St Patrick's Day Essay

The Irish experience in the U.S. was harsh. They fled Ireland due to the Potato Famine, and arrived here for opportunity, and even more importantly, a better life. They were also exceedingly poor, so that being

Stereotypes in the past had a significant impact on the Irish people. Stereotypes such as the religion of the Irish: Catholicism. Catholicism brought new holidays: Ash Wednesday and lent. English-raised Americans were scared of these. Leading to the names “vampire” and baby killer” for the Irish’s belief of wine and bread to represent Jesus Christ: Transubstantiation. Then, the Irish were compared to apes and equivalent to the blacks in the South. Irish were now seen as inferior to those of English-decent. Not only were the women unmarried, all the men were young and single. It was assumed any single woman staying in a tenement was sleeping with all the men. Leading to names “Bridget” and “Paddy” being derogatory for the Irish women and man. Whereas in reality, they were street smart and independent. Traditions were twisted into stereotypes, such as the Irish’s “pub-culture.” The men would drink before and after work in order to relax themselves for the day, but was depicted as alcoholism.

They have really cool sports, but their sports are similar to the U.S. Irish hurling is really a combination of the sports we know as baseball, field hockey, rugby, and soccer. Hurling is an ancient game and one of the national sports of Ireland. It’s widely considered to be the fastest game on grass. Oh the holidays, I love the holidays, especially Christmas. Ireland has as many of the same holidays as we do. As it said in the Irish book some of their major holidays are “New Years, St. Patrick’s Day, St. Bridget’s Day, Shrove Tuesday (the day before Lent), and Easter.” “Irish culture is also reflected in a diversity of films such as The Quiet Man, My Left Foot, Michael Collins, The Commitments, and Waking Ned Devine,” says the Irish book. Most of these cultural (norms) are like some of our cultural

In the early 19th century many Irish people immigrated to the United States. There were several reasons why Irish people came to live in America. During the American Industrial Revolution, many immigrants from all over, including Ireland, came to The New World to find new opportunities. There were also great religious opportunities from the largely Roman Catholic influence in Irish culture to the various Protestant religions here. All was well and good as Americans and immigrants worked together to expand the railroad and canals in the New England States, primarily New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York (Irish American Journey). In 1819, 43 percent of immigrants to America were Irish (Immigration). In Ireland at the time, most people were farmers and lived off potato crops for

There were two distinct groups in the Irish community. There were the Roman Catholic Irish and the Protestant Irish based on their faith it divided the Irish community. It was such an

My family, like many, is Irish. Our ancestors hail from Ireland, and in Ireland they have many traditions. Traditions that some of us may never have known existed, or maybe you know what it is, but you don’t celebrate. A holiday that many people celebrate each year is St. Patrick’s Day. You’ve heard of it, right? Exactly my point. What about the Laden Table, another Irish tradition.

St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic violence. The massacre was significant because it marked a turning point in the French Wars of Religion since the Huguenot political movement was diminished by the loss of many of its leaders. (1572)

Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras was known as the day of fasting before Three Kings Day. It all started when French explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville. Him and his crew landed on a plot exactly 60 miles south of New Orleans. When him and his crew found out was the eve of this festive day, they rejoiced.

Long story short, the history of the Irish and America had ultimately ended with the Irish immigrating to the free and moral America- making up a vast number of the population. During the 1700’s, the wave of Irish immigrants was ubiquitous and constant. At the end of the day, America had little knowledge that the constant flow of Irish immigrants affected both diversity and religion. America had already been accustomed to Protestants and Catholics, however, the Irish had found a way to modify the surrounding customs and

Irish independence has been fought for a long time ever since the British occupied Ireland in 1172. The King of England invaded and controlled Ireland. The invasion led to religious and territorial conflicts. There was an effort to create a church comparable to the Church of England in the 1500s. Catholics who live in Ireland were against the idea and a conflict for independence has emerged (Arena & Arrigo, 2004). The suppression of Irish nationalism by the British in the 20th century led to the creation of martyrs for the cause led by the Irish Republican Army (Combs, 2011).

From the Norman Invasion in the late 12th century until the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922, Ireland was either under direct English rule or subject to direct British political involvement. Under British rule, the Irish were stereotyped as stupid, “half-human savages” and later, as lazy, idle drunkards (Judd). Not so much changed in terms of hibernophobia for those who left Ireland for the United States. In fact, several new stereotypes were born. The Irish were again labeled lazy drunkards, an ironic stereotype because of the contradicting occupational stereotypes of the Irish being policemen, lawyers, firefighters, and bartenders which are well-paying, steady jobs that could not be held by lazy drunkards. The Irish were also stereotyped as violent because of the prevalence of usually criminal gangs such as the Dead Rabbits and The Westies and events such as “Bloody

Patriot’s Day is an official state holiday commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord which marked the first shots of the Revolutionary War. Since 1969, the holiday has been celebrated on the third Monday of April in the states of Massachusetts and Maine. It marks a three-day weekend for these citizens. The biggest celebration on Patriot’s Day is the Boston Marathon, which has been a tradition since 1897.

The Irish, Scots, Germans, and even Haitians contributed to the rich lore surrounding this day and helped ingrain their customs into the then-popular culture.

For a short time in Ireland many were faced with a hard decision due to the struggling with starvation in a time of famine. With this hardship many made the difficult choice to leave their country and seek refuge in the United States. The individual that I interview had family that lived in County Cork, Ireland and they decided to make the journey to the United States in hopes of a better life. Her Grandparents came to the United States through New York and changed their last name by dropping the prefix to make it more American. They moved to Cleveland and her grandfather was able to find work at chief Boyardee to support his family. Many traditions have been passed down from generation to generation. Celebration St. Patrick’s day was always an important day for this family. This was a time to eat traditional Irish food, music, and Irish folk dancing. The catholic faith is very important aspect of this

According a popular myth, the origin of this day lies in the fight against Nian, a beast in Chinese mythology. The beast would visit cities and eat cattle, crops, and even people. In order for families to protect themselves from the beast, they would place food at their doorsteps so that the beast would not harm them. One day during a family dinner, the family noticed how the beast was startled by seeing the color red. Word of this spread to other friends and family. Soon, from then on, on the first day of every New Year, people would hang red paper lanterns and other red objects to scare off the beast. They would also light bamboo stalks in order to scare the beast away. After some time, the beast stop coming to the city all together. However, by this time relatives and family had already adopted the habit of getting together to protect each other from the beast.