"Being" Irish Today

LOA

I understand what you are trying to say but in some instances I disagree. The Quebecois want to be recognized as a seperate people not just because they speak French but because the vast majority of them can trace their families back to either Normandy or the Ilse de Paris. Also they think they have a raw deal staying in Canada because the rest of the country won't give in to their demands.

In my case I am a Scots-Canadian. I was born in Scotland of Scottish parents. My Mother a widow remarried to a Canadian who brought us to Canada in 1947 when I was 5. I have lived here for 60 years. By blood I am Scots by culture I'm Canadian and at times I am torn between the love of these two great Countries. You are right we all came from somewhere else and that includes the Native People. They did not originate here they to migrated from Asia across the Bering Land bridge between 20 and 40 thousand years ago.


Camac.

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum. This is my first post. And of course here is my two cents' worth. I was born and raised in the USA. As a child I was taught that the blacks (African Americans) in this country were brought here as slaves against their will and that the Indians (Native Americans) were the true Americans and that the rest of us were immigrants. So to as a child I came to the conclusion that the blacks in this country were here by mistake, that they were really Africans that had their own country where everybody was black--I had often heard whites adults say that the blacks needed to go back to Africa where they came from. Likewise as a redheaded, light-complexioned child I felt that I was in this country by mistake, that there was another country out there somewhere named Ireland where everybody had red hair and an Irish temper, like me--other kids and many adults would tease me about my red hair and Irish Temper. I'm actually from Scottish descent.

If you would have asked me as a child if I were an American, I probably would have said "I think so." If you would have asked me if I were Scottish, I would have said "I think so." If you would have asked me if I were Irish, I would have said "Maybe, I have red hair don't I?"

In America I've found that either intentionally or unintentionally we feel compelled to segregate ourselves mentally or sometimes physically into ethnic groups. Even on job applications and censuses we're asked " are you African American, Native American, Asian" and so on.

YDNAR1B!, Hi, I would first like to welcome you to CelticRadio, a great place to be.

A very good 2 cents I might add.

It is human nature to group ourselves to others of like. I think everyone searches for identity of some sort or another so to attach themselves to something greater than just themselves. The reasoning maybe for various thingsat various levels such as communal interest, protection, comfort etc and we all do this at different levels, familial, community, ethnic grouping, national, etc. Some of us do it to deeper levels than others and find a deeper attachment for their identities. For some it is a dangerous obsession and others it is a playful whim and some assume an identity to achieve a goal. We can see this from inner city gangs to Scottish clan associations to national jingoisim, from bad to good to extreme.

I believe it is illegal to ask ethnic, racial etc questions on a job application.
Census is another story entirely.

UlsterScotNutt

YDNAR1B!, Hi, I would first like to welcome you to CelticRadio, a great place to be.

A very good 2 cents I might add.

It is human nature to group ourselves to others of like. I think everyone searches for identity of some sort or another so to attach themselves to something greater than just themselves. The reasoning maybe for various thingsat various levels such as communal interest, protection, comfort etc and we all do this at different levels, familial, community, ethnic grouping, national, etc. Some of us do it to deeper levels than others and find a deeper attachment for their identities. For some it is a dangerous obsession and others it is a playful whim and some assume an identity to achieve a goal. We can see this from inner city gangs to Scottish clan associations to national jingoisim, from bad to good to extreme.

I believe it is illegal to ask ethnic, racial etc questions on a job application.
Census is another story entirely.

UlsterScotNutt

Welcome to CR YDNSAR1B1 you've found the best place here.

Yes I agree with you too YDNAR1B1 and I think people like to be identify with their roots somehow. And correct me if I'm wrong but movies and romance about the Celts and their history and by trying to relive the past is one of the reason for that too. Everybody calls themselves celts because they associate it with the Irish or Scottish...a mistake in my eyes.

everyone searches for identity of some sort
I like your quote here Ulster because being an adopted child all my life I searched for an identity of some sort...which was only a familiar face. I hope I make sense here. LOA

Thanks for the welcome, UlterScotNutt and Lady of Avalon. I believe I have found a good place here.

The way I see it, when our Celtic ancestors immigrated to America and other countries, they didn't leave their culture at the shoreline and take on a new American persona. On the contrary, many of them moved to isolated farming and mining communities where their culture lived on for generations, so I believe that it is possible for us of the older generation to be American by birth but Celtic by culture. I know the old saying "birds of a feather flock together" was never more true than it is in my family: My grandparents and great grandparents bore names like McMurry, McDaniel, Ross, Barnett, Byars, McCool. All were either Scottish or from Scottish descent, except my maternal g-grandfather, Barnett, who was Scotch-Irish (his term, not mine)

UlterScotNutt, I believe you are right that it is now illegal to ask ethnic questions on various applications here in the USA, but I must confess that back when I was filling out applications that wasn't the case.

