St Patrick's Day
11 March 2003 20:35![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandragoraI don't get it. My family is sufficiently Irish that it's Tradition to name one male per generation 'Patrick', somewhere down the line. But, um, St Patrick's Day? Why?
Don't get me wrong, it's fun and all. But I can't help feeling that it's a fake celebration. The Irish themselves don't go as overboard on St Patrick's Day as people do in some other countries - oh hell, I might as well name names, by 'some other countries' I mean the US. I was in New York on St Patrick's Day once and had tremendous fun putting on a fake Irish accent and claiming free drinks at bar after bar after bar... Hey, was it my fault that most New Yorkers couldn't tell that the accent was fake? Especially as the name is authentically Irish *g*.
I can understand why there's a big celebration in New York, seeing as there's a large Irish-descent community there, but from what I can gather there is much wearing of shamrocks and green throughout the US, by people who have zero connection to Ireland. Presumably they enjoy the green beer *snerk*.
And what has set off this curmudgeonly, bad-tempered, kill-joy, bitchy rant (besides the fact that I am definitely coming down with some horrible lurgy)? It's the St Patrick's Day challenges/stories I see issuing forth onto mailing lists in fandoms that have zero connection to Ireland, St Patrick, or Irishness in general. I wouldn't mind if I'd read a good St Patrick's Day story. Alas, these are sadly lacking to date.
Don't get me wrong, it's fun and all. But I can't help feeling that it's a fake celebration. The Irish themselves don't go as overboard on St Patrick's Day as people do in some other countries - oh hell, I might as well name names, by 'some other countries' I mean the US. I was in New York on St Patrick's Day once and had tremendous fun putting on a fake Irish accent and claiming free drinks at bar after bar after bar... Hey, was it my fault that most New Yorkers couldn't tell that the accent was fake? Especially as the name is authentically Irish *g*.
I can understand why there's a big celebration in New York, seeing as there's a large Irish-descent community there, but from what I can gather there is much wearing of shamrocks and green throughout the US, by people who have zero connection to Ireland. Presumably they enjoy the green beer *snerk*.
And what has set off this curmudgeonly, bad-tempered, kill-joy, bitchy rant (besides the fact that I am definitely coming down with some horrible lurgy)? It's the St Patrick's Day challenges/stories I see issuing forth onto mailing lists in fandoms that have zero connection to Ireland, St Patrick, or Irishness in general. I wouldn't mind if I'd read a good St Patrick's Day story. Alas, these are sadly lacking to date.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 11 March 2003 15:04 (UTC)P.S. I'm one eighth Ulster Protestant. Do I count as Irish?
no subject
Date: 11 March 2003 23:47 (UTC)Er, not by Irish standards *g*. By US standards? Maybe, I dunno? So, is St Patrick's Day celebrated in a big way in Canada as well (I'm guessing not, but could well be wrong).
Re:
Date: 11 March 2003 23:55 (UTC)no subject
Date: 11 March 2003 23:49 (UTC)Also, played for the Irish football team...
Re:
Date: 11 March 2003 23:57 (UTC)Would they really give you a passport just for proving your great-grandmother was a Catholic from Ireland? Sheesh.
no subject
Date: 12 March 2003 08:12 (UTC)Would they really give you a passport just for proving your great-grandmother was a Catholic from Ireland? Sheesh.
Very warm, giving and generous people the Irish are. If you have an Irish grandparent you have the automatic right to an Irish passport and if you have an Irish grandparent then you may be entitled to an Irish passport - there are some limitations re the latter, though. And the Irish ancestor doesn't actually have to be Catholic it's just that most Irish, (as opposed to those, um, also Irish people who live in Ulster) are.
Well, I already have a British passport, so I think I'll survive without being able to get an Irish one.
Ah, but think of the advantages of having that Irish passport. Instead of being a denizen of the second-most hated nationality (the honour of first place going, of course, to the US) you get to be a citizen of a country that everybody likes. Now, one could argue, and with some success, that pretty much everybody also likes the Canadians, but I think the Irish just edge out the Canadians in the universal liking stakes. So, when you're in a hijacking hostage situation just flash your Irish passport at 'em and you'll be one of the first off the plane, as opposed to second to last if you use your British passport.
*g*