As a youngster, I grew up in a family with people of Irish and English descent. I identified with the Irish side of the family, and when St. Patrick's Day rolled around, we always wore green and usually a badge that said "Kiss me, I'm Irish".
Whenever I saw a movie that had been filmed in Ireland, I marveled at the beauty of it and wanted to visit the land of my ancestors' birth. Due to my dark hair and fair skin, people would ask if I were Irish.
Imagine my surprise to find out that my birth parents were not Irish at all, but English and Scots. All of a sudden I felt cut-off from what had always been a point of reference. I could no longer truthfully and proudly say, when asked about my origins, that I was Irish.
But then I decided that being Irish could be as much a state of mind as anything else, and so I still celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a deep feeling of kinship with all things Irish.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to One and All!
and Happy Birthday to my friends Nancy V. and Steve D.
Note: this is a repost from a few years back.
and Happy Birthday to my friends Nancy V. and Steve D.
Note: this is a repost from a few years back.
32 comments:
Does being married to an Irishman count?
Tabor
"Top 'o the afternoon to ya, missy!" Have a happy St. Pat weekend. Cheers! *clinking green beer*
Here from Michele's today :)
I'm Irish and Scotch (yes, Scotch - thru my father), Welsh and English, German, etc. A bit of Heinz 57, I'm afraid. But I go great with steak. :)
Happy St. Pat's, Judy!
As a person of Irish decent, you can be an honorary Irish any time! And that ain't no blarney. :)
~S
Happy Saint Patrick's Day then!
I've always heard that EVERYBODY's at least part Irish on St. Paddy's day!
John
LOL, there ya go. It's all a state of mind!
I'm a Heinz 57 too.
A Happy St. Patty's day to you too. And you're right...it's a state of mind.
Irish, Scot, English....they're all the same aren't they? OK a little different on the accent, but they are all inter-related I think. When we were over there, the Welsh sounded like the Brits and the Irish sounded like the Scots...so there you go...Happy St. Patty's Day to you, Judy.
Thanks for reminding me that it is St Patrick's day tomorrow...and especially because it is my sister's birthday and I can call her and pretend that I didn't forget it.
I have no idea if there is any Irish in me Judy but Happy Saint Patricks Day to you! They don't celebrate it here in London so I guess we will have to wear green all day tomorrow! :)
I have no idea if there is any Irish in me Judy but Happy Saint Patricks Day to you! They don't celebrate it here in London so I guess we will have to wear green all day tomorrow! :)
I'm with you, Judy. If a Jewish boy like me can drive a radio station vehicle through Montreal's St. Patrick's Day Parade, anyone can be Irish on St. Patrick's Day.
In fact, the one thing I always loved about Montreal's celebration was how inclusive it was. The Irish community went out of its way to ensure any cultural group that wanted to be part of the celebrations was, in fact, welcomes with open arms.
It was a powerful lesson in diversity and acceptance, and it's stayed with me since I was a little kid.
It just goes to show you Judy, that sometimes what we are taught...has nothing to do with anything! (lol)
St. Patricks Day is a really Joyful Day, isn't it? The 'wearin' of the green'....Lovely, in every way!
Michele sent me today, though I had trouble getting here...had to go back to my own Blogroll....The vageries of the Internet! (lol)
I am one-fouth irish, which means I can only get kissed by people wiht redish brown hair on St. Pats day.
Hello from Michele
Happy St Patrick's Day to you!! I am not Irish and the day isn't celebrated in Spain (except for the Irish pubs, I would assume) but I still like this day!
I'm starting off today with green coffee - Happy Saint Patrick's Day Judy!
Well I have Irish blood in me and you are my blog sister so you are Irish too!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Huggles and Love,
Raggedy
And Happy St. Patrick's Day to you, too!
I have a lot of Cherokee Indian in me. My great-grandmother was a full-blooded Cheorkee. This would account for my crooked nose and fierce temper. *grin*
Have a wonderful day!
Here from Michele! *wave*
I've written a couple of Irish songs and I love Irish music so there are surely some little Irish DNA's running around in me somewhere....you think?
I've head that if you shake the family tree almost everyone will find some Irish in it. I tried to research where the saying "Kiss me I'm Irish" came from but had no luck of the Irish.
Amazing. I am the same way. With all the red hair in the family, I thought we were almost pure Irish. But we may have 25% Irish in the mix, however the main characters in our family tree were from Scotland and England. Of course that is on Dad's side. We haven't figured it out on Mom's side.
being mostly scottish, I suppose I was upset to find the Irish and English blood in my veins.
I'm black and Scotch (and some other stuff I'm not so sure about--but mostly black) and I was still sure to tell everybody Erin Go Bragh!
Happy St. Patty's Day! My family is from Scotland and Wales - no Irish at all. But I wore my green scarf today in celebration. :)
Happy St. Pat's Day Judy. I'm not Irish either...Italian, English and Danish, but I celebrate when I can.
We don't celebrate the day here but I hope you have a good day!
It's funny Judy...I always celebrate St. Patrick's Day, too..but in a small way...I am not Irish at all, but feel a Kinship for some unknown reason...!
So....A VERY HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY TO YOU & YOURS, my dear Judy.
Having done United Kingdom family research for a ton of years, I can truthfully say--it's all a Mulligan stew! If you go back far enough, they all have the same roots (which are green, I believe), so enjoy being Irish on the Irish's day. If I could write in brogue I would--Happy St. Paddy's Day.
I'm mostly Scottish and German and my ex is Welsh and Scottish but we both have some Irish forebears so we take pride in it. And yeah, everybody is Irish on St. Pat's!!! In my misspent youth, one of the guys in our crowd was an African-American lad whose surname was Grady. He joined us in our St. Paddy's celebration and tell everyone he was the last of the black Irish!
Judy,
I guess it does take away a bit of identity, doesn't it?
I hope you had a blessed day regardless and you are right; MANY things are merely a state of mind :)
I always thought we were Irish with all the red hair... and there is just a bit... way, way, way back... but here too... mostly Scots and English. Hope your day was great! I had some green on but really didn't end up anywhere it would be useful.
On the way to the vet for Daisy's check up and titration of meds.
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