Mental Floss

EUROPE

















Midsommar in Sweden.

If you’ve seen 2019’s 'Midsommer,' you probably associate the holiday with flower crowns, maypoles, and a dash of human sacrifice.

Lucie Grace
“The Plague Hospital,” a painting by Francisco Goya.

The Black Death—the world's second bubonic plague pandemic—decimated the populations of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe in the 14th century. But there was a silver lining.

Claire Cock-Starkey


Ireland is known to be very green.

The origins of Ireland's ‘Emerald Isle’ nickname trace back to the 18th-century physician, poet, and activist who penned the poem “When Erin First Rose.”

Jane Alexander