Writer's Block: A Little Green

[fajrdrako]

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No. Most people I know think the day is a bit of a joke, or they just don't think about it. It's a holiday that seems to be associated with alcohol, and most of my friends aren't really drinkers.

Mind you, I'm celebrating with a party - why not? A Sarah Jane Adventures video-party. I'm sure I can think of some way to associate Sarah Jane with Ireland. And I'm giving my friends gifts. Is there any kind of gift-giving tradition associated with the day?

I like the idea of celebrating saints' days, and keeping medieval traditions alive, but all my Irish ancestors were Orangemen from County Down - makes me feel a bit of a fraud, waving around a shamrock.

Comments

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

St Patrick belongs pretty much to everyone Irish: pre-Reformation, and pre-East/West schism (the Orthodox Church in the UK is strong on Celtic saints in icons).
My paternal grandmother's mother's father was of Orange parentage from the Ballymena and Randalstown area; my maternal grandmother's paternal grandmother was Catholic Irish from Mayo.

It's not a big deal for most people here, outside some of the areas of Glasgow and Central/West Scotland where heavy immigration turned tem into Irish enclaves of one sort or another. Otherwise… It seems odd to that one would define oneself by a place a small proportion of one's ancestors came from over 130 years ago.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

People define themselves by all sorts of things - quite amazing things, sometimes. And religions seem to have a stronger hold than other things. Being Irish-Catholic is a double-whammy, being both a religion and a nationality. And it's seen as an enthnicity too.

Seems to me that Irish Catholics in North America are more conscious of their history and culture than the Irish Protestants. Perhaps because they felt more foreign?

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Seems to me that Irish Catholics in North America are more conscious of their history and culture than the Irish Protestants. Perhaps because they felt more foreign?

It's more that they took to calling themselves "Scots-Irish" to avoid being associated with the Catholic Irish. Quite ludicrously, given their ancestors left Lowland Scotland (and England and Wales) in early 17C, some of them take to wearing kilts and 'Highland Games'. Some still have a 17C Calvinist mind-set, too, having missed the Scottish Enlightenment (as in regarding Pattie's death as some sort of jihad).

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Probably just as well that they don't make a thing of it; some traditions are best left behind.