Irish Music and Dance

I'd like you to think and write about your response to Irish music and dance, which we're talking about this week. Here are some prompts--feel free to think of your own.

* Comment on CELTIC CROSSROADS. What were your impressions of music, the musicians, the choice of songs, the venue, the audience? Was it what you expected? Did you hear or consider it differently given some themes we've talked about in class?

* Compare what you know about traditional Irish music with a band like U2. What do you think are the band's "roots"? Why do you think they have such broad appeal?

* Discuss your impressions of Irish dance, particularly in relation to the arguments made by Fintan O'Toole in his essay "Unsuitables from a Distance: The Politics of Riverdance".

St. Patty's Day

Whenever I think of St. Patrick's Day, I think of wearing green, drinking green beer, and eating corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes. And being Irish, I've always had a strong desire to celebrate and go along with the norm. However, I've never really thought as to why these are the types of things people do on March 17th. Why do we wear green? Why does almost everyone (even those who aren't Irish) celebrate in some way? And why does everyone have a strong desire to binge drink all day?

After our discussion in class and my observations of (and participation in) this past Wednesday's campus events, I believe that St. Patrick's Day has ultimately become an excuse to drink for Americans. What else would you call waking up at 7am to start drinking then bar hop the rest of the day, maybe go to class in between bar stops, taking a quick nap after a corned beef sandwich, then going out again as if it was a Friday or Saturday night? Someone in class had a good point when they compared St. Pat's Day to both Halloween and a football Saturday; the only difference being that people wear crazy green outfits rather than a costume or maize and blue. Plus, it's even celebrated the weekend before if the 17th doesn't fall on a Saturday.

I believe that all the craziness of the day relates to Irish stereotypes in some way, but why has it become so huge? What is the actual history of St. Patrick's Day and how was it celebrated in the past? How is it actually celebrated in Ireland? And why does the Americanized version revolve around all day drinking? These are many questions I will explore in my project.

Even though there's no rhyme or reason why Americans deck themselves out in green and drink as much Guinness and whiskey as possible in 24 hours, and many people find these actions cliche; it is definitely more fun to join in on the celebration. Afterall, everyone is Irish on March 17th.

St. Patrick's Day

I think it's easy to be overwhelmed by the images of people getting incredibly drunk on St. Patrick's Day. And that's a fair assessment, because so many people do observe this holiday that way. But I also feel like, even on a college campus, there's another layer to the day for many people.

For example, I was at a friend's house, and while most people were sitting around drinking, one person was in the kitchen, checking on a meal of corned beef and cabbage that he had been cooking all day. He then talked about how his mom always made this meal for them on St. Patrick's Day, and we all talked about how we had celebrated the holiday at home.

And I'm sure this happened in various ways all over campus. It's easy to be overwhelmed by the hundreds of people stumbling all over State Street, but I also think that there is another dimension to the day, even for college students, that's not hard to get to.

A not very Irish...but still fun St. Patts Day

I finished all my necessary academic obligations at 3:30 on Wednesday and it was around that time that I decided to explore the festivities around campus. On South University and State Street, all the bars were certainly filled to capacity; and they all emitted that 12:30 A.M. on Saturday aroma of smoke, booze, and crowds. Everyone was dressed casually in green and full of holiday cheer. Although one out of three people had a shamrock somewhere on his or her wardrobe, no one seemed to make much mention of being Irish, or Irishness. People were simply celebrating and talking about the weather.

I headed further down South University to my fraternity's house. I'm a pledge at Triangle this semester. I was greeted by quite a nice surprise, some friends of mine had set up a few amplifyers on the roof. In all there were three guitars and one bass, and we had quite a good jam session. Below us, some people set up furniture on the lawn and enjoyed the sun and free flowing liquor. Again, everyone was in some shade of green, but no one made any comments about St. Patrick himself, or the loss of traditional blue dress on March 17th; they just talked about what plans were for the evening and how nice the weather was.

The equinox is five days after March 17th. This of course marks the changing of seasons from winter to spring. While meditating on the meaning of St. Patrick's day after class I remembered a lecture on Celtic festivals I listened to last term as part of a class I took on Norse and Celtic mythology. My professor talked about a harvest festival that used to happen in Iron Age Ireland (pre-Roman conquest), where feasts and dances were held, all the celebrating was meant to try and impart fertility on to the land and to celebrate the changing of seasons. When the Romans conquered Ireland, they brought with them Chistianity and (like is done with many holidays, including Christmas) they changed the meaning of this harvest festival to a day about a saint. And through the years the holiday has been adopted in turn to celebrate that saint, or Ireland, or Irishness. But on Wednesday the 17th I celebrated spring and the shift from whipping winds to gentle breezes, darkness at 5:30 to long hours of daylight, and grey to green for godsakes.

