It’s that time of the year when shops are littered with glittering green shamrock accessories for what is, for most people, a long night of partying. Typical of consumerist America, many companies cash in, green beverages and confectionery items are impossible to miss, all fun and jolly.
Yet it all still feels a little hollow, a little problematic.
I believe that St. Patrick’s Day celebrations scratch the surface on a larger issue, one of total cultural disconnect, even within a country where 32 million people identified as being Irish in the 2020 American Community Survey. Irish Americana is strewn with complex history and it has been interesting for me to observe as a native of Belfast, cringing my way through the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Despite moving from Ireland to America two years ago, I still consider myself foreign, even in a country where people, upon hearing my accent, will jump at the opportunity to tell me their own heritage. I’ve even struck up conversations with individuals wearing a garment branded with “Ireland,” hoping to find some common ground, yet I’m often left disappointed.
Now, I — and many others living in Ireland right now — are delighted people feel such strong roots to our culture, even if it has become a bit of a joke. We often roll eyes when people we’d view as simply American, claim they are a quarter Irish for instance. We’ve heard it. A lot. It is not the lack of being “fully” Irish that is amusing but the fact that Irish Americans speak not a word of the language and often don’t even know what county they are from; as if Ireland is just an amalgamation of all the same thoughts and politics.
Often, when someone tells me bluntly they are Irish, I like to be cheeky, I ask, “An bhfuil Gaelige agat?” meaning literally, “Is Irish in you,” (Do you speak Irish). Sadly many people are not even aware Ireland has Gaelic as an official language. My quest for a response in our native tongue continues.
I was born in Northern Ireland to an Irish Catholic mother and a Protestant English father only two years after the civil war ceased, three decades of turmoil, nicknamed “The Troubles.” My parents’ marriage is, for some, still as controversial today as it was in the late ‘80s at the height of the violence. An estimated 3,532 died during this time as Irish nationals rejected Britain’s invasion and occupation of Ireland. Ireland partitioned in the early 1920s and still remains to this day.
Although separated from the free state, St. Patrick’s Day is still popularly celebrated in Northern Ireland, a day rich in history and festivities. Yet, as you can imagine, for a country so damaged by strife from opposing sides, it reigns as the most dangerous day of the year nationwide. The fighting and sectarianism on both sides results in bombings, stabbings and general unrest in communities, ruining a day that was supposed to be a celebration. It is a dark, harrowing and twisted reversal of the costumes, parades and candy seen in North America.
Did you know that St. Patrick was an English man? Captured by the Irish for six years, upon returning to England he felt God’s call to go back to Ireland. Using the shamrock as an emblem for the holy trinity, he reigns as the patron saint of Ireland.
His story is inspiring even for the nonreligious. He is more than a cartoon leprechaun and his country is far more than green T-shirts, flags and drinking. I’m not saying you shouldn’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, or be proud of your Irish heritage, but I ask you to reconsider how you celebrate.
Learn your history. What county are you from? We are blessed to live in a time where such things are so accessible, so use it to your advantage. Learn something new about Irish culture, superstitions or Celtic myths. Learn about Ireland’s troubling history, the potato famine or the migration, the reason you have Irish blood.
Best of all, learn some Gaelic, speak the language of your grandparents, of your ancestors. “Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit!” Now you can properly say, “Happy St. Patrick’s Day!”