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It's called "St Patrick's Day" not Irish Day. He is a Catholic saint.
He's associated with Ireland. Patrick was a Roman Briton who was captured by Irish raiders and when he escaped back to Britain he became a Bishop and returned to convert the Irish to Christianity. He's the Patron Saint of Ireland. It is particularly Irish.
It's turned into an Irish-American holiday than an Irish one, and Americans, particularly in Boston. I avoid it, simply because it's amateur night in the bars. No thanks. My grandparents came from County Mayo and used to get a kick out of the way we celebrated it here. My second cousins in Ireland still find it amusing about how we "yanks" make such a big deal out of it.
Oh, yes. About those "boiled dinners"? Irish-American, not Irish. I do miss it though. I refuse to eat it here in Texas. LOL
Given the choice, I like Ireland's approach better. I'd much rather get a day off of work.
Even the Irish aren't really Irish. They don't speak Irish, they wear the same clothes as everyone else, they play fiddles and guitars which are of Middle Eastern origin, so is bread while I'm at it, and even the ancient Celtic culture originated in what is now Austria, Switzerland, Bohemia, etc...
OK, I am obviously trying to make a point here. Being Irish is more about -identity- than cultural ephemera. And that is where Irish-Americans get off on calling themselves Irish. Though, I'll concede that many take it too far, but in some communities in the Bronx, Boston, and perhaps elsewhere, there is a definedly ethnic Irish(-American) culture which even gets regular injections of legitimate Irish immigrants to keep the connections alive.
On the other hand the plastic paddies get up my craw. I used to work in a Celtic music shop selling fiddles, bodhrans, pennywhistles, that sort of thing, and you would get these fools now and then trying to prove how Irish they were. As if I cared, because I am not :-)
so is the usa yet you think its odd for irish americans to look to the home country yet the " ulster scots " in northern Ireland looking to Scotland is fine and dandy
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Yes it's quite a common misconception in the US among Scots-Irish descendents.
