I’ve never been a fan of St. Patrick’s Day. My disdain for this holiday started when I was a child. Despite having Irish and Danish lineage, I didn’t really associate with those side due to the heavy influence of my mother and her full Italian lineage. I’m not sure if the hatred between the Irish and the Italians were as strong in Ireland and Italy as it was in New York City during the 1940’s and 50’s, but it was strong – really strong. Why my mom, an American born Italian married my dad, an American born half Irish half Danish is beyond me, but that’s a story for another time. For now, understanding that my mother hated the Irish is what is important. As for my father, I never saw hatred toward Italians coming from him so naturally; I didn’t possess that feeling either – this hatred was a one-way road.
Growing up hating part of your lineage is rather interesting. You are filled with conflict almost constantly. The desire to hide any sign or clue of that lineage is overwhelming. From how you dress, to whom you associate with and even what you eat. It gets even more confusing when your Irish lineage begins to manifest in your personality and looks. You can imagine how a holiday that celebrates this lineage would be received in this upbringing.
That was the early years, my disdain for the Irish, which included one quartet of me, was now deeply rooted in my psyche. But now I’m an adult and I can think for myself, form my own opinions beliefs. I no longer hate the Irish, though I still have not grown fond of the food or beer. I have embraced my lineage as a whole and even discovered there is more to me than just the Irish, Danish and Italian lineage. I even enjoy the Irish accent, but St. Patrick’s Day – well that is still a sore spot, but no longer for what I was taught, but now for what I know.
St. Patrick was British, not Irish. He is celebrated for converting Pagans to Christians. In other words, destroying one religion in favor of another. Be that as it may, St. Patrick’s Day in America or at least in places like Chicago, New York and Boston is less about celebrating a religious day and all about drinking. Even from my days in High School back in the early Eighties and when we were too young to legally drink, this was a day for drinking. One would not want to be caught without the Green on in public because you would get pinched. If you were a man, this would mean you were pinched hard, but for a woman, the pinching was just an excuse to grab your breast or ass. Year after year, St. Patrick’s Day would just get worse. People would be drunk before they even got to parades. There were even riots in some cities due to the amount of intoxicated people and the police trying to control them. Probably the most petty of my complaints over this holiday would not be how commercialized it has become, we tend to do that with all holidays; no, it would be the lack of a specific day. Here in the USA, we start celebrating St. Patrick’s Day up to a week before March 17th. Some places do it the weekend before, some the weekend after and then of course, there are those that do it on the 17th.
Despite my disdain for St. Patrick’s Day in America, I am looking forward to actually exploring Ireland, learning about its history, my history and enjoying the local fare. I might even try a pint. After all, I cannot allow the clouded judgment from my past and an over commercialized holiday in the US define such a beautiful country and beautiful people. For those of you that chose to celebrate this day with the honor and respect it should be granted – I wish you a wonderful
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
(PS, my Mother now celebrates it too – strange huh?)