Do you still celebrate your Irish roots, even if you're not Irish

[Stressedout65]

One of my paternal great grandfathers was Irish & I had an Irish surname until I got married. I even have a piece of clothing made from the Irish family tartan with the family name coat of arms emblazoned on it. I wanted to wear it to work today as we had the option of dressing for St Patricks Day (in England). I chickened out as it felt false & attention seeking. An Irish colleague said I should have worn it if I wanted to as it's part of my Irish roots & heritage. I feel my Irish roots are now so diluted it didn't feel right. How far back do you celebrate your roots & heritage if they're different to what you actually are now?
I do feel drawn to Ireland, it's culture & music. I don't know if this "connection" I feel is exaggerated because I lost my dad a year ago

Well I'm not Irish so ain't celebrating St Patrick's day.My married name is a historically Irish name so there is probably some tenuous connection on DHs side.

I'm Scottish but spent half my life in England and lived in Wales the last decade. My husband is English. Kids were born in England but lived in Wales their entire life. (Nearest maternity hospital was over the border). I tell my kids they're whatever nationality they want to be. It usually depends on which country is playing football at the time TBH. I don't think my kids have a cultural connection to Scotland really. They've never been. All my family up there have passed away now and my parents and siblings live in England too. I think they feel more Welsh than anything.

My dh had a GM who was born in what is now Ireland (not N Ireland) but moved when still quite young to England. On that basis he acquired an Irish passport after Brexit.

While he likes his Irish roots, I doubt he’s even aware of St. P’s day, though. I like to wind him up 😈 by saying that his GM wasn’t ‘proper’ Irish - the family was Protestant, way-back immigrants from Scotland.

St Patricks Day today is as much about the diaspora as people living in Ireland - it's like Halloween, Irish Americans took it, dressed it up and sold us back to us. And now it's a really powerful tool for tourism and selling a positive image of Ireland. It's meant to be inclusive.

When I was a kid, you wore your shamrock, went to mass and watched the Americans march in the parade. The best bit was being allowed break Lent and eat loads of sweets. Everyone had to go to work the next day so it was never really about drinking. Other than shamrock shakes....

It's lovely to thread links from one country to another, no matter how tenuous. Every year there is a video from the government to jerk the heartstrings. I thought this year's one was amazing, and looks to link Ireland and Ukraine though sharing common experiences. twitter.com/i/status/1504205293403750409

I am Irish and I celebrated my freedom to not go to any parades. I celebrated my right to stay in bed with coffee and enjoy the two bank holidays. I feel bad for retail staff though.

My dna results tell me I'm more Scottish than Irish and bizarrely more Norwegian than Irish too. It's all hokey. I was just born here.

I hate that bs that you're not properly Irish if you're not catholic. We're welcoming to every nationality under the sun, in fact, we RACE to impose irishness upon them whether they've asked for it or not, but families like my own of a church of Ireland background are apparently not irish!!! Even though the Lithuanians and the Nigerian who got here in 2017 are ordered to consider themselves Irish! It makes no sense. I ignore that nonsensical view. I'm Irish enough but as a British person coined it, don't see the benefits in being too ''jingoistic'''

@Stressedout65 @Sparkl there are very very few family tartans here in Ireland it's mostly county tartans we use.

I find it a bit odd tbh. I have German roots from great great grandmother, but I feel absolutely no connection to Germany at all. I do find Irish history interesting and I enjoy Irish music, but have absolutely no heritage linked to Ireland.
It kind of reminds me of the Americans who celebrate St "Patty's" day with a passion and insist they're Irish because their great great great grandfather was Irish.

Americans are put in the position of having to hang their hat on some peg. I know it can seem bizarre to us but that's the narrative there. You're Something-American. What's the Something?

I know it can seem patronising when they return to their original country and act like there's been no movement or change or emigration or immigration since they left. That the entire population of their forefathers is as homogenous as it always was.

My paternal grandparents and that side of the family were Irish but I am an English citizen of Britain. I neither celebrate nor reject those facts.

I knew about Irish politics and a small bit about culture because of my father and also because I grew up in the 1970s and we visited Ireland sometimes. But I always regarded myself as English/British because that is what I am. As my mother was English/British it would have been strange for me to ignore her heritage and identify as Irish.

If people want to do that then that's okay. I suppose some people think it makes them more interesting and the English are always keen on appropriating an opportunity for a drink on someone else's holiday.

I found it odd when US citizens much further removed from me from the old country described themselves as Irish and worse that some of them gave money to the IRA at teary-eyed functions for widows and orphans. I remember my dad having an interesting conversation with an American of Irish descent who thought that was a way for them to bond.

I was a child during those 1970s bombing campaigns and not close to any targets except on school trips to places like the Tower of London. But my father, brother and sister could have been blown to bits because they worked in those target areas every day. They were innocent civilians not agents of the British state.

I took no pleasure in 9/11 but I'd be lying if I said I didn't wonder then and now whether people - particularly those in the NYPD and FDNY or politicians from presidents downwards - understand what it is to be an innocent civilian considered to be the legitimate target of people with a grievance from a foreign land.

If a man can be a woman or a white person can be a black person then have at it!

I'm Irish but was born in Scotland, raised in Scotland. Love Scotland. I am Scottish. One day I will have a passport to reflect that.
Being Irish gives me freedom of movement which, I've realised after numerous job interviews, is worth its weight in gold.
Wear your tartan, celebrate your Irishness. Ain't no bad thing!