The best part of my St. Patricks day was by far a long walk around campus, and a poorly planned picnic that ended very nicely before it even started with a girl whose eyes get a bit greener when the seasons change.

St. Pattys

I woke up at 9am on St. Patty's morning to booming rap beats emanating from the various frat houses down State Street. Jay-Z's "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" blasted outside as I threw on clothes, grabbed my backpack, and begrudgingly headed out the door for class. As I walked to my bus stop near the IM building, clusters of kids were already outside on their balconies, drinking green beer and heckling passersby who weren't wearing green. I had obligations all day, so I was jealous of those who took the day off to celebrate. My second class was probably the most interesting event of the day. The class started at 1:30 and I had a presentation to give. Only half the class showed up, and many of those who were there were fairly drunk. A couple of girls in the class (who are in the same sorority) had on shot glass necklaces, which might have been slightly inappropriate for class. I didn't get to celebrate St. Patty's day until later because I had to work till 9pm. That night, I went to a friend's house party, which was the same as all house parties, except with a color theme. St. Patty's Day on a college campus seems to lose most cultural, religious and political meaning. However, it is a celebration of warmer weather and approaching summer. Like everyone else said, there was a definite sense of unity and vitality on campus. 

St. Pattys Day

I definitely agree with Brand and Natalie that St. Patrick's Day has created as revitalization of our campus community that we have not seen since the football games. Something about walking up early and drinking just brings this campus together I guess. I did not partake in the St. Patty's day festivities during the day due to a large amount of homework but I did go out at night. After drinking quite a bit of Guinness in my friends dorm in Oxford, we headed over to my friend's fraternity ZBT. Surprisingly the party was relatively low key (for a ZBT party) and not that many people were dancing. I think the main reason why no one was dancing was because they were so worn out from a day of drinking that they just couldn't exert themselves anymore. There something to be sad about the emphasis on drinking endurance on St. patty's day that is not present in any other holiday. For instance, no one starts drinking at 8 am on christmas day. But on St. patty's day we start partying on the weekend prior to St. patty's during to "practice" or as other call it "St. Practice Day." I even saw an event invitation on facebook for the day after St. Patty's titled, "Continue your Irish Festivities." What I would like to know is why do we drink so much over such long periods of time on St. Patrick's Day. Yes, the Irish are notorious for their drinking but I think even the most seasoned Irish drinkers don't wake up at 8 am and start drinking.

After determining that Saint Patrick's Day is little more than an excuse to get drunk before noon and remain that way until March 18, yesterday's festivities weren't as fun as I had expected them to be. Don't get me wrong. I like drinking myself into a colma at 9am as much as the next person, but it just seemed so artificial after our discussion. I tried to give the campus traditions a chance as I walked by the State Street frat houses, but the commotion just wasn't something I could get into. Instead, I worked out in an eerily empty CCRB and watched a girl dressed in green stare at her table in Mojo table before falling asleep, right there in the middle of the dining hall.

To kind of go off what has been said by other people, though, I admired the sense of unity felt on campus yesterday. Even if it was achieved through chugging green beer before pm classes and wearing ridiculous clothing, everyone was thinking about and celebrating the same thing. It may be true that no one knows exactly what it is they're celebrating, but maybe that's far from the actual point. We might just need celebrate for the sake of celebration, for everyone to be happy and carefree for an entire day. It seems like a shame that we can't be as blissful on any other weekday without appearing irresponsible and out of control, but at least there's March 17.

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is an interesting experience in a city like Ann Arbor. A friend and I took a trip to Main street to witness the festivities.

The one thing everyone had in common was they were all wearing green. Whether they were actually Irish or not, they had to sport the color, and some took it one step further. There were Shamrock necklaces, giant, oversized hats and tiny hats, green suspenders, and some people were even dressed completely as leprechauns. It was funny to walk past a bar and see so many outrageous outfits on a day that was not Halloween.