YDNAR1b1

UlsterScotNutt, in my last post I should have addressed you as UlsterScotNutt, not UlterScotNutt--my mistake and my apologies.

YDNAR1B1

My Lady, Please, I don't mean to presume, but I believe I know what you mean.
I was 18 when I had a son out of wedlock and he lives in Finland. I gave him up for adoption to his mother and her husband. I often wonder about him. He would be 33 years old now. I have a baby picture of him and a photo at about age 7. I would hope to meet him some day. He looks like me.

YDNAR1B1, No problem on the name, I have definetely be called worse

The Scotch_Irish are a distinct group.

All groups bring with them their identities and culture but they all modify and adapt their knowings and doings of the past and traditions to meet the new trials and tribulations of their new environment. Things change and they create something new based on the foundation they brought with them. Probably one of the biggest changes was the ability to settle and own land in America, something very very few of the settlers had back in the old country. Things were very different in the new world and new modes of operation were required to survive and succeed.
We are all creations of our past.

"All groups bring with them their identities and culture but they all modify and adapt their knowings and doings of the past and traditions to meet the new trials and tribulations of their new environment. Things change and they create something new based on the foundation they brought with them. Probably one of the biggest changes was the ability to settle and own land in America, something very very few of the settlers had back in the old country. Things were very different in the new world and new modes of operation were required to survive and succeed.
We are all creations of our past."

Hi, UlsterScotNutt

Point taken. Further, new modes of operation were required to survive and succeed even more so in the old country than in America, what with the civil wars, land grabs, changes in governments, and of kings, etc. That's why many immigrated to other countries to begin with, where they hoped they could cultivate their culture as they saw fit. In many ways they could cultivate their Celtic culture more so in America and other countries than they could in the old country, where laws were being passed to the point that it was almost illegal to be Celtic.

YDNAR1B1

My Lady, Please, I don't mean to presume, but I believe I know what you mean.
I was 18 when I had a son out of wedlock and he lives in Finland. I gave him up for adoption to his mother and her husband. I often wonder about him. He would be 33 years old now. I have a baby picture of him and a photo at about age 7. I would hope to meet him some day. He looks like me.

Dear Ulster I wish with all my heart that for you and your son meet some day even if nothing comes out of it after at least he'll know his flesh and blood father and a part of his roots and you'll know your son and that is "identity".I really do.
There has been an emptyness in my heart all my life even though I am surrounded by a loving family and a loving husband. LOA

My Lady, Please, I don't mean to presume, but I believe I know what you mean.
I was 18 when I had a son out of wedlock and he lives in Finland. I gave him up for adoption to his mother and her husband. I often wonder about him. He would be 33 years old now. I have a baby picture of him and a photo at about age 7. I would hope to meet him some day. He looks like me.

Dear Ulster I wish with all my heart that for you and your son meet some day even if nothing comes out of it after at least he'll know his flesh and blood father and a part of his roots and you'll know your son and that is "identity".I really do.
There has been an emptyness in my heart all my life even though I am surrounded by a loving family and a loving husband. LOA

My Lady, My wife says I will get a knock on the door and a punch in the nose!! I would lovingly take it!!!!!

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh!" he whispered. "Yes, Piglet?" "Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you." ~A.A. Milne


Someone remembers, someone cares;
Your name is whispered in someone’s prayers.
~Author Unknown

Well at least you'd see who and what he's become.

As for this last part...I'm not so sure...I just don't think that my name was ever in someone's prayers....LOA

Well at least you'd see who and what he's become.

As for this last part...I'm not so sure...I just don't think that my name was ever in someone's prayers....LOA

My Lady,

Well, you are in my prayers.

UlsterScotNutt.

Ulster what a gentleman you are,

As for being irish today. I don't know if I am of irish blood somewhere or scottish for that matter because I'll tell you this.

Since childhood even though I'm from a french speaking family and name when I was young I was more comfortable with the english language.Even though I did not speak nor understood it. I would watch television in english all the time and my mom would get mad at me because nobody including me understood anything.

At 9 years old I told my mom that I would marry a english speaking man and have no children, she laughed...to whom do you think I'm married today (my first love) and on top of that have no children...

Today when I chat with my mom she always say to me that maybe that there is after all a bit of irish or english or scottish in me because I was always drawn by that culture somehow when I was young and could not understand why.

Maybe it's all wishfull thinking. LOA

My Lady,
There are things with in us that make us who we are and there is no understanding why they are there, but they are.

“It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them.”
George Eliot, (English Victorian Novelist. Pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans, 1819-1880)