As an Irish person I'm flattered when people celebrate their Irish roots. Why wouldn't you?

The Irish diaspora has a culture of celebrating their ancestral roots in a way that other countries don't. That's mostly down to powerful Irish American sentiment in the US (strongly encouraged by the Irish government) and the fact that there is a national 'day' that's been embraced world wide because it's a bit of uncomplicated fun (drink Guinness/wear green).

Crack on. It's great that people feel positive about their connection with this little island. ☘️

Born in Ireland to Irish parents and have lived in England almost all my life but never felt English, and don’t think I ever will.

Agree with those who say if you want to make other saints’ days more of an occasion then go for it. I vote we celebrate the patron saint of sleep’s day and stay in bed all day

All my maternal family are Irish. They came to England when my mother was a small child. But I don't consider myself Irish. I was born in England, I've never been to Ireland, don't have contact with any of my mother's family or my mother. I'm English

I’m glad it’s not just me off secretly judging looking to find my family tartan now!

‘ Leprechauns were always male and not particularly good ones. They wear red jackets in the actual myths....not green ones.’

Ah yes the old Táin Bó Leprechaun.

As an Irish person I'm flattered when people celebrate their Irish roots. Why wouldn't you?

@TheKeatingFive maybe when the Irish side of your family is hostile to the English side? I realise prejudice could arise on either side but in those situations it's wise to stay neutral.

I would 'have a word' with anyone that said neither my children nor I can celebrate St Patrick's day or any part of our cultural heritage, because we're not fully Irish "pure bloods" or mixed race, which is pretty much what you are fearful of!

Nonsense.

I’ll tell you why it irks me, and it’s nothing to do with race.

DH and I are both Irish, both still living here.

I’m from the North, so grew up in the aftermath of the troubles with religious tensions impacting heavily on every aspect of our family life.

DH grew up in Dublin during a the 80s, with a lot of poverty and huge amounts of unemployment. Then came of age just as the Celtic Tiger came to a halt, with suicide rates going through the roof, young people having no other option other than to leave the country for work, many of whom didn’t return.

There’s a lot more to it than watching a bit of GAA and listening to a few Sean-nós songs.

So by all means celebrate the lives of your loved ones from Ireland. But as an Irish person still living here, it gives me the ick seeing people with tenuous links putting on a green top from the back of the wardrobe and instagramming a picture of a pint of Guinness to celebrate their Irishness.

I'm Irish living in the UK and don't make a major fuss for Paddy's day. Generally the kids ask to wear themed t-shirt. I celebrate being Irish throughout the year though, and expose the kids to plenty of Irish culture and we visit family all the time.
I don't think there's anything wrong with you celebrating your Irish side though. I'm drawn to German culture despite having no connection to it and I know lots of German who love Ireland and celebrate St Patrick's day even if they have no connection to it. Once it's respectful its harmless I think.

I'm American so, of course, I celebrate St. Patrick's Day. I have one Irish great-grandfather, but even if I didn't, St. Patrick's Day is part of broader US culture as in the old saying "Everybody's Irish on the 17th day of March."

No and my mum was Irish. We had it shoved down our throats by her, even though we were born and growing up in England with an English dad. We were sent out with badges and clumps of shamrock. It's not for me

'I'm actually Irish. Didn't acknowledge St Patrick's Day at all, which is about how much I celebrate being Irish in general 😁.'

Same here. Two Irish parents, grew up in Ireland, lived there til I was 20. Been in the UK for 22 years and this is is my home. I don't really feel much connection to Ireland. I have a distant relationship with my family, which is no doubt a big part of that.

We all feel very differently about there things, and that's fine. One thing that really bugs me though is how the Irish (and Scottish) are always portrayed as raging pissheads, when the drinking culture is exactly the same in England!

@botharna Thank you for that link. I found it very moving.

I have some Irish blood, a paternal great grandmother was Irish, I don't consider myself Irish at all. My father is Scottish, with lots of family I live there, although my mother is English and I'm born and mostly brought up in England (some time in America too), I consider myself British, never English in that broader sense, although I do know I'm from England. I do have some tartan things in my house, all my dads clan tartan. I couldn't consider myself English and abandon my Scottishness completely, lol.

*who live there

But as an Irish person still living here, it gives me the ick seeing people with tenuous links putting on a green top from the back of the wardrobe and instagramming a picture of a pint of Guinness to celebrate their Irishness.

As an Irish person I think this a bit short sighted. We've benefitted hugely from other countries good will towards us when times were tough. I do not see what is to be gained by begrudging people a selfie on paddy's day.

@SenecaFallsRedux

I'm American so, of course, I celebrate St. Patrick's Day. I have one Irish great-grandfather, but even if I didn't, St. Patrick's Day is part of broader US culture as in the old saying "Everybody's Irish on the 17th day of March."

This. My time in the states taught me this, lol. Drinking green beer and wearing all green, a total party day.

@TheKeatingFive

But as an Irish person still living here, it gives me the ick seeing people with tenuous links putting on a green top from the back of the wardrobe and instagramming a picture of a pint of Guinness to celebrate their Irishness.

As an Irish person I think this a bit short sighted. We've benefitted hugely from other countries good will towards us when times were tough. I do not see what is to be gained by begrudging people a selfie on paddy's day.

Back when I was a child in the 1950s I think the money being sent home was very important to families in Ireland. No worries then about if you were Irish enough.