independence from Britain in the 1920's it stopped playing any meaningful role in the Commonwealth in the early 1930's and became a full Republic in 1949.

The Wild Atlantic Way at 2600 km in length, is one of the longest defined coastal routes in the world. It winds its way all along the Irish west coast from the Inishowen Peninsula in the north down to the picturesque town of Kinsale, County Cork, in the south.

Ireland joined the EEC in 1973. It was the first expansion of the group which previously only contained the the founding 6 members Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany.

In The Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker’s hermitage on Ahch-To was filmed mostly on the island of Skellig Michael. The porgs seen in the movie weren't originally in the script, but the puffin population on Skellig Michael changed everything and the directors were left with no choice but to add them to the cast.

The Good Friday Agreement brought to an end "The Troubles" which was a long period of violence between two groups - Republicans who wanted Northern Ireland to reunite with the Republic of Ireland and Loyalists who wanted it to remain part of the UK. Many people were killed in the fighting.

Ireland adopted the Euro in 2002 after a transitional period of three years.

The United Kingdom drinks the most Guinness. Ireland only comes in Third place, behind the United Kingdom and Nigeria. The United States and Cameroon make up the rest of the top 5.

There are 32 counties in Ireland, 26 in the Republic of Ireland and 6 in Northern Ireland.

Silicon Docks, located beside Dublin's grand canal docks is the nickname that was adopted because of the concentration of high-tech companies in the area. In 2013, Forbes named Ireland the "Best Country for Business." Deciding factors included a low tax burden, investor protection and personal freedom.

Donald Trump does not have any Irish connections. John F Kennedy might be the most famous Irish-American US president, but he certainly wasn't the only one. From Andrew Jackson (7th President) born only two years after his parents emigrated from Antrim to Joe Biden (46th President) who can trace his ancestry back to counties Louth and Mayo, the Irish diaspora punch well above their weight in terms of political clout across the Atlantic!

Northern Ireland’s most popular attraction, the Giant's Causeway is home to approximately 40,000 connecting basalt columns that formed after the eruption of an ancient volcano.