Wolf In A Bear Suit said:
remnant_phoenix said:
Happy Popular-Conceptions-Irish-Culture Day!
As an Irish-descended American who has visited the Dublin area and fell in love with the country, I've long felt a kinship with anything Irish-related, even if the American holiday seemingly has very little to do with Irish culture in any meaningful sense.
Wolf In A Bear Suit said:
Greeting from Ireland. I'll be avoiding town like the plague today. I was out last night, and it was an absolute clusterfuck. Tourists are a great thing, but I can't handle that many of them in such concentration.
Christ I'm hungover. Didn't even go to mass today.
Salutations to you as well.
If you don't mind my asking, how is the holiday celebrated in Ireland? Is it mostly the tourists celebrating? This American was there in early September and wasn't surrounded by other tourists. I was just taking in the regular Dublin experience, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Sure look, it's a mixed bag really, and it's great for the country. Events like the parade, various festivals and cultural events are usually really well attended by both tourists and locals during the day. You sure do notice a really high concentration of North American tourists for sure, which is great to see in my opinion. I love seeing Irish Americans who make the effort to get in touch with their roots. Beyond that, it gets really messy at nightime. Like really messy. I'm sure you're familiar with Temple Bar which is maninly frequented by tourists on Paddy's day because it's wildly overpriced. It's an excuse for literally everybody, Irish or otherwise to go and get shitfaced, which is fair enough, but I try to avoid it because it can go Wild West pretty fast.
I'd atually be really interested to hear why it is that Paddy's day is so popular abroad. I understand that America's East Coast in particular has a massive Irish diaspora, but I still don't really get the hype.
Glad to hear you enjoyed Dublin so much. If you haven't seen it before, and do decide to come back, definately take the time to go West into Connemara. My favourite place in the world by far.
Well I can't speak for the U.S. as a whole, but my current state of residence, Louisiana, will find any reason to have a parade and get drunk. The St. Patrick's Day celebrations, especially in south Louisiana where I live, are basically Mardi Gras with a St. Patrick's Day skin: big parade where beads are thrown and a ton of people are drinking, only instead of Mardi Gras colors and themes, there is green as far as the eye can see. For some of the parade crews, it's obvious that they are throwing their leftover Mardi Gras stuff.
When I was a kid in Texas, it was more on the tier of April Fool's Day: no major celebrations, just quirky rituals, i.e. "on April Fool's Day, you attempt play practical jokes on people and cry 'April Fool's' when they fall for it" and "on St. Patrick's Day, you have to wear green or people have the right to pinch you and the elementary schools do some token Irish culture/history activity on that day." Almost no one (in any place I've lived) knows anything about St. Patrick himself, and teaching that story doesn't fly in a public school; because of the religious overtones, the ACLU would be up their butt so fast. The day is less "St. Patrick's Day" and more "Irish Culture Day," even if the understanding of Irish culture that is explored is shallow and trite.
Like you said, the New England areas that have a strong concentration of Irish diaspora have major celebrations. It seems the rest of the country is happy to synthesize the general, surface, iconic trappings of the day (the color green, shamrocks, leprechauns, Irish stereotypes about alcohol, etc.) however they see fit.
Also, something I've always found strange is that no matter where you are, if you see brightly-colored theme calenders, each month has some sort of iconic decor. Halloween stuff on October, Thanksgiving stuff on November, Christmas stuff on December, snowflakes on January (even in the southern region that almost never sees snow), hearts (for St. Valentine's Day) on February, and...drum roll...shamrocks (and possibly leprechauns) on March. I find it strange because of all the month-theme holidays, St. Patrick's receives very little emphasis compared to the others; on the other hand, this is easily explained by noting that the day isn't as easy to commercialize than the rest.
