What makes Americans think that they have the right to celebrate Irish customs?

Question

like La Feile Padraig (St.Patrick's Day) and Oiche Samhain (Halloween)?

Answer 1

What makes you think that the Irish own a Catholic holiday or that a saint recognized by the church of Rome only belongs to Ireland?  What makes you think that many of the people celebrating in America are not Irish immigrants or their descendents?  St. Patrick's Day and Halloween were both brought to America by Irish immigrants who brought the traditions with them. The holidays were integrated into American culture by the huge influx of those immigrants and was adapted (for example, the addition of St Patricks parades and trick-or-treating) to fit the melting pot of American society.  Just one more thing...do you think St Patrick would really approve of anyone denying other people the honor of celebrating his life and accomplishments? Doesn't sound to me like something a Christian would want to do.

Answer 2

All Saints Day was established in Rome and All Souls Day was established in France. Localized feasts for the saints were being held before Christianity came to Ireland. These holidays are celebrated in many non-Celtic areas and always have been. In fact, among many Native Americans and Latino culture the All Saints traditions were brought directly from Spain and France, not Ireland.

Halloween, as it has become separated in practice from All Saints, did come from Ireland but that is because the Irish immigrants brought it with them. Why would they want to leave their traditions and beliefs behind? Nobody else did. Groundhog day originated with the German immigrants. Besides, the United States has altered Halloween so much that the whole world calls it an American holiday now. All holidays and traditions go through changes and get adopted by different cultures. The Irish mixed Catholicism with its pre-Christian customs and All Saints with Samhain.

I have Irish and Scottish ancestry so, Oiche Shamhna Shona duit!

EDIT: Oh - then you adopted the religion of another country. And a peaceful, pacifist religion that shuns technology. I just caught on - you weren't serious with this question all along. Good one.

Answer 3

Halloween is celebrated in a lot of countries, and some countries have thier own variations as to what exactly the holiday represents.

St. Patricks Day in the U.S. has basicly become an exuse to go out and get drunk on green beer.

Why are these holiday's celebrated here?......well, there are tons of people with Irish roots here, so I'm guessing that when your ancestors came here, they still practiced these traditions, and since there were/are so many Irish people, they kind of just made it become an American thing too.

Another example; In Chile (South America), there is a heavy German population from the WWII era. German holidays are very much celebrated there along with the Chilean holidays.

When you mix different groups of people together, you get a mix of many things from different places.

Sorry if it makes you mad, but you'll just have to live with it!

Answer 4

because of strong irish roots and there are a few irish-americans that may enjoy continuing with tradition, and back to ya, why do ppl celebrate mexican holidays when they clearly arent mexican? or any other cultural holiday! because ppl enjoy coming together to celebrate, whether they know what for or not, what makes you think you can judge ppl for that?

Answer 5

Not to worry.  Us ignorant Americans are starting to realize that the Irish want nothing to do with us, even those Americans that have Irish ancestry.  You tire of when we take pride in our Irish ancestry, and hate it when we admit that we have Irish blood in us.  We get it.  From now on, we'll not mention anything about our Irish relatives, the customs that they brought over to the U.S., or even wear anything that may give us away.  We understand.  The Irish can't stand us recognizing our Irish roots.  We'll comply.  Thanks.  We'll have to do some revisionist history with President Kennedy, but I'm sure we could make him out so that his grandparents came from England or Germany.  Might be tough, but we understand your want to separate yourself from anything American.  We'll work on it.  

Answer 6

I suppose it is because so many are in our country "America"USA

Answer 7

I love the Irish, and I think the irish accent is so s**y and I love guys with red hair so thats why I celebrate!

Answer 8

Basically if you don't like it too bad. We've been enjoying St. Patricks Day and Halloween for generations and I don't see that ending anytime soon. A better question is why do you care?

Answer 9

Because so many of us have Irish roots.

Dunkey.

Answer 10

halloween used to be all hallows day, a christian religious holiday, and people have different variations of the holidays too. st.patricks day is a fun holiday for us, and is a way to respect and bring in other countries customs.

Answer 11

Because the Irish came to America over 100 years ago and made it their home and they helped built this nation in many ways.  Why not celebrate them.  

Answer 12

Because we have a lot of Irish people here. Halloween is Irish? Wow, I didn't know that. I honestly didn't know that.

Answer 13

well I'm irish and a lot of americans are at least a little irish too.

hope I could help!

- Faith  

Answer 14

Many Irish families immigrated to the United States and brought their customs with them. It has over time evolved into the Halloween we celebrate today. Don't blame us Americans, you guys started it and we love what is has become!