The coat of arms of Ireland reminds the uninitiated of the emblem of an orchestra or music school. Few people know that the image of the harp on it hides a beautiful old legend.
Ancient symbol
The coat of arms of Ireland is outwardly very simple. The traditional form of the shield is completely filled with blue (in heraldry it is called azure). It is this color that symbolizes St. Patrick - the patron saint of Ireland, although the whole world believes that this character corresponds to shades of green. In the center of the coat of arms there is a golden harp with silver strings.
Patrick inherited blue from the ancient patroness of Ireland, Eriu, who wore blue clothes.
The coat of arms acquired this form in 1945. However, the harp is an ancient symbol of Ireland, dating back to the 13th century. And after another three hundred years, the English king Henry VIII approved the coat of arms of Ireland in almost its modern form. Since then, the harp has even appeared on coins minted in Ireland.
When James I united England, Ireland and Scotland, the golden harp on a blue field was included in the coat of arms of the United Kingdom. She remained a symbol of the country after the adoption of the constitution. Today, her image can also be found on state seals, official documents and Irish passports.
Images of the harp can also be found today on the Irish euro.
True, over the centuries, the appearance of the coat of arms has changed. For example, for some time the base of the harp was depicted in the form of a naked female breast. The harp itself also changed shape, until the ancient Gaelic instrument, which is today kept in Dublin, became the prototype for it.
It is curious that Ireland is the only country with a musical instrument on its coat of arms. Such love for the harp is easy to understand if we turn to the past of this country, its myths and legends.
Mythical instrument
Most likely, the harp came to Ireland from Greece, although the legend tells how one woman once fell asleep on the seashore. In her sleep, she was fascinated by the hum of the wind, which vibrated the tendons in the skeleton of a whale lying nearby. The woman told the dream to her husband, and he made the first harp - a wooden frame with whale veins stretched over it.
Another version of the appearance of the harp says that it was presented to Dagda, one of the rulers of the tribes of the goddess Danu, the gods of light and sun. When he played the strings with his fingers, the seasons on the ground replaced each other. And since Dagda dearly loved the beautiful Vesna, he played for her the most cheerful and cheerful melodies, to the ringing sounds of which the snow melted, deep streams ran, flowers and leaves bloomed on the trees. But one day the gods of cold and darkness envied Dagda and stole his harp. In silence, the world was enveloped in fog, frosts fell on the ground, all living things drooped. The light gods did not leave their favorite, they found and returned the harp to him.
Sometimes you can find a version that the gremlins tried to steal the harp, but in fact the stories about this little people appeared only in the 20th century and therefore cannot be associated with the legends about the harp.
