Forget the Shamrock, the Celtic Harp is the Real National Symbol of Ireland

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, and people all over the world are beginning to channel that festive Irish cheer. Shamrocks — and their beloved four-leaf clover cousins, too — are springing up everywhere, their presence alone inspiring a heart celebration of all things Irish. However, not many people know that, despite its popularity, the shamrock is not the official symbol of Ireland. Contrary to popular belief, that honor belongs to the Celtic harp. Found everywhere from the country’s coat of arms to the back of an Irish euro coin, this elegant instrument appears on Irish governmental documents, brand merchandise, and all other kinds of material on a global scale. But why?

To understand the true importance of the Celtic harp as a symbol of Ireland, we must first look to the country’s deeply-ingrained musical traditions. The Irish are, after all, internationally known for their love of music. For hundreds of years, the country’s people have given sound to their joy and their sorrow through instruments not limited to the harp, but also including the fiddle, the flute, and the uilleann pipes. In times of rain and shine, war and peace, Irish people have been drawn to music for healing, invigoration, and communication.

It has been estimated by Irish historians that the harp has been present there in one form or another since at least the 6th century. Legend has it that Brian Boru, the High King of Ireland between 1002 and 1014, was himself a harpist, prompting the most commonly-seen Celtic harp-shape today to be nicknamed “Brian Boru’s Harp.”

However, records show that it wasn’t until the 1100s that the playing of musical instruments began to be considered a discipline of the same level of prestige as, say, poetry or the study of history. In ancient Ireland, experts in these areas were known as the ollamh. They were considered to be incredibly wise and were looked to in times of strife, filled the social roles of lawgivers, judges, counsellors to the chieftains, creatives, and even magicians.

Many believe that the first harpist to break the mould and become an ollamh was Amhlaeibh Mac Innaighneorach, the “chief harper” of Ireland, whose death in 1168 was noted in the Annals of the Four Masters, a massive text chronicling many significant events in Ireland at the time. While his inclusion in the annals may seem like a relatively minor fact to the modern reader, this is nothing to be made light of — Mac Innaighneorach’s presence on its pages represents the turning point for music as a high-society artform in Ireland. Theharp, being a notoriously difficult instrument to perfect, was the ideal indicator of status for those with ample leisure time to devote their energy to its practise.

Another such harpist to earn a place in the annals was Aed Mac Donn Ó Sochlachain, who died in 1226. Mac Donn Ó Sochlachain hailed from Cong, a village straddling the borders of counties Galway and Mayo, and worked there as an erenagh, or medieval officer responsible for building and maintaining church properties. The inclusion of his death notice in the Annals of the Four Masters indicates that respect for the art of harpistry remained steadily on the rise.

Some centuries later, in the 1400s, the harp had reached a new height of popularity. It was during this time that a many by the name of Ruaidrí Mac Donnchad Ó Dálaigh gained a reputation as the “most musical-handed harpist in all of Ireland.” Interestingly, Ruaidrí came from a long line of professional Irish bards who specialized in poetry, and was one of the only family members to pursue music. Another who diverged from the norm was his relative, Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, from Co. Wexford.

Cearbhall also played the harp, and is remembered by Irish folklorists as the composer of the ancient love song, "Eileanóir a Rún.” It refers to his scandalous affair with Eileanóir, the daughter of of Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Poll an Mhóintigh in Wexford, who had arranged for her to marry a man she did not love. On the day of the wedding feast, Cearbhall arrived as a paid musician. The two fell in love at first sight, and when Cearbhall began to play his harp, it was with the intention of wooing the bride-to-be. He sang, “From the moment I saw you, I loved you, Eileanóir my darling / It is you I think of when I am resting / Oh, love of life and my first love, you are fairer than all of the women of Ireland.” Very smooth!

The 1560s saw the birth of another player who would cement the harp’s status as a symbol of Ireland at home and abroad ever further. Thanks to the growth of the pursuit’s popularity over the years, Donell Dubh Ó Cathail came from an entire family of harpists renowned for their talent and zeal. Ó Cathail’s uncle was the chief harpist to Queen Elizabeth I in England, and, for a time, Ó Cathail served alongside him. Later in life, he came the kept musician of David Barry, the 6th Viscount of Buttevant, Co. Cork.