While walking along Main Street, we happened to pass by a bagpiper (dressed in full Scottish attire, of course) at the same time as a group of drunken merrymakers. They called out to him to play them a song, and he asked them what he should play. They couldn’t speak very coherently, so he asked if there were any Michigan fans. Of course they were all students, and the alcohol changed them into die-hard fans, so he played “Hail to the Victors” on the bagpipes. It was one of the most interesting renditions of that song that I have ever heard. Only in Ann Arbor would someone just be walking around with a set of bagpipes in full costume.

Another interesting encounter was with the legendary dancing Spiderman, but this time Spiderman brought a friend. We will call him Orange Guy because he was wearing an orange bodysuit with a green shirt. Spiderman and Orange Guy decided to have a fabulous time dancing along State Street, carrying an old-school boom box on their shoulders. They were trying to get people to dance with them, but most people passing by had to concentrate on more important things, like remaining in an upright position and walking. However, people were very responsive verbally. They got many cheers from passersby. All in all, there is never a dull moment on St. Patrick's Day in Ann Arbor.

St. Fratty's Day

I saw more than one status on my facebook news feed yesterday with the above title prominently displayed with all caps and countless exclamation points. St. Patrick's Day is beloved by college students the world over because it provides them with an(other) excuse to be drunk all day. I had a packed schedule on Wednesday, so I didn't get to go out and about too much. Interestingly enough, it was in one of my classes, restricted from the outdoors, that I encountered my best St. Patty's Day story to date. A girl came to my Spanish class drunk. I didn't think people really did that. I mean, I can barely make it to class on insufficient sleep. Going intoxicated seems completely out of the question. But for this girl, it clearly wasn't. When she came in and sat down, one of the guys in my class noticed her green sunglasses and told her to put them on. So she did...sideways. When she took them off, they revealed what can only be described as drunk eyes. She then attempted to talk to our class in Spanish, slurring her words. If you've never heard a drunk person try to speak a foreign language before, I highly recommend it. Our class was in stitches. Mind you, this was all before the professor arrived, luckily for her (although I think it would have been hilarious if he were there; my prof is a pretty cool dude and he often jokes with us about going to the bars). When he walked in, we were all still laughing at the situation, leading to his confusion. He kept asking us why we were laughing, what he missed. Nobody gave him a response, we just kept laughing, so he finally dropped it and put on the movie we were going to be watching. At one point I looked back at my drunken classmate and she appeared to be sleeping. Then, halfway through class, she got up and left the room. And she didn't come back. I guess the film (which was in English) was too much for her to handle in her state.

Beyond that, nothing too exciting came my way on March 17th. Today I did hear someone describing her day, which consisted of visiting about 5 frats and taking a nap all before 7:30 PM when she started her homework. While these experiences have caused me to consider St. Patrick's Day more heavily than I have in the past, they haven't brought me any more clarity. Why does this massive all-day party occur on this particular day? Why has a holiday originating in Ireland become more celebrated in America, in part by people who aren't even Irish? No other holiday that I can think of inspires the same kind of day-long festivity and copious alcohol (the closest comparison to me is a football Saturday). Sure, most college students will take any excuse to get wasted, but why St. Patrick's Day? And what does it mean beyond this setting with which we are all so familiar? I don't know. What I do know is that the weather was wonderful, the beer was green, and the people were happy.

Playing Culture

In class, we were talking about who actually get's to celebrate St. Patricks Day. Though the answer seems to be everybody and anybody who is able to get their hands on a can (or even a keg of beg) of beer. After class, as I was walking to my next class, two gentlemen were having a very intriguing conversation:

"what the fuck is a saint's patrick's day?"

"I think its about religion and God"

"so why the fuck do we drink?"

"I think St. Patrick created beer or something"

"That does not make sense, man, I think its for the Irish Immigrants"

"My family is not Irish, we celebrate every year"

"Yeah, I know what you mean, shit, we're Polish"

This conversation intrigued me because it seemed that no one is quite sure what St. Patty's day is for or who is St. Patrick. Both of the guys admitted not being Irish but their families have continued to celebrate the day.

Earlier on St. Patricks day I posted a facebook status saying "I'm about to celebrate the .00012 percent me that is Irish". I can factually say that I am fully African-American and I do not have a trait of Irish blood in me. My ancestors came from the west of Africa and dwelt their almost a century before the slave trade ever happened. I felt that I needed to claim Irish lineage to celebrate in the Irish festive. Someone commented on my status saying: "Everyone is Irish on March 17". Again, this is someone else saying that one need not to be Irish to celebrate. Two of my residents commented that they are "Irewish"(combining Jewish and Irish) every March 17. Everywhere I went over the city, people of different backgrounds, and no affiliation to Irish lineage were celebrating a holiday that they did not understand, but only a holiday that meant wear green, drink green(beer).

