Saint Patrick’s Day

[fbhjr]

Saint Patrick’s Day is one of the holidays that I am very torn over.
On one hand my mother was ½ Irish and my father ¼ Irish, so I’m 3/8 Irish. I’m all into history and such, so shouldn’t I be interested in where 37 1/2"% of my family comes from and take pride in that?
On the other hand, my mother’s mother’s family did their best to erase their family history when they got here to the point of my not knowing the family name.
I know they were from Killorglin. I’ve been there myself. It’s a big tourist trap now, but might not have been quite so much of one in the late 1800’s…
My grandmother and aunt went back there in the early 70’s to see if they could find any family. They couldn’t.
They did attend the Puck Fair where they elect a goat king. My brother got a little stuffed goat when they got back.
My father’s mother’s mother’s family was from Richill in Northern Ireland. I don’t know if they tried to erase their history as my other branch did, but they managed it almost as well even if not intended.
I don’t know why either family left. My father almost never spoke of his family at all, and never of that branch. He did go visit Richill once. All he told me was that at the Richill medical center, the h had fallen off the sign and my father thought that funny for a medical center.
When I was young, my mother, aunt and grandmother would get together wearing green to eat corned beef. (Corned beef being as Irish as chicken fingers are Chinese…)
My father would make a point of wearing something orange just to annoy them. It’s the only time I can ever remember my father wearing something that had any color at all. And, it is the only time I can ever remember my father doing something to blatantly annoy my grandmother. (And, it did.)
When I was young I didn’t even know why he was doing it. I didn’t find out he had any Irish ancestry until I was a teenager. I had thought he only did it to annoy his mother in law.

And, I’ve never understood my grandmother getting upset at my father for wearing orange. Her parents tried to erase their Irish heritage. She continued that doing her best to make sure her children married into “good families”. That was by her definition families that had been her since the place was an English colony. She and my mother went to a good amount of work to try and stop me from marrying my wife because her family was not a “good” one being Irish like they were.

So, I don’t understand the whole “shun Irish heritage” 364 days of the year and “proud to be Irish” on one day.
While I won’t go as far as wearing orange as my father did, I’m not wearing green today either.

I’m not particularly proud of being Irish, English, American or anything else that has to do with the random placement of where I was born and into what family.
I do like knowing where my family came from and what it did there. But, because I like to see what shaped us then because I think it was better or worse then anything or anyone else.
My doctor says I have the palest skin she’s ever seen. But, my family is from a place 12% closer to the pole from where I live now. And, where I live now is not considered very far south.
I have a tendency to hold onto a lot of weight. (Which my doctor also comments on.) But, the people who lived through famine were not the skinny ones.
Things like that interest me far more then bragging rights.

I do regret not knowing more about that branch of the family. I know on the other sides of my family the folks were shop keepers, hat makers, millers and farmers.
The missing branch comes from a fishing village. But, that doesn’t mean they fished.
(Although I have always loved sea food…)

Also, a while ago my wife got me a book that had the translations of the two letters written by Saint Patrick. While I found them very interesting, I have not seen any connection between them and the holiday. They certainly had no link to leprechauns and green beer.

I don’t know. I’m still 5/8 English. Maybe I’ll feel differently next month on Saint George’s day…

Comments

AT least you have a mighty appropriate hat for the day!

[evrgreen.livejournal.com]

And, you're too big to be a leprechaun.

You may even have a bit of Scottish blood in you? If so, you've also got Tartan Day (April 6) to wear your clan's colors, or just wear a kilt ;-P

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I'm mostly Northern European mongrel. Meaning, maybe 0.375 Swedish, similar dutch, and the rest gods know what-all.

I identify with the Swedish, but that's a choice, and there's a lot more bits lurking about. But I LIKE Swedish!

My gods-know-what contains various UK elements, as well as NA elements. Occasionally I am intrigued about finding out what-all is there... but it's a lot like work, and i have a lot of other more important things to do, so I don't bother.

At least I'm not Norwegian and thus required to eat lutefisk! :D