What does it mean to be Irish?
I was wondering this at the wedding. Once I’ve gotten over my sense of nationalistic nostalgia, I’ll attempt to think it out and answer. :)
As the botox of the good years has well and truly worn off, we find ourselves in a very grey humor, not unlike the weather outside. That clashes directly with the most popular stereotype of the Irish – that we’re genial, happy people.
St. Patrick’s Day is no longer Irish. Millions of people celebrate it each year. It’s no longer confined to Dublin, Limerick and Cork, it’s spread to New York and San Francisco and far-away places like that. They even turned the river in Chicago green!
Photo owned by divemasterking2000 (cc)
Then again, it’s no longer about saints either, I think, taking a sip of Guinness. What, is it not March yet?
Is St. Patrick’s Day still a celebration of Irishness, or does national pride still exist? This blogger is inclined to say no. Why? Well, did anyone notice how I spelt ‘humor’ in paragraph two? Bleh, how Americanized. Oops, I did it again.
We used to be the underdogs. The immigrants, the workers, but then we historically gained our independence, joined Europe and became a thriving and successful. We didn’t fix our roads though. Before you could say ABBA, we were rolling in Money, Money, Money.
Have we lost our identities in the bottom of our frappachinos and nespressos, or whatever it is Patrick drinks these days?
If we were defined by our stereotypes, we’d all be alchos called Paddy, who, in the words of Dylan Moran, would paint your house, but may steal your ladder while they do it. We’d go around saying things like ‘How’s she cutting?’ and ‘would you like a cup of tea, Father?’ We’d have 20 brothers and sisters, all living in two rooms with the family goat. (The kids today wouldn’t believe you). We’d be the good Catholics, the jumper loving Irishmen and women who’d never say no to a bit of work or a ham sandwich.
In my opinion, the best displays of Irishness is when we go on holiday. Talking to my debating teacher last year, she mentioned how her husband always went to an Irish pub when they went on summer holidays, just ‘…to see if it tastes better over here..’, no matter how more expensive it was. We hang flags off apartment balconies in Costa Brava, check match scores we usually wouldn’t give a toss about and speak Irish, half the reason being to show off that we can (a fact we’d never admit back home) and half to comment on the BO of the man in the subway without getting punched.
Photo owned by divemasterking2000 (cc)
Perhaps, next St. Patrick’s Day, as we suck on our mint Shamrock Shakes (I’ll bet you anything, right now, that John will come home from Harvard to do this specially) we can be proud of our heritage. We’ve come a long way, as the ad on TV says, from boom bust to bust boom, from tightening our belts to loosening them.
Let’s be just a wee bit proud of ourselves :-)
[...] his post today Tommy talks about pride in being Irish, and if there’s any left. When you see the amount of [...]
It’s a matter of Pride « This one time… at band camp…
21 Sep 09 at 6:34 pm
Here in America, everyone wears green for St. Patrick’s day, and if you don’t wear green, you get pinched by everyone. I have a feeling this didn’t start in Ireland. Nobody really knows who St. Patrick is, except that the holiday was named after him. On this special day, everyone suddenly claims their Irish heritage (or at least “I’m 4/7 Irish,” or “I’m half Irish. If somebody’s skeptical about the person’s newly stated ancestry, the common excuse is “Everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s day!”
I definitely agree with you Tommy. Whether it’s the neon green wigs, or the “Kiss me, I’m Irish” shirts, what it means to be Irish has gone askew.
Jeremy
21 Sep 09 at 9:20 pm
Funny thing – your post came a day after I watched the episode of the Simpsons where they go to Ireland. Have you seen it? It’s a newer episode (i.e., not that good), but maybe you’ll find the answer to your question amidst all the jokes at the expense of the Irish.
Arianne
22 Sep 09 at 12:49 am
Saw it and loved it :) http://trusttommy.com/2009/03/17/the-irish-simpsons-episode-from-an-irish-perspective/
Tommy
22 Sep 09 at 7:46 am
but you’re right – it does sort of answer the question
Tommy
22 Sep 09 at 7:47 am
Being proud of ourselves for happening to be in a very strategic place in Europe (speaking English, having an educated society) seems a bit silly to me. One the one hand why should we be proud for getting rich? Why should we be proud of indirectly exploiting poor countries to get those frappuchinos on directly exploiting the poor of our own country by following the United States into becoming a plutocracy? But then when you look at what we were (not really) like before you see fake culture invented to make us believe that we weren’t the same as the English. Culture and pride in country can be good if it gives the people a reason to work hard and be decent but when you throw money and nationalism in with it you get the seeds of arrogance and obnoxiousness that eventually lead us to believe that we are better than other countries which is never true for any country. Just take a look at the States and their idea of American exceptionalism, is that a road we really want to follow them down (aswell as selling off our poor to the construction industry -exploiting their dreams of making better of themselves)? We should be less proud of ourselves than we have ever been… and I believe in capitalism :P
James W
4 Oct 09 at 3:43 pm
to be proud 2 be irish!!well nearly every1 in america is proud 2 be american people in england are proud to be english everyone is proud of were they came from the irish have more a reason to be proud when england tried to take over ireland they came over and tried to take over their land and killed them youve got to understand the irish were poor in these times and hadnt much but the irish faught back with everything they could and one the war where as the british soilders had way more men and the best of weapons but the irish stil faught and one!!so the british came to agreement an irland got most of there country back !!but they were stil living in poverty so most irish had to go over to america and england were they had jobs they were none for them back home so there would be alot of irish in america and england st.patricks day did start in ireland but because alot of irish were in america for example they celebrate it there to!
kate
18 Jan 10 at 8:24 pm
and to be honest they should be a proud country because they got theirself out of poverty!and their nice people love having the craic not like some arrogant places you go to and their so up their hole they wouldnt even talk to ya if you tried their culture is different its not who has the most money the biggest hose car or the nicest clothes to be a person respected there!!
kate
18 Jan 10 at 8:33 pm
house i meant haha!!!hose ha!!
kate
18 Jan 10 at 8:35 pm
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Nicola
20 Apr 10 at 9:04 am
For blogspot? For Windows?
Tommy
20 Apr 10 at 4:42 pm
I’m actually looking at this issue at the moment myself. I’m a Dub living in London as an art student. I think it isn’t until you leave home or your native land and try to integrate into another society that you truly feel the pride that comes from belonging to a cultural identity. Perhaps I feel this way because of a yearning to find a sense of “home” whether its geographic or otherwise. I’m conducting interviews with Irish people living abroad about what it means for them to be Irish, is it important in terms of their identity?
If anyone is interested in this people comment or e-mail me, I’d love to get feedback from Irish people and even people with just an Irish background (however distant).
Bryony Hussey
20 Apr 10 at 9:55 pm