I find the picture Pia, from The Thinking Tank posted for St. Patrick's Day beautiful, I thought I'd share it with you here.
We've had an interesting discussion in my Contemporary Irish Drama class that made me think a bit more about St. Patrick's Day, Ireland, and the way it is celebrated.
The thing is, most of the figures supposed to represent Ireland don't have, in fact, that much to do with that country: they're parodies. I find that celebration important nonetheless, as many people have Irish ancestors and that it has become a tradition; what I'm questioning is the way it is celebrated. How "On St. Patrick's Day, everyone's Irish" I find quite ridiculous. I see it as an excuse to celebrate (but what?) and to get drunk off green lager (and lager is German). If such is the mentality, why don't people celebrate Scotland's, England's, France's (or any other country's) national day the same way? Why do so many people want to be Irish when they've never been to Ireland and barely know anything about it?
These are the questions with which I was left at the end of the discussion.
Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely St. Patrick's Day!
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