The European Redhead: Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today is St. Patrick's Day, celebration of all things Irish and redheads all over the world! Even though we don't live in Ireland it seems like US is their home away from home.

"Twenty-two million Americans -- 7.2% of the population -- say their "primary ancestry" is Irish, according to the Census's American Community Survey. Another 13.5 million Americans claim at least some Irish ancestry, bringing the total to 35.5 million Americans -- 11.6% of the population -- with at least partial Irish ancestry. If that sounds low, remember that Ireland's population today is just 6.4 million -- 4.6 million in the Republic of Ireland and 1.8 million in Northern Ireland. So there are more than five times as many Americans with at least partial Irish ancestry as there are people who live in Ireland," says Huffington Post.

Why is Ireland probably the most red-headed nation, per capita, on Earth? Only 0.6% of the world’s population have red hair, compared with 2%-6% of Northwestern Europeans. For England, the estimate is 6%, but in Ireland about 10-13% have red hair, (that is 650,000 people). In Ireland it also appears that a staggering 46% are carriers of the red-head gene. And all the Irish-Americans are now living (and spreading their genes) all around me.

On St. Patrick's Day everyone is Irish. Including this little cutie.

So let's celebrate the beauty of Irish redheads with some snaps that are truly breathtaking and make you wish you were a redhead too (just in case you are not - yet).

This is Clíodhna, Queen of the Banshees of the Tuatha Dé Danann. She is the potent banshee that rules as queen over the sheoques (fairy women of the hills) of South Munster. In some Irish myths Clíodhna is a Goddess of Love and Beauty. She left the otherworldly island of Tir Tairngire ("the land of promise") to be with her mortal lover, Ciabhán, but drowned in Glandore harbour. The tide there is still known as Tonn Chlíodhna, "Clíodhna's Wave".