Later on th same day, I spoke to someone who claimed to be nearly full Irish. He did not have on a green shirt or dressed like a Leprechaun. He did not wear beads or even looked as if he was going to go out. I asked him where was his green shirt or his beads. He answered back saying: I'm Irish all year around. And he continued: Being Irish is something that you live, daily.

Now, in retrospect, it seems that what America calls St. Patricks day, has been Americanize to fit their picture of what Ireland is. All the drinking, and customs, and all other matter. St. Patty day does not mean being Irish, but in America it seems to mean playing culture. It is what we do to holidays that are not of America, and transform it into what we believe that culture is.

St. Patty's Day

Notable quotables from St. Patrick's Day 2010:

"So before we begin, I just want to clarify something: Please raise your hand if you are actually sober. *majority of people raise hands* Oh, good! More than 85%! That's excellent news." -my English professor (1:00 class) 

"I was a lot drunker when I got to work, but I'm sobering up now. That's what I'm going to go fix." -Random student, (4:00 pm)

"May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go. HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!! ERIN GO BRAGH!!" -Facebook status of one of my extremely Irish friends. 

St. Patrick's Day is fun. It's just a really fun day to observe on college campuses. I actually didn't get to see much of the night action, although I have a pretty clear indication in my head of what went down. But I enjoyed walking around campus after my classes around 4:00. The campus was exploding with spirit. People were doing Irish jigs in the Diag. People were singing. I saw one dude wearing an Irish flag (and possibly nothing else?) Green was everywhere. The weather was fantastic. There was just an overall cheerful vibe in the atmosphere. I couldn't help smile when I saw people walking around going nuts. I sat on the field of the Diag while people did jigs and thought that this is pretty much an advertisement for "the college experience." It's what people expect from college every day. This lively atmosphere where everyone's happy and dancing and singing. So in that respect, it's really nice to walk around and be part of it. 

But walking around campus doesn't really tell me anything about what the holiday actually means. The best I can grasp from it is what I've learned from my best friend, who is by far the most Irish person I know, and who knows anything and everything about Ireland and Irish culture. It's a huge deal for her household, and they always have corn-beef and cabbage and Irish soda bread, ( I've had the Irish Soda Bread made by her Irish grandmother....knocks Mojo's out of the park, although Mojo's was pretty solid). Before her, I really never paid any attention whatsoever to St. Patrick's Day, because I have no Irish ties at all. But for her, it's a statement of her culture and I think for her and others it transcends what college has made it into, and yet I still don't know exactly what it means for them.  

I think it could go either way in terms of evaluating what it means for college students to celebrate a holiday most of them know very little about. It could be seen as embracing a culture and making it into a community event, or it could be seen as kind of ignorantly making something more meaningful into a day for nothing but drinking. Either way, I think St. Patrick's Day is definitely an interesting 'holiday,' and I really appreciate all the great quotes it provided me with throughout the day. 

St. Patty's Day

Well naturally yesterday was a good day for me because the weather was so beautiful and people seemed a little merrier than usual, I'm assuming from all the holiday festivities. I still don't find it particularly enticing to become involved in any specific St. Patrick's Day celebrations, I guess that's just not my cup of tea. However it was fun/amusing to see everyone dress in ridiculous green apparel and to listen to intoxicated students march indignantly down the sidewalk from my window. The Holiday still doesn't hold much significance for me, and it probably holds a little less for me now than before we read the article and discussed it in class. The reason behind this is probably that there are many other American holidays that I don't really pay attention to because they don't hold much meaning for me, and I wouldn't expect St. Patricks Day to be any different. I'm not opposed to anyone who wishes to celebrate it, however. To each his own. So in essence, yesterday was very much a regular day for me.

St. Patty's Extravaganza

My St. Patrick's Day began at approximately 8:45am on my walk to my 9am discussion section. Unfortunately, I had class until 4pm, including and exam at 12 and then another exam to study for, so I wasn't able to enjoy the festivities. I walked down state street around 1pm and saw the insanity that is Greek life and I witnessed the college version of the "pinch" you get when not wearing green. Green Beer poured over thee head. Enough said. I was just glad it was not me.


