It seems a bit odd but in March 2025, the United Kingdom’s ‘Royal Mail’ released a stamp featuring the legendary Irish figure, Fionn mac Cumhaill, as part of a series intended to capture legends from different parts of the ‘United Kingdom’.
The Fionn mac Cumhaill image (by artist Adam Simpson) was included in the series to represent Northern Ireland, based on a recent (by Fenian standards) tale around the creation of the Giant’s Causeway. Its presence is clearly part of an inclusive and positive initiative by the Royal Mail (for which, to be fair, they should be praised) however it does reveal some startling British ignorance around Irish/Gaelic culture and the Irish hero.
Fionn mac Cumhaill, for example, is far more connected to the Leinster region than the Ulster region – there’s several centuries of stories, tales and associations supporting that. Ironically, although the ‘Fionn and the Giant’s Causeway’ story was a single tale introduced in the 18th century, the ‘powers that be’ have decided to stick with it above any other local (and Gaelic) creation stories.
It seems that there’s still a bit of maturing needed when it comes to other cultures describing Irish culture.
