Irish and Udmurts Share “Redheadedness”

Today is a first for this blog, So I am delighted to introduce you to my first ever guest blogger; Steve Hague from Life in Russia. Steve is a keen Traveller, Photographer, Business Coach and Writer. We have known each other from the early days when we both begun blogging and have been following each other ever since. After moving to Russia to be with his wife and family a couple of years ago, Steve embarked on a new adventure and begun learning a new language and exploring the depths of the Russian culture.  Some time ago I wrote a two part article on the Heritage and history of my town, for Steve’s blog which you can read HERE and HERE. So now it is Steve’s turn, I have to admit, I was delighted to read this interesting and well researched article, as both my wife and daughter are redheads. I hope that you enjoy this as much as I did. You can also follow Steve on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

When I decided to share a post with Ed Mooney Photography I wanted to share the commonalities between Ireland and Russia. When I first started looking I had no idea what if anything they shared in common. I started by digging deep into the history of both the Irish and Russians. What began as a simple search became more complex and puzzling. Some parts of what I found where startling and other quite surprising.

There is a lot of detail that one could go into here but for the sake of time and space let’s start with Japheth who was the son of Noah. In biblical as well as quranic tradition Japheth is considered to be the father of Europeans. The tribes Gog and Magog are also regarded as descendants of Japheth.

A couple of months ago this map did the rounds. It’s quite nice right? It shows that in most of Scotland and Ireland, as well as a random patch in central Russia, 10% of people are of the ginger genre. By contrast, less than 1 in every 100 people in southern Europe have red hair. Best of all, it shows all of this using a colour scale of autumnal auburns and reds.

Tubalism and Basque-Iberism

Developed by Esteban de Garibay and Andrés Poza, this legend states that the Basque people are direct descendants of Tubal, grandson of Noah, fifth son of Japheth. According to it, Japheth and his tribe, the Iberians, departed to the Iberian Peninsula, settling between the Pyrenees and the river Ebro, right after the confusion of languages in the Tower of Babel.

Basques, along with Irish, show the highest frequency of the Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup R1b in Western Europe. In Eastern Europe the Udmurts share these same genetics. The Y-chromosome and MtDNA relationship between the Basques and people of Ireland and Wales is of equal ratios as to neighboring areas of Spain.

The Udmurts, an Uralic tribe living in the northern Volga basin of Russia, between Kazan and Perm, are the only non-Western Europeans to have a high incidence of red hair (over 10%). What is fascinating is that the Udmurts and Tajiks aren’t Celts, nor Germans. Yet, all these people share a common ancestry that can be traced back to a single Y-chromosomal haplogroup: R1b. How did this happen? If we look at fisrt map above it shows the Udmurts  as being the center of the R1b group, the second map shows Kapova being the location of one of the proto-basque communities. Is it possible that this is the link between the Irish and Udmurts?

In the Stone and Bronze Ages, Ireland was inhabited by Picts in the north and a people called the Erainn in the south, the same stock, apparently, as in all the isles before the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain. About the 4th century B.C., tall, red-haired Celts arrived from Gaul or Galicia and established their distinctive culture , although they do not seem to have come in great numbers. Ancient Irish legend tells of four successive peoples who invaded the country?the Firbolgs, the Fomors, the Tuatha De Danann, and the Milesians.

The names Galics in the British Isles, Gallatia in the Balcans, Gallia or Gaul in France, Galicia in Spain and Galicja in Poland and todays Ukraine are testimonies of the route taken by the Goidels or Gaidheil tribes, in their migration into Europe from a place somewhere in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) is more than likely the origins of both these groups.

Origins of Udmurt Arts.

In Udmurt folklore, Turkish (especially Tatar) and then Slavic (primarily Russian) features were integrated into the original Finno-Ugrian (Permian) traditions. Two general types of folklore can be distinguished: the Southern quatrains with fixed rhythm, rhymes, and parallel structures, which bear the marks of Turkish influence, and the Northern songs, which are longer and freer in form and content. These, often improvised, have much in common with the music of other Finno-Ugrians. Folktales and legends are also popular, although the former have lost much of their Udmurt flavor and now differ only in minor ways from other typically European themes and motifs. The legends retain more references to both the Udmurt past and present. Classic historical legends recount wars between different clans and their leaders and between the Udmurt and neighboring ethnic groups (Cheremis and invading Tatars). There were also many legends about clashes with the Russians, but all traces of these were removed by the official cultural policy. There remain a great number of local legends, focusing on the past and the genesis of a settlement, a stream, a hill, or a rock. The tales and legends draw on Udmurt mythology, the vitality of which could not be blunted by Orthodoxy or the later Soviet regime. There are many individual motifs in the less well-known genres (proverbs, riddles, and dramatic customs).

In 2012 a Udmurt singing group called Buranovo Babushki (Russian Grannies) competed in Eurovision. They represented Russia in singing the song “Party for Everybody“. The group itself formed as a way to raise funds for the rebuilding of Trinity Church in Buranovo and all of the group’s income was donated into this fund. It was because of all their hard work that a stone monument was placed near the church which has a plaque reads (in Russian language): “By the Grace of God and hard labor of the music group Buranovskie Grandmothers, on this place will be built a temple to honor the Holy Trinity. This stone laid Oct 28, 2011.”

The little ladies in traditional dresses and kerchiefs put on a rock ’n’ roll performance that invited the world to laugh at them, smiling slyly as they shuffled across the stage and belted out their version of a hard-partying anthem, complete with a chorus in English:

“Party for everybody — dance! Come on and dance! Come on and dance! Come on and boom boom!”

A video of the performance became a hit on the Web, adding to the more than 100 million television viewers who saw their act.

Udmurt and Irish Folk Dancing

The other thing I found quite fascinating was the similarities and differences between Udmurt and Irish Folk dancing. What better way to bring people together than to celebrate through dance.

Udmurt Folk Dance

Russian thought on Redheadness

Russian tradition declares that red hair is both a sign that a person holds a fiery temper and craziness.

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A Russian Proverb warns “There was never a saint with red hair.”

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The country name of Russia means “land of reds” in honor of a redheaded Viking by the name of Rurik.

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Red-haired Clowns have their origins in Russia.

Sources:

• http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/25/mapping-redheads-which-country-has-the-most
• http://www.purgatory.net/kornelia/1603/red_hair_facts.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_Basques
• http://www.sott.net/article/263587-DNA-shows-Irish-people-have-more-complex-origins-than-previously-thought
• http://www.eupedia.com/genetics/origins_of_red_hair.shtml
• http://www.jewish-guide.pl/galicia/history-of-galicia
• http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Udmurt.aspx
• http://irelandnow.com/earliest.html