Seeing this insanity so early in the morning I do find it funny that any other day it would be nearly impossible to get thousands of college students out of bed before 8am, but for some reason the green beer, crazy green costumes, and the idea of drinking all day is something of a wake up call. Some people say the crazy partying was because of the weather, however, I don't really think a rainy day would've stopped the majority of these celebrations from occurring.

The reason's for celebrating St. Patrick's Day are unknown to me, but I did know that it was a pretty important holiday to celebrate at college before coming here. At home we had dinner at Grandma's house the Sunday before and we ate Corned-beef and cabbage which was not my favorite meal, but seemed to be a favorite of many of my relatives. I never really understood that tradition either, I think it is some sort of Irish meal. Anyways, for me college St. Patrick's Day celebrations are much different than those at home. I guess it could just be another excuse to party?

The aftermath of St. Patty's

When i woke up today, March 18th, to this gorgeous day i though St. Patrick's day was over... though from what i saw today, it doesn't seem that way. I still saw a handful of people dressed from head to toe in green. One of these people was an elderly lady who looked like she worked in an office. Another was a student, who had a fake shamrock tattoo on her shoulder, perhaps showing off her muscles. She was also wearing green eye shadow.... I think she was just a day late in realizing it was St. Patrick's Day. Lastly, after classes today, i went to Pancheros on South U, and when i asked for a burrito, they threw a green tortilla on the plate! I thought that was really exciting, in fact all these encounters were really exciting. How a secretary pulled off a fully green outfit, and still looked professional, that's beyond me... Also, to be the sole girl in my lecture to go all out in tattoos, green ribbons, and green eye shadow for god sakes, takes boldness (especially if it's the day after St. Patrick's day)!

I am not really sure what to take from the leprechaun secretary, or the green tortillas, other than that this has really become a national holiday allowing everyone, from all walks of life, to celebrate one way or another. There's nothing wrong with that, in fact, reiterating what Brad and Natalie said, it unifies a community when everyone is wearing green, or wear shirts that say, "Kiss me im Irish" or "Im not Irish, but kiss me anyways". I found it kind of odd that most of the girls i saw around campus were trying to put on that "cute-look-at-me-im-wearing-a-four-leave-clover-sticker-on-my-cheek" look... but i guess some enjoy dressing up that way.  Anyways, i think it's a great day, because everyone is so enthusiastic and happy to celebrate St Patricks Day which can be celebrated by wearing ridiculously green make-up, or by dying tortillas, it's all fun!

The Day of St. Patrick

I agree quite a bit with Natalie, I felt like yesterday I was more a part of a community and everything felt more lively. Naturally this had something to do with the weather and the fact that it feels like there are 20,000 more people at this University when the weather is good because everybody's out on the grass...but it was really cool to see people dancing on the Diag, as well as two people dressed in superhero costumes dancing randomly between the Diag and North U.

I went out a little later riding my bike around by South University, and pretty much saw what I expected--people waiting in lines to get in bars and generally acting somewhat ridiculous. I did have one humorous encounter when I tried to squeeze by walking my bike past the line to Good Time Charley's--I lifted my bike a little bit to get through, and as I did so a man standing in line was looking at me and kept going, "Hey hey man" with an excited look on his face like I was pulling off some amazing feat.

Two other humorous things I saw: a girl with a fake moustache/glasses/nose combination (what this has to do with St. Patrick's day or Ireland or anything, I don't know, but it was cool) and a guy in the dining hall with a full-body neon green nylon suit thing.

Oh yeah, and the soda bread in Mojo was delicious.

St Party's Day

Yesterday, St Patrick's day, I had four classes and a test so I was unable to engage in the celebratory festivities. However, with walking to and from campus, I got to see what everyone was up to. In all honesty, at first I really silently condemned St Patrick's celebrations here-to me, it really seemed like a ridiculous excuse for non-Irish students to get drunk on a weekday. However, my observations surprised me. I dont know if it was the warm weather or the holiday, but people were playing frizbee, laying out, and just all around having a good time. It really did give me a great feeling of camaraderie with the other students, even if I wasn't engaging in the fun. I feel like with the cold weather we students lose our greater sense of community, and yesterday I feel I regained mine. Maybe THAT'S what St. Patrick's day is about...but who really knows, anyway?

St. Patrick's Day Observations

What is it like out there? Give us your observations of St. Patrick's Day. What did you see, who did you talk to? Are you any closer to figuring out what it means?

Oh, and watch this before the day is finished.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFM7Ty1EEvs