St. Patrick's Day, for me, symbolizes the coming of spring. I don't know if its so much needed socialization after the cold winter months or just all those green decorations, but it seems to be a pleasant reminder that the world is getting ready to start anew. But every year its also another booze-filled reminder of my blaring lack of heritage.
I am friends with people from all different ancestries; Italians, Germans, Irish and Scots, Chinese, Koreans, Frenchmen, and Russians, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Africans. These people are incredibly proud of where they come from. They have wonderful deep-rooted traditions, character traits (that sometimes reflect the stereotypes) and huge family trees that extend their branches upwards for generations. I have friends who can say "I'm 50% German" or "I'm 100% Polish". They love their patrimony and their genetic inheritance.
But its intimidating for a girl who's largest nationality influence appears to be English (...I think). When I was younger I remember having to do family trees or find our what nationalities were present in my lineage. And I never knew what to put down. I would ask my parents and my grandparents but the best they could come up with was an unsure "I think we're from Europe somewhere...". So I would make things up. "Oh I definitely have Russian relatives," I would say. Or "I'm part French, that's why my name is French". Yeah, right. When I think about it now I wonder if maybe I'm Irish, I do love bagpipes and Guiness. I probably am French Canadian since the Martin line seems to have magically appeared in Upstate New York a few generations back. And there's got to be some Viking blood in there somewhere. How else do you explain an unusually large number of very tall, blond relatives on the Hall side? (Hall is a very common name in Norway you know.)
This lack of seemingly any kind of heritage means that I cannot be characterized by any stereotypes. I don't have to worry about being discriminated against because of my race (only my gender). But I do sometimes wish that I had a "Big Fat Greek Family" or a crazy Italian grandma or even a relative who spoke only in a language other than English. And there is no parade that celebrates "English decendants" (well...unless you count the Thanksgiving Day parade, but I don't think that's quite the same).
I'll probably never be fluent in a second language or go to Asia to visit family. And I'm ok with that. I'm glad that I'm not tied down by any traditions associated with nationality. I can choose to be whatever I want. Or best of all, I could even start my own traditions! Imagine a day devoted entirely to the saxophone, reading classic novels, and volleyball...
This St. Patrick's Day I raised my pint of Smithwick's and hummed along when the bar broke out into a rousing chorus of Danny Boy. But, when the question inevitably reemerges and someone asks "What nationality are you?" I'll stand up proudly and say "I'm an American mutt!"
As nice as it is to have a strong heritage behind you, I wish that more people would just accept being American. Personally, I'm every -ish you can imagine... Scottish, English, Irish, French-ish... and probably Danish, Swedish, everything else somewhere. Now, the great thing with that is that half of my Scottish ancestors were actually from Irish. It seems like many of the people in America who claim a certain heritage don't necessary have much of a connection. When you're a 3rd, 4th, 5th generation American... there's no reason to not just stand up and proudly say that you're an American, especially if your ancestors chose this country.
Absolutely. And the great thing about being an American is that you get the opportunity to create new traditions that really mean something to you instead of blindly following a set of practices that you don't understand or connect with.