On being Irish, pagan and confused

[valarltd]

I have said before, I feel very silly calling myself pagan as my ancestral pantheons are very agrarian and I am completely suburban. Fertility, of land, beasts or women, is not something I have a lot of truck with. I kill zucchini, the cats are neutered, I'm sterile and we're working to avoid my daughter getting pregnant.

On the other side, I've been Irish a lot longer than I've been pagan.
My great-grandfather was the son who was supposed to be the priest--and didn't--which is why I grew up in a family of Baptist O'Neills.

For me, being Irish is about a hard-headed rebellious streak, good music and some fine dancing. I grew up with an understanding of the Troubles, but knew they were something far away that didn't relate to me and my Catholic best friend.



Which brings me to St. Patrick's Day.
And some inner conflict.

I'm at the Richard Scarry point, where after the parade and the green cupcakes and cookies, Grandfather Groundhog is faced with telling all the animals about the meaning of St. Patrick, when he notices Mr. and Mrs. Snake and all the snakelings, all in green and wearing derby hats... And he can't tell the story because it's not fair to one family in the community.

Do I explain to the kids that we celebrate the day as a marker of our heritage, as we always have?
Or do I tell them that this is a day of mourning, a day when people like us, who believed like we do, were destroyed by people who believe like and come from the same place as their daddy?

Bah.
Religion is only useful if it makes you a happier better person.
And no religion is worth being miserable over.

I woke up this morning anticipating soda bread and shortbread and corned beef.
Then I got to over-thinking.

Faugh. We're celebrating. Good music, good food and family history.
Otherwise we're no more than whiners going "Oh we can't have this or that holiday because it's against our faith, so we'll sit here and be po'faced and miserable and make you miserable too."



And, speaking of family,
Happy birthday to my niece, my cousin and reannon

Comments

[norda.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Angel. You've crystallized my own thoughts extremely well.

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

I've been drinking for oh, eight hours now? So take this how you will:

I grew up surrounded by first generation Irish. I grew up seeing the sacrifices these families made, often at the expense of the children HERE, to keep the fight going back home. The fighting's by no means over. It's still ongoing, even if it's low key and 'criminal elements' now, rather than big news and front page.

And I drink to think that sometimes we have to celebrate bad decisions. We drink to remember that no matter what we do or how we do it, there will always be people bent on pain and causing more grief. We drink (or at least I drink) to realize that those bad decisions could very easily be mine and to give thanks that they currently aren't. I drink to honor the very real pain, on both sides, hidden under the shamrocks and leprechauns and spontaneous Irish ancestry discoveries that disappar tomorrow. I drink because I know, and I survived, and other people know, and they survived, and if we can keep drinking and enduring, we will outlast this horseshit.

I drink and celebrate because I am Irish enough to recognize the beauty in a futile cause. I drink because in the space of twenty years (TWENTY YEARS!!!!) people have forgotten so much, and at the end of it all, none of those tears mattered. None of those bright boys mattered. It was all a futile gesture, in the face of a world easily distracted, and if you can't drink to that, what in the world can you drink to? Sacrifice in vain could very well be my watchword. How can I not celebrate it?

(Next on my agenda: securing that Hallmark card writing gig, eh?)

[mother2012.livejournal.com]

*applauds*

[mother2012.livejournal.com]

We're celebrating. Good music, good food and family history. Otherwise we're no more than whiners ...

That's the decision that *I* applaud. To say, "I can't celebrate such-and-such because it's part of another religion, is to impose some kind of 'religion' on yourself.

We go to the Unitarian Universalist church (which includes many pagan members) and have been very happy there. All religions are joyfully accepted, including atheism. All holidays are celebrated (or not, according to choice) in the spirit of - "this is the reason that some people do this."

I have always told my daughter the truth as I see it (including never pretending belief in Santa Claus), and she has grown up to make me proud.

[nbrooks.livejournal.com]

It's my mother's birthday too, hence St. Paddy's day is a family birthday and very little else. But we're not a bit Irish, so I guess it's for the best.

But Anthony, on the other hand... ;)

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

And I agree, celebrate. There's a dark side to every single holiday. Spending every holiday in mourning for past tragedies is no way to go through life. Remember, but celebrate nonetheless.

What I object to is compulsory Irishness, myself

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

I was rather glad, in a way, to be laid low by an intestinal virus today, so that I didn't have to explain a lack of green at work. I'm a Scot, and I get thoroughly sick of being commanded to be Irish every March 17th (as in "Everybody's Irish on St. Patrick's Day"). Not if I don't want to be, thanks. I had enough of that at the aggressively Irish parochial school I attended as a child, where people thought it was good enough to wear orange on March 17th if you didn't like the holiday, without realizing that wearing orange is just as Irish as wearing green. Sigh. I prefer to wear a nice polo shirt with a St. Andrew's Cross on it, and a thistle pendant, but I do get tired of having to explain it.