Firstly, cultural traditions make a country distinctive, so I’m not sure if it would be a good idea to mix and mingle them. But it might be fun if ethnic minorities invited us to get partially involved in their traditions. I remember going to the Notting Hill carnival a few times in London back in the 1980s.
It was very much for people from the Caribbean, but I enjoyed it.
But many cultural traditions are religious and are seen as sacred, so I can understand why people mightn’t like them been opened up to the wider public. Christians sometimes complain that Christmas isn’t very Christian, but the Bible doesn’t tell us to celebrate Christmas. It’s a cultural festival that has Christian elements, but also much that is just about fun and family. I like how to breaks up the winter. I’d love it even if I were an atheist. But I do like to focus on Christmas hymns and readings from the New Testament account of the birth of Jesus.
Maybe the one tradition that might work best is Thanksgiving. This has its roots in English puritans who settled in America. They had been persecuted in Europe. Back then, you had to fall into line with the King or Queen’s choice of religion. If you didn’t, you might be murdered or at least discriminated against in various ways. Things are very different nowadays, but if I was alive back then, I’d probably have headed for America – the land of the free.
But it wasn’t easy to settle in the new territory. The Thanksgiving tradition traces back to 1621, when Pilgrims in Plymouth held a three‑day harvest feast with the Wampanoag people, who had helped them survive their first harsh winter.
So what does it signify today? It’s more about family, health, and everyday blessings. So, it could be celebrated by folk of any religion or none. But perhaps Irish people mightn’t like the idea of the country celebrating an American festival. Following independence back in the 1920s, some Irish were extremely protective of our culture. Even as a child, I resented having Irish culture and the Irish language forced on me. It’s not that I had no interest, but I didn’t have much respect for the kind of people who wanted everyone to fall into line with their agenda. And some left-wing people despise powerful countries that might stand in the way of them implementing their communist or social paradise 😅. Still, everyone throughout Ireland likes Black Friday sales nowadays, which only exist because of Thanksgiving. And why not go the whole way and celebrate Thanksgiving too?. I’d enjoy seeing all the bossy lefties being irritated. I used to be one myself at one stage 😅.
And even in my parents’ time most Irish people didn’t want to be bullied into restricting themselves to purely Irish culture. They enjoyed American and British movies, music and sport. And it’s said that since independence, well over a million people emigrated from Ireland to the United States, and millions more moved to the United Kingdom. My own parents married in New York, so I could have easily been American. And so many of my relatives settled in the US, the UK or Australia. And of course, much of our employment in Ireland has been with American firms.
Saint Patrick’s day is an Irish tradition that’s celebrated around the world. Here’s a clip from Flight of the Doves from 1972. It was my first time seeing Ireland in colour. We had black and white TV back then. And you’d generally never see Ireland in cinema movies. But this one was largely filmed in Ireland.
Here’s a clip with a false Saint Patrick’s day parade, but it wasn’t too unlike the real ones.
And here are the hymns that I would focus on for Thanksgiving. Actually, we can be thankful every day without celebrating thanksgiving.
Hibernia Gospel 