St. Patrick's Day Countdown: What is the official symbol of Ireland?
Written by Ciaran on Mar. 04, 2025 | 0 Comments
We’re counting down the days to March 17th with an offer and some fun facts for you every day until St. Patrick's Day. Check back in with us each day to see what’s up next!
What is the official symbol of Ireland?
Unlike the entries for the previous two days, there is nothing controversial about the answer to this question. There is an official symbol in Ireland on which everyone agrees! And though some outside Ireland might be surprised to hear it’s not the shamrock, the harp, or the clársach - pronounced klorshock - is our official symbol.
It graces our passport, it’s the seal of the Irish President, the symbol of our government, and in its right-facing form, the logo of one VERY famous Irish stout. It’s also been used on our coins on and off for hundreds of years. Nowadays, Euro coins minted in Ireland have a harp on the reverse. The phrase ‘Heads or Harps?’ when someone tossed a coin was common until relatively recently!
On registering the national trademark in 1945, the Irish state was advised by the then Attorney General that it would only be able to obtain rights to the left-facing harp, as Guinness had been trading under its right-facing mark since 1862!
Representing Ireland and its rich, beautiful culture and history, we love the fact that our country is the only one in the world to have a musical instrument as our official national symbol. It has been used in Irish heraldry since the 13th century.
The blue field and gold harp of the Irish King in the 13th century Armorial Wijnbergen.
Photo Credit: Public Domain
The exact origin of the Irish harp, originally called a cruit - pronounced krit - has been lost to the mists of time, but we know it has a long association with Irish life stretching back at least a thousand years.
The harp appears on 8th century manuscripts, saintly shrines, and High stone crosses, including the famous Muiredach Cross. The harp and the skilled musicians that played them, the clàrsair, were the pinnacle of early Gaelic society, second only in status to the File, or poet, and were part of any self-respecting leader’s retinue.
Spot the harper!
Photo Credit: Steven Zucker, Smarthistory (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
They were so valued that it was common for them to study for decades before they were considered fully qualified, and harpers nails, needed for plucking the wire strings, were given their own protection under Brehon Law! Any harper worth their salt was expected to be able to play three types of music: geantraigh, goltraigh, and suantraigh - respectively, music to laugh, to weep, and to sleep!
In 1185, Gerald of Wales wrote a fairly slanderous account of Irish life, but even he was impressed with Irish music, which at that time would have been dominated by the harp:
“The only thing to which I find that this people apply a commendable industry is playing upon musical instruments… they are incomparably more skillful than any other nation I have ever seen.
For their modulation on these instruments, unlike that of the Britons to which I am accustomed, is not slow and harsh, but lively and rapid, while the harmony is both sweet and gay… It must be remarked… that both Scotland and Wales strive to rival Ireland in the art of music.”
Though the Irish were not favorably depicted in this work, the association with Ireland and harps was forged, and the fame of skilled Irish harpists spread around medieval Europe.
Brian Boru, the last High King of Ireland, was reportedly a great patron of the arts and a fine harper himself! So it is hardly surprising that the grandest of the surviving medieval harps in Ireland is named for him, even if it was made a few hundred years after he died!
But both the Irish national mark and the Guinness logo take their inspiration from the Brian Boru Harp. Dated to the 14th or 15th century, it’s a beautiful example of an early Irish wire-strung harp. Along with the Queen Mary Harp and the Lamont Harp, it is one of the three oldest surviving Gaelic harps and a national treasure, on display at Trinity College in Dublin.
It is amazing that these harps survived to this day as harping very nearly died out in Ireland. Banned in the 16th century by Queen Elizabeth I, there were orders for harpists to be arrested and hanged for their association with “Irishness” and so rebellion. Matters were not helped by Oliver Cromwell’s subsequent attempt between 1650 and 1660 to destroy all harps and organs in Ireland!
During the Great Irish Rebellion of 1641, rebel fighters marched under a green flag emblazoned with a harp.
Photo Credit: R-41 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Miraculously, a few harps and songs made it through. Tunes like Marbhna Luimní, Limerick’s Lament, thought to be written at the end of the 1600s, are still played today. But with the loss of so many Gaelic chieftains, Ireland’s remaining harpers had to take to the road, traveling the country, performing, and teaching at great houses.
Etching of the siege of Limerick 1690, held at Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, and memorialised in Marbhna Luimní, Limerick’s Lament.
Performing every night, they earned their living teaching young people music and composing pieces. And so the songs and traditions just about survived through the 17th and 18th century and into the 19th century, with Turlough O’Carolan, the blind harpist, one of the most famous of that time.
By the 19th century, the fortunes of the Irish harp shifted. No self respecting patriot could be seen without a harp on their wall and many owned harps purely for ornament. This was helped by a new type of harp, made by John Egan with softer strings. This harp eventually usurped the harder to play wire strung harps by the 1880s. The harps we see today are a descendant of his design.
An 1845 calotype photograph of the Irish harper Pádraig Dall Ó Beirn (1794-1863). The first Irish traditional musician to be photographed and one of the last noted exponents in Ireland of the historical Gaelic harp.
Photo Credit: Public Domain
In 2019, UNESCO added the Irish harp to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list to recognize the important place the instrument holds in Irish life and history, securing its beautiful legacy for future generations.
Today, the official organization for Irish harpists is known as Cruit Eireann or Harp Ireland, with more than 1,200 people now playing in Ireland. This beautiful and ancient tradition is once again alive and well, with events held worldwide for National Harp Day each October.
And we proudly share this grand tradition through Irish harps carefully crafted in previous silver and gold.
What's Next?
Check back in with us tomorrow for Day 5 of our St. Patrick's Day countdown, or open Door Number 4 of our 17 Days of celebratory offers!
Wear your Irish connections with pride with a stunning Celtic harp
The symbol of Ireland for thousands of years, a piece of finely crafted Irish harp jewelry brings a note of Celtic harmony to any outfit.
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Ciaran
My Irish Jeweler
Born in Co. Antrim and reared in Dublin, I was fascinated with Gaelic culture from an early age. I suppose it's not surprising given my mother inherited a grá for the Irish language from my grandfather, an Irish school headmaster. And that grá continues! My brother and sister are now Gaelic teachers here in Ireland, my niece is an award winning Irish dancer, and I proudly work to share Irish culture through our Irish and Celtic Jewelry at My Irish Jeweler!
I love researching and reading about the history of Irish design. It's at the core of what we do here at My Irish Jeweler. I find much of it so interesting that I have to share what I find. I hope you enjoy it!
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