Redheads
Gail:
I didn't bother to read through all three previous pages, so don't know if someone else might have covered this, but -
The "redhead" of Ireland originally came from the assimilation of the Norwegians into ancient Eire (sorry, Ireland) - according to Irish history, Eric the Red had flaming red hair and so did his son, Leif Ericson. If they did, so must others of the invaders; the red must have come from the ancient Germanics, because the Norwegians were one of the splinter tribes from the original early, early European germanic main tribe.
The blondes may have come from the Swedes or Norwegians, also, the Scandinavians were another germanic splinter tribe (as are the Danish). The Germans have been known for their blondness for hundreds/thousands of years.
Maggie:
Quote from: Gail on June 06, 2009, 09:51PM
The "redhead" of Ireland originally came from the assimilation of the Norwegians into ancient Eire (sorry, Ireland) - according to Irish history, Eric the Red had flaming red hair and so did his son, Leif Ericson.
History and scientific genetic studies show otherwise. In fact it may have been the reverse.
It's been proved that the red hair gene Melanocortin 1R was present in Ireland even before the Celts.
The Celts arrived in Ireland around 700 BC, the Gaels around 100 BC.
The Vikings invaded almost 1500 years after the Celts, in 795 AD.
They were defeated by Brian Ború in 999 AD and again in 1014 AD.
Dr Jonathan Rees, Edinburgh University Professor, discovered the recessive gene Melanocortin 1 while conducting studies on redheads.
Here is a quote from a piece about redheads:
"So far, I've found no evidence that Dr. Rees, or any geneticist, equated Irish red hair with the introduction of roving Viking or Finnish genes. If anything, it was probably a stray bit of Irish (or Scottish) DNA in the Viking gene pool that introduced redheadedness to Scandinavia (but not Sweden) as the Dublin Vikings routinely took Irish wives, and some went back to Norway.
Early medieval literature reveals that most Vikings were blond (or dark), but not red-haired. The few redheads among them were singled out with names such as Eric the Red, or Rurik, as they were not typical of their Nordic Race.
Several genetic studies reveal that the highest per capita red-haired genetic marker was in Ireland. Period. Not Scandinavia. I've yet to find a study stating that 40-46% of all Scandanavians or Finns carry the recessive marker. Genetic DNA tests also suggest that red-hair genes were common among the first Britons."
The ancient Greek ethno-historians, especially Dio Cassius, noted in their observations that there were an awful lot of really big blond/flaxen and redheaded Celt warriors with grey eyes. He described the Iceni warrior Queen Boudicca as being “tall and terrifying . . . a great mass of red hair fell over her shoulders” to her hips.
According to the Roman historian Livy, Roman general Manlius Vulso called the Celts of Asia Minor a fierce nation: "Their tall bodies, their flowing red hair, gigantic shields and long swords, together with their howling as they go into battle, their shouts and leapings and the fearful din of arms as they batter their shields according to some kind of ancestral custom—all these things are designed to terrify!"
The Celts certainly got around; they also settled en masse in Macedonia and Thrace. Philip of Macedonia had a large Thracian Celtic armies. Alexander the Great commented upon the Celtic warrior's bravery.
Also, thousands of Celtic mercenaries were employed by the Egyptian Ptolemies, in 283-246 BC and 186 BC, and they attempted to overthrow Ptolemy II. By the way - Cleopatra (a Ptolemy) was a redhead.
Red is the rarest hair color in the world: less than 4% of world's population has naturally red hair. Scotland and Ireland have an unusually high incidence of redheadedness. Irish people carry the highest ratio of red-haired gene (and its variations) in the world.
Those of Celtic Origin in Ireland share a cultural and musical tradition with Celts in Brittany and the Celt-Iberians of Gallicia in Northern Spain, where the redhead gene is much in evidence.
Gail - your quote "ancient Eire (sorry, Ireland)" was correct.....as per the Constitution of Ireland:
Article 4: The name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland.
Jack:
Very interesting, Maggie. The extended family of my wife (of Irish descent through her mother) is permeated with redheads, yet neither her mother nor any of her mother's seven siblings had red hair. This morning we tried counting the number of their descendants who are redheads and stopped at thirty. Some of them had whole families of red-haired children. My wife has always had beautiful dark hair while both her brothers had red hair. We were expecting to have red-haired kids, yet neither of our sons and none of our grandchildren are so blessed. Both children of my wife's brother have red hair. Were it practical, a genetic study of her family would be quite interesting.
Jack
shankdee:
;) wow, that was some interesting information on Redheads! thanks for going to all that extra mile to present those facts for us. Now just for fun who are some of the redheaded celebreties you all can name...past or present..
Red Skelton, of course
Red Buttons
Nicole Kidman
Rita Hayworth
Maureen O'Hara
Danny Bonaduce
and ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
shankdee
DakotaF.:
Quote from: shankdee on June 07, 2009, 10:05AM
;) wow, that was some interesting information on Redheads! thanks for going to all that extra mile to present those facts for us. Now just for fun who are some of the redheaded celebreties you all can name...past or present..
Red Skelton, of course
Red Buttons
Nicole Kidman
Rita Hayworth
Maureen O'Hara
Danny Bonaduce
and ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Judi Trott who played Maid Marion in the early 80s tv show Robin of Sherwood. She is singlehandedly responsible for my life long attraction to redheads.
shankdee
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