In Ireland we don't do any of that on St Patrick's Day...
So I'd heard. I think in the states it's the nostalgia and missing home that brings on such roaring "patriotism" for a country few of us Irish/Americans have ever been to. Americans don't much belong anywhere, most of us being foreign invaders. And many Irish immigrants didn't leave willingly but rather out of necessity after the famine, so the loss of a homeland is all the more keenly felt (and remembered generation after generation). Any tie back to the old Emerald Isle makes us excessively sentimental.
Another factor to remember is the rampant hatred of Irish immigrants by the rest of America. We were heartily despised for an awfully long time. When no one else wants you, you turn back to those who do - family back in the Old Country. A holiday that was perhaps not as important before but which is so clearly Irish becomes a rallying point for the Irish Americans. It's something to be proud of, and to celebrate, more than it ever was "back home."
That's my opinion of the situation anyway, having observed it at rather close range for the past 15 years. Gaaah... have I really been in Butte that long? I guess I have. Yipes.
Now of course I think it's lost all that for most people - it's just ingrained in the cultural psyche as a big day to party and drink. Which is truly a shame.
So I'd heard. I think in the states it's the nostalgia and missing home that brings on such roaring "patriotism" for a country few of us Irish/Americans have ever been to. Americans don't much belong anywhere, most of us being foreign invaders. And many Irish immigrants didn't leave willingly but rather out of necessity after the famine, so the loss of a homeland is all the more keenly felt (and remembered generation after generation). Any tie back to the old Emerald Isle makes us excessively sentimental.
Another factor to remember is the rampant hatred of Irish immigrants by the rest of America. We were heartily despised for an awfully long time. When no one else wants you, you turn back to those who do - family back in the Old Country. A holiday that was perhaps not as important before but which is so clearly Irish becomes a rallying point for the Irish Americans. It's something to be proud of, and to celebrate, more than it ever was "back home."
That's my opinion of the situation anyway, having observed it at rather close range for the past 15 years. Gaaah... have I really been in Butte that long? I guess I have. Yipes.
Now of course I think it's lost all that for most people - it's just ingrained in the cultural psyche as a big day to party and drink. Which is truly a shame.
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