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

My grandad was Irish but I don’t even celebrate St George’s day, so why would I St Patrick’s?

My point is that Guinness didn't always lean into that side of heritage. It's why Nigerians usually view it as theirs

But the Irish angle was established long before the Diageo takeover, so not simply constructed by them as suggested earlier in the thread. Equally Guinness family links with Ireland are longstanding and authentic.

The Nigerian angle is also interesting, agreed. Nigerian Guinness is actually a different product, stronger tasting and higher alcohol content, manufacturered Nigeria. Nigerians drinking Guinness in Ireland consider it very disappointing. 😆

@TheKeatingFive

My point is that Guinness didn't always lean into that side of heritage. It's why Nigerians usually view it as theirs

But the Irish angle was established long before the Diageo takeover, so not simply constructed by them as suggested earlier in the thread. Equally Guinness family links with Ireland are longstanding and authentic.

The Nigerian angle is also interesting, agreed. Nigerian Guinness is actually a different product, stronger tasting and higher alcohol content, manufacturered Nigeria. Nigerians drinking Guinness in Ireland consider it very disappointing. 😆

Well, no because the Guinness as Irish beverage was dropped whenever inconvenient which was more often than you think. And picked up when convenient. That angle was strongest from the late 1990s onwards due to the GFA in Northern Ireland.

And that was Diageo's doing. Their branding exercise was intelligent.

The Guinness family's roots is irrelevant because its about how the beverage was branded for a long time globally. It tended to rely on the perceived characteristics of the stout.

Not heritage.

It doesn't seem that way now because of Diageo.

Well, no because the Guinness as Irish beverage was dropped whenever inconvenient which was more often than you think. And picked up when convenient.

I totally disagree, it was an integral part of the brand from very early on. Of course dialled up and down, but still integral.

Diageo built on what worked and was very well established.

The Guinness family's roots is irrelevant

Bit of a silly thing to say, but no matter I guess you're entitled to your opinion.

I feel we've probably derailed this conversation long enough.

All my great grandparents were Russian. I'd never align myself with Russia or pretend I was Russian. My great grandparents went to a lot of trouble and danger to get away from those murdering duplicitous monsters. I don't care how much fun their parties are.

@DownNative Don't be ridiculous. Boris' parents registered his birth with the British Consulate which officially makes him British. Why is that any different to me maintaining my Irish nationality, passing it on to my children and them passing it on to their children? So my GC had GGPs born in Ireland and they have Irish citizenship just like Boris has British citizenship even though he wasn't born here. Not so ridiculous is it.

Corned Beef and Cabbage isn't even an Irish thing. Irish immigrants took it from Jewish immigrants. I've never heard of corned beef and cabbage being an Irish thing, boiled bacon and cabbage now that is something I grew up with.

@Ringmaster27

I’ve got a right mixture going on My maternal grandparents are Polish immigrants. My paternal grandmother is Scottish on her mum’s side and Norwegian on her dad’s side. Paternal grandfather was English on both sides as far back as we managed to go through Ancestry. I identify most with my Polish side, and do celebrate most holidays/traditions with my own DCs as that was always a part of my life growing up. As for the English, Scottish and Norwegian, I have no idea about any Norwegian holidays/traditions and couldn’t tell you when St George’s or St Andrews day is off the top of my head

The only thing I know about Norwegian traditions is that my neighbours children love the fact that they have Norwegian Father Christmas and get their presents a day earlier than their English friends.

@ancientgran

Corned Beef and Cabbage isn't even an Irish thing. Irish immigrants took it from Jewish immigrants. I've never heard of corned beef and cabbage being an Irish thing, boiled bacon and cabbage now that is something I grew up with.

Corned beef and cabbage is a United States thing which most people mistakenly believe is from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

It's not.

Boiled bacon and cabbage? That's a new one on me. Don't know anyone who eats that.

Boiled bacon and cabbage? That's a new one on me. Don't know anyone who eats that

We did growing up.
Boil the bacon and then cook the cabbage in the same water.

@DownNative you are coming across as very sneery

[quote ancientgran]**@DownNative* Don't be ridiculous. Boris' parents registered his birth with the British Consulate which officially makes him British.* Why is that any different to me maintaining my Irish nationality, passing it on to my children and them passing it on to their children? So my GC had GGPs born in Ireland and they have Irish citizenship just like Boris has British citizenship even though he wasn't born here. Not so ridiculous is it.[/quote]
Registering ones birth with the Consulate at whichever embassy you need to go to. It's a formal thing. You are being ridiculous to suggest Boris can't be British.

