At 02:20 PM 7/23/97 -0400, Dean wrote:
>Trying to go back and reconstruct what exactly the Irish were eating 1,000
>years ago century would be a complicated proposition, because you'd first
>have to explain what you meant by "Irish"--there was a lot of population
>shuffling between Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and then of course you had
>all the nordic barbarians trampling through (there would be no red-headed
>or blond Irish if it weren't for Viking invaders), and then you'd have to
>take into account the Moores too (which is where the black Irish come from).

That's actually a myth; the Romans described Boudicca as having red hair,
and there are lots of blondes in Irish tales and mythology, as well as
pre-Viking era manuscript illuminations.

And the 'Black Irish' thing, with either the Spanish or moors used to
account for dark-haired, dark-eyed Irish people, is also a myth; there have
been dark-haired Celts for as long as there have been Celts, since
CuChullain reportedly had dark hair (that got bleached with lime, so that
he had dark roots, red middle, and light ends).  And the Celts and their
descendants in Wales and France certainly show a lot of variation.  A lot
of the Welsh people I've met have dark or black hair, and very pale skin --
like Snow White in the Disney cartoon.  Rhiannon, of course, is described
as blonde.  And Naoisi, the hero of the Lament of Dierdre, is described as
having skin as white as snow, a ruddy cheek, and hair like the raven's
wing, while Deirdre has green or blue eyes and blonde hair.

(We've been all over this on the Imbas Celtic list; my personal opinion is
that those myths were started by Victorians trying to establish guidelines
for racial purity based on physical appearance.  Racial purity is really a
silly idea, anyhow.)
Actually, rather than coloration, a better guideline for distinguishing
between, say, a Celt and a Viking is skull and foot shape; the Celts had
rounder skulls, so we know that a significant portion of the people who
settled Iceland were actually at least partially Celtic.  Possibly thralls,
Irish wives of vikings ('here, marry my daughter so you won't want to raid
my kingdom anymore'), and actual Celtic settlers.  Toward the end of the
Viking age, there was a LOT of somewhat more peaceful mixing between the
Celts and Vikings due to trade, especially in northern Scotland, so much so
that the Irish called the Scots 'Gall-Gaedhil', or foreign-gaels.

Cheers,
Corbie
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I am *NOT* a rabid feminist!  I had my shots last year.