to be proud to be Irish - Biden reportedly wants The Chieftains for his inauguration.

[Shuddawuddacudda]

www.irishcentral.com/culture/entertainment/joe-biden-irish-band-chieftains-inauguration?fbclid=IwAR2hHpONAH86n_voO69ZwFK8gooFuU8rByZQnbMGXIDU4_w43_zQVggfPGU

'Reported by media'.

Good to know whose corner he's in.... Only the other day, Sky News were gloating that Boris got a phonecall from Biden before Ireland lol.

I think Obama was a fan of The High Kings too. Might have had them at Paddy's Day or something at the WH.

Big honour for The Chieftains if true!

@Wildswim

Funnily, unlike Obama and Biden, not much is made of Pence's Irishness in Ireland 😂

Indeed.

I wouldn't read too much into choosing the Chieftains music as part of his inauguration. He still phoned Boris first. And the Taoiseach embarrassingly has to delete a tweet which claimed he'd spoken to Biden, when he hadn't.

Yes he did

I have often come across people proud of their Pilgrim heritage, @gwenneh. And I knew several Daughters of the American Revolution too.

Whenever it's pertinent, the Pilgrim heritage of presidential candidates is mentioned - G.H.W. Bush came across as far more Patrician than his son Dubya, but Dubya is descended from three Pilgrims whereas GHW can lay claim to only two Mayflower ancestors.

FDR is descended from five Pilgrim individuals, as are Sarah Palin and Dick Van Dyke. Richard Gere pips them with six Pilgrim ancestors.

There are even online societies you can join if you find you are among the millions of descendants. The Pilgrims tended to have large families.

It really is a big thing.

I don't really get it, as an Irish person raised elsewhere. The above sounds like something an American would say!

I have a suspicion that people of Irish descent born and/or raised in the UK are far less likely to celebrate their heritage than Americans of Irish descent are. I would put this down to Irishness being a disadvantage in British society, whereas it's been a distinct advantage in America for a long, long time.

@dreamingbohemian...And your right

pilgrimjohnhowlandsociety.org/Notable_Howland_Descendants

The Pilgrim John Howland Society was organized on May 18, 1897, shortly after the creation of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. A constitution and by-laws was adopted on Nov. 28, 1899 and officers were elected at that time.

The objects of the society are:

To perpetuate the memory of our ancestors, John Howland and his wife, Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland; to preserve and publish any manuscripts relating to the John Howland family; to erect and keep in good repair a memorial to their memory in the Pilgrim Church at Plymouth; to assist in prosecuting research in England and Holland to discover their ancestors; to retain possession of and to keep in good condition the properties known as the "Howland House" at Plymouth, Mass. and the Howland homesites at Rocky Nook, Kingston, Mass.

www.themayflowersociety.org/our-society

Yes, I’ve definitely been aware of these societies, as I am the DAR (which I am eligible to join myself but can’t be bothered).

10 million living descendants still isn’t anywhere near 25% of the American population, nor have I ever met anyone who would, as stated upthread, choose to dislike someone on the basis that they were not related to one of those 51 settlers.

@mathanxiety

I don't really get it, as an Irish person raised elsewhere. The above sounds like something an American would say!

I have a suspicion that people of Irish descent born and/or raised in the UK are far less likely to celebrate their heritage than Americans of Irish descent are. I would put this down to Irishness being a disadvantage in British society, whereas it's been a distinct advantage in America for a long, long time.

No it hasn't. In fact JFKs Presidential campaign was in serious trouble due to him being Irish Catholic. I had crosses burned in my yard due to being Irish Catholic. Catholics in general are heavily discriminated against and called devil worshipers in the American South. Its been less than a hundred years and still practised.Soitherners don't like Irish Catholics

@gwenneh

Yes, I’ve definitely been aware of these societies, as I am the DAR (which I am eligible to join myself but can’t be bothered).

10 million living descendants still isn’t anywhere near 25% of the American population, nor have I ever met anyone who would, as stated upthread, choose to dislike someone on the basis that they were not related to one of those 51 settlers.

There's 35 million people who can trace their ancestors back to the Mayflower. 25 percent of those are Americans. If those numbers blow yoir mind then this will make it melt. 16 million men can trace their lineage to 1 man. Changes Khan

I meant Chingis Khan

@Baaaahhhhh

Thats a huge point of pride in the States. Twenty five percent of Americans can trace back to the Mayflower. 8 of our Presidents can

No way. From 50 survivors? Someone's telling porkies. So they are all proud to be descended from ultra Protestant English/Dutch loons who were kicked out of England for being, well, loony!

Wait...Wanting rwligois freedom makes them loony?WTH

@mathanxiety

I have often come across people proud of their Pilgrim heritage, *@gwenneh*. And I knew several Daughters of the American Revolution too.

