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".
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, March 19, 2010
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
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.
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.
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