I see you didn't even acknowledge the issue of military children born overseas. It shows how ridiculous it was to bring that angle up.

Nothing like claiming a nationality via ancestry in the manner discussed. If that's the case, many, many Irish citizens have English and Welsh ancestry. In Ulster, we have Scottish predominantly and some English ancestry. People don't tend to claim all the other ones as well.....do they?

My daughter isn't Northern Irish in the same way I'm not English or Irish.

Considering how many ancestors we all have, which nationality are you going to pick by your logic then?

Nobody is a pureblood at all given the pattern of human migration, including within the British Isles.

Cabbage cooked with bacon? That's definitely a Southern US thing as well.

Boiled bacon and cabbage?

Delicious

I don’t think it’s that hard to understand why St Patrick’s Day is a bigger ‘thing’ than other countries’ national days.

The Irish diaspora is much greater than many other nationalities, so there are lots of people in countries all over the world with Irish ancestors.

I have an Irish great-great grandfather who left in the 1800s for a better life on the other side of the world.

And the very obvious other reason St Patrick’s Day is a thing, is that the Irish know how to have a good time. So good that they even have their own word for it.

They know how to have a better time than most other nationalities - so of course everyone else wants to join in.

I don't feel any affinity with Ireland at all. Scotland, yes. Not sure why, I'm English.

@BorderlineHappy

Boiled bacon and cabbage? That's a new one on me. Don't know anyone who eats that

We did growing up.
Boil the bacon and then cook the cabbage in the same water.

@DownNative you are coming across as very sneery

Where's "we"?

We would have Ulster Stew and Irish Stew. That's about it. Definitely not champ which is western Ulster, more Fermanagh.

Certainly not boiled cabbage and bacon.

Ireland and the Irish are marketed very well. Guiness is a fabulous example of this.

Well "we" is Dublin.
I obviously can't speak for anyone else.

Boris Johnson is a British subject just as are all people born abroad whose parent(s) are British. It most often applies to children of members of the Armed Services. I think at the time of Johnson's birth in 1964 it may have only applied to a child whose father was British. I could be wrong but I don't think British mothers could automatically confer their nationality to their children born abroad which is odd seeing as you generally know who your mother is but your father could be anyone.

Johnson's parents would have registered him with the British Consulate or embassy in New York when he was born which would have been like going down to the register office if they'd been at home in London. He was also a US citizen which is peculiar to people born on US soil. That's not always the case when a baby is born to foreign parents in other countries including the United Kingdom.
Quite often this presents problems when a foreign mother wants to take a US-born baby out of the US in the event of the breakdown of her relationship with the father. She can't without the permission of the father and State Department.

Johnson has relinquished his US citizenship and therefore his right to be US President for tax purposes. Be grateful that he's only fucking up our country and doesn't have the chance to fuck up on the world stage.

Anyway, fascinating though that is it's not the same as the way many people born in Britain or anywhere else are able to acquire Irish citizenship. Why would it be? Ireland and the US are two completely different countries. It is quite wrong to confuse the two but people often get muddled.

Bacon and cabbage is a long-standing (stereo)typical Irish meal. Most of my older relatives would have eaten it at least weekly.
I'm Irish and I don't give a shit who celebrates Paddy's day. Knock yourself out.
I don't celebrate it myself, unless I particularly want an excuse to drink.

I don't mind boiled bacon but it's an odd thing to be proud of.

@limitedperiodonly

I don't mind boiled bacon but it's an odd thing to be proud of.

Is anyone proud of it?

My great grandmother was Irish so I use that as an excuse to wear green tights on St Patrick's Day. I also went for a quick drink to O'Neills last night and had a Magners. TBH life is joyless enough, people seem to make much more of a fuss about St Patrick's Day than any of the other saints days so I quite like to pretend.

Is anyone proud of it?

@Theala it appears so from some people on this thread. I am of Irish heritage as are many British people what with Ireland being next door . to the left as you look at the map. Being Catholic is a well-subscribed club too what with the Church's teaching on . contraception.

As I said, I don't mind boiled bacon but I can't abide Guinness. My mother (non Irish and non Catholic) was advised by her doctor to drink it while pregnant to give her strength. It was the 1960s. They had a lot of very odd ideas.

I don't know what it did for her strength but I was 9lbs 11oz - something she frequently told me. In the circumstances it is perhaps understandable why I've sworn off the stuff - Irish or Nigerian. You can't trust it.

@BorderlineHappy

Well "we" is Dublin. I obviously can't speak for anyone else.

We had boiled bacon and cabbage too. Also Dubliners.