Q: Hiya!!! i live in Ireland so obviosly celebrate st.Patricks day, but why do Americans???? i mean yea there used to be imogrants from ireland but that was decades ago!!!!!! so why do you still celebrate it??? i mean he was the patront saint of Ireland not America!!! there are even people over here in ireland that don't celebrate it and they are a wee bit more irish than some people with irish desendants!!
A: Well, I can only speak for my own family. While we do attend Mass, as many Catholics do, to celebrate "St. Patrick".... we also celebrate being of Irish descent on that day. I'm a genealogist (a family historian) and I know from 40 years of research that when our nation's Irish ancestors came to America in the 1800s...well let's just say it was not the best time to be Irish here. Most Irish lived in crushing poverty and many even changed their "Irish sounding" surnames so that their children (who didn't have an accent or had lost theirs) would have a chance at a descent life. My paternal cousin's mother used to think her family was Swedish because of their surname. When we researched her family tree though it turned out their surname had been changed by her Irish ancestors after they came to America. So who knows how many Americans have Irish ancestors they don't know about? It was a long hard struggle but today the Irish have become an accepted and valued part of American society. That's what my family celebrates. Today, it's not only OK to be of Irish descent in the USA but it's something celebrated by all of America on St. Patrick's Day. Even non-Irish will celebrate the day wearing buttons and T-shirts that say "Irish...for a day" All over America you will hear people say "It's a great day for the Irish". I guess you could say that St. Patrick is the un-official patron saint of the Irish-Americans. BTW, there are still Irish immigrants in America, Mavorneen, they have never stopped coming.