Perhaps the most famous of Ireland’s harpists of old, however, is the nigh-legendary Turlough O’Carolan, a blind musician, singer, and composer born in 1670 in the town of Nobber, Co. Meath. After losing his sight to smallpox at the age of 18, O’Carolan persisted in his studies, gaining so much skill and respect that earned an apprenticeship to a master harpist. After three years, set out to travel Ireland to compose music for patrons. While O’Carolan died in 1738, the popularity of the many tunes he penned persists: “Carolan’s Welcome” is a traditional air popularized by Irish music group The Chieftains, “Sí Bheag, Sí Mhór” is a beautiful piece evoking Ireland’s pagan history, and “Lament for Owen Roe O’Neill” is a mournful ballad written in honor of an Irish soldier who died in 1649.

It’s important to note that the Irish harps played by O’Carolan and his ilk would have differed greatly in size, shape, and even sound to the ones we recognize as a symbol of the nation today. Credit for the design of the contemporary Irish harp is attributed to John Egan, a musical instrument maker active in Ireland between 1804 and 1838. Called by many the “father of the modern Irish harp,” Egan overcame the design restrictions of previous models of the instrument by introducing features of traditional European pedal harps: he added a dital tuning mechanism and softer, more pliable catgut strings for an easier harping experience.

Today, Egan’s contributions are still remembered as essential. Simon Chadwick, honorary secretary of the Historical Harp Society of Ireland, has said that “the ancient Irish harp tradition, which goes back to medieval times, was dying out around 1800. Egan invented a completely new romantic type of harp, which was very successful, and which formed the basis of all subsequent revivals.” Of the approximately 2000 harps Egan was said to have made with his own hands, the whereabouts of only 37 are known. Their worth has been estimated at about $24,000.

Even taking all of this into account, however, it’s difficult to imagine that Egan could ever have known of the importance that his beloved instrument would have for Ireland in the years to come. The Celtic harp was adapted as the emblem of the Irish Free State when it separated from the United Kingdom in the year 1922; specifically, its design was modelled on the Trinity College Harp, also known as Brian Boru’s harp, a 14th or 15th century artifact on display in the long room at Trinity College, Dublin. This harp is one of the three oldest surviving Gaelic harps — along with the Queen Mary Harp and Lamont Harp, both found in Scotland — and may in fact be the oldest harp in existence. Later, in 1945, this same Trinity College Harp crest would be registered as Ireland’s official coat of arms, coming to represent the nation on a global scale.

Of course, it’s been many, many years since many of the country’s corporations began to use this prominent symbol as a way of signposting their Irishness to the wider world, too. The most famous of these businesses is the internationally-renowned Guinness stout, which originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness in St. James’s Gate, Dublin, in 1759. Not many know that the Guinness company actually adopted the Trinity College Harp logo well before the Irish Free State did — it’s served as the proud symbol of the Black Stuff since the 1860s!

Naturally, also of note is Harp, an Irish lager developed by the Guinness company in the year 1960. Like Guinness itself, this drink is immensely popular all over the world, not least because of the essential Irishness of its name.

Nowadays, there are many regards in which the harp continues to hold its place as the official icon of all things Irish. Much of this has to do with the resurgence of its popularity in the world of music: contemporary artists such as Florence and the Machine have integrated the string instrument songs like “Cosmic Love” and “Spectrum” to much praise.

In Ireland, the most well-known of contemporary harpists include Gráinne Yeats (1925 - 2013), who also worked for many years as a historian of the Irish harp, writing entries about the above-mentioned Turlough O’Carolan and other players in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians; Mary O’Hara (b. 1935), a soprano whose music influenced a generation of Irish female singers, including Carmel Quinn and Mary Black; and Áine Minogue (b. 1977), a current resident of the Boston area who often plays in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Minogue has recorded 13 solo albums, and was previously nominated for a New England Emmy Award for her contributions to music.

Reflecting on the prominence of the Celtic harp in Ireland’s culture throughout the centuries, it’s little wonder why it is today synonymous with the country’s artistic tradition. Next time you catch the sound of those elegant strings, pause a moment to appreciate the majesty and meaning of its its iconic sound!