Monday, August 12, 2013

Scotland, Red Hair and Jewishness?

Just came across this interesting article. It's titled Red Hair: A Mutation, A Royal Trait, and Sometimes a Curse. I'll steal some of the bits I found interesting.
From my research, I found out that Poland was heavily populated with the Ashkenazic Jews, who are also known for their red hair. In a 1990 article titled “Polish Jewish History,” the author stated that “During the eighteenth century, at least, about half of the urban population of Poland was Jewish” (Hundert). Therefore, it seems safe to say that they were Ashkenazic Jews and not Sephardic Jews because they were from Poland. In an article titled, “On the Racial Characteristics of Modern Jews,” researchers found that there were “…thrice as many red-haired individuals as either Poles, Russians, or Austrians, and half as many again as Germans.”
This bit about the possible relationship between Scotland, Jewishness and red hair also caught my eye.
So far, many understand that the Celts could have inherited some of their red hair color from the Vikings, but it seems that those of Jewish descent may also have contributed to the accumulation of redheads, even in Scotland. According to the article titled “On the Racial Characteristics of Modern Jews”, the researchers speculate that the Scottish could have inherited their red hair from the European Jews. “Indeed, but for the abundant presence of red hair among Scotchmen [sic] it might be more open to explain the origin of red hair among Europeans as due to an infusion of Jewish blood than to account for it among Jews by assuming intermixture with Aryans” (Jacobs). To say that this is possible helps explain how Scotland is the country today that has the highest percentage of red haired individuals, although the country is mainly Christian. However, there is also the possibility of Jewish people changing their religion to Christianity, and the fact that there might be Jewish heritage in the backgrounds of the Scots, but they just do not know it yet.

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