Whenever it's pertinent, the Pilgrim heritage of presidential candidates is mentioned - G.H.W. Bush came across as far more Patrician than his son Dubya, but Dubya is descended from three Pilgrims whereas GHW can lay claim to only two Mayflower ancestors.

FDR is descended from five Pilgrim individuals, as are Sarah Palin and Dick Van Dyke. Richard Gere pips them with six Pilgrim ancestors.

There are even online societies you can join if you find you are among the millions of descendants. The Pilgrims tended to have large families.

It really is a big thing.

Its a huge thing and very proud of it. They aren't as snobby as DAR though

@Wildswim

Funnily, unlike Obama and Biden, not much is made of Pence's Irishness in Ireland 😂

Indeed.

I wouldn't read too much into choosing the Chieftains music as part of his inauguration. He still phoned Boris first. And the Taoiseach embarrassingly has to delete a tweet which claimed he'd spoken to Biden, when he hadn't.

Here you go

@LucilleBluth

It’s very American to claim he heritage from generations ago. I lived in Canada for ten years and it was the same there. As long as he keeps it in check when it comes to foreign policy then let the auld fella get on with it, he’s not long for the world anyway.

My paternal grandparents were Irish but I’m 100% Mancunian and would never say that I’m Irish.

Actually you can say your Irish.

@LucilleBluth

It’s very American to claim he heritage from generations ago. I lived in Canada for ten years and it was the same there. As long as he keeps it in check when it comes to foreign policy then let the auld fella get on with it, he’s not long for the world anyway.

My paternal grandparents were Irish but I’m 100% Mancunian and would never say that I’m Irish.

Here is your step to Irish citizenship

Barack Obama comes to Ireland in search of the lost apostrophe (apols if already posted)

borntobequiet Aw, I remember Barack visiting very well - Is féidir linn!! He was like a rockstar. Be great when Biden gets to visit, please God.

My father is from Mayo and said the other day that they're all gone mad celebrating Biden's win down there haha. Good to see one of our own do well. Especially one who saved us from Trumpism.

@Baaaahhhhh

Sorry, but I find Biden's obsession with his Irish roots a bit odd. Biden is of English, French and Irish descent. His Irish roots are very distant in modern terms, his great-great grandparents on his mothers side. I have to say I think it is a bit odd that he sees himself as so Irish, when he is absolutely an American of mixed European descent and is actually only less than 1/5th Irish.

There’s a big different between trotting off for a cushy life and fleeing a famine.

It would have been a seriously traumatic time for his grandparents who would have known that they wouldn’t see Ireland again. If their own relatives, whoever was left behind.

Mayflower, Gengis Kahn, and the “kings daughters” in Canada. I can’t find the numbers but a huge amount of Canadians trace their family tree to the 700 women who came from France to populate the new world.

@Shuddawuddacudda

My father is from Mayo and said the other day that they're all gone mad celebrating Biden's win down there haha. Good to see one of our own do well. Especially one who saved us from Trumpism.

I mean this is what I'm saying -- Biden is happy to be Irish, people in Ireland are happy for him to be Irish, so what's the problem? Genuinely don't understand why some people are so sniffy about it. Fine if you personally don't get it, that doesn't make millions of other people wrong for feeling that way.

I can’t claim to know a great deal about feeling Irish as I am English! My DH is Irish though (born in Dublin, to Irish parents and moved over about a decade ago) and do my son is half Irish a which made it important to me to know about his heritage.
One thing I always admired about the Irish was their approach to the GFA - the English claimed the land, while the Irish claimed the people. My understanding is that is why you can get an Irish passport if only one grandparent was born on the Island of Ireland.

Also very pleased there is a president who is actually willing to defend the GFA against all the brexit bullshit.

@kurtainwoz Well it's a big enough thing that it made me leave England and return to Ireland (in very recent years). I just finally had enough and I didn't want my kids growing up there.

There's a lot more to anti-Irish sentiment than death threats and searches, which thankfully don't really happen any more. Being threatened with violence for being Irish does happen, though. And verbal abuse. And snide comments. And mockery. And being passed over for jobs. And more. I experienced or witnessed all those over years of living in the UK, rarely at first but a lot more after 2015 or so. It really, really wears you down after a while, and all the perfectly lovely British people I knew weren't enough to compensate for it.

I gather from your posts that you grew up in England to Irish parents - with respect, that means you won't see the vast majority of anti-Irish sentiment that is thrown at someone with an Irish accent, who becomes a target for a certain type of racist from the moment they open their mouths.

He'll be a good ally of Ireland which has usually been the case with the exceptions of the Bush fellas and Trump. Ireland's low corporate tax rate really riled Trump. Biden might be more open to the interaction of US companies with Ireland. I know last Paddy's Day (well this year or last year, can't remember), Varadkar was keen to achieve legal status for the many illegal/undocumented Irish over there. Trump was not giving an inch on that. Biden might be a better ally on that front too.