COLUMN: We need to look past the shamrocks
Yesterday saw some spectacular festivities all across the U.S., attended by throngs of green-clad revelers in various stages of inebriation. St. Patrick’s Day is one of our favorite holidays. It’s an opportunity for millions of Americans to celebrate their Irish heritage and millions more to share in the fun.
For a few, the holiday involves digging into authentic Irish folklore and feasting on Irish staples like corned beef, lamb stew, and 700 recipes involving the domestic potato. But for most, the St. Patrick’s Day we celebrate is an Americanized holiday that takes a few highlights from a foreign culture and whips up a shiny holiday version for our enjoyment.
St. Patrick’s Day isn’t an isolated case. Cinco de Mayo is another popular Americanized holiday that celebrates Mexican culture and heritage, but it means far more in the United States than it does in the country which it supposedly represents. In fact, many Americans believe Cinco de Mayo is Mexico’s Independence Day, when in reality Mexicans celebrate that event on Sept. 16. Cinco de Mayo is actually only celebrated in a few areas of Mexico as a commemoration of an unlikely military victory over the French in 1862.
Now, before I’m harangued for downplaying cherished cultural events, let’s talk about the significance of these holidays. As a celebration of cultural heritage, especially those mixed with and evolving alongside American culture, holidays like St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo are great fun. The problem arises when we take these holidays — and other shallow, Americanized stereotypes of foreign cultures — as a comprehensive profile of those nations or ethnicities. When we start looking at Irish culture as consisting of little more than beer and leprechauns, we’re doing both ourselves and our friends across the pond a serious disservice.
Imagine if the European Union celebrated “Uncle Sam Day.” If they followed our model, they might celebrate this great “American” holiday on Jan. 8, the date of a decisive American victory during the War of 1812. European revelers might celebrate Uncle Sam Day by shooting off firearms galore, sporting cowboy hats and boots and cramming down hot dogs and apple pie while gulping 72-ounce canisters of Diet Coke. ‘Merica.
Would Uncle Sam Day highlight a few features of American culture? Sure. Would it serve as a good profile of the complex society of the United States? Nope.
Here’s the bottom line: Stereotypes are bad — and dangerous — when they are accepted as a complete and accurate profile of a group. But interestingly, stereotypes can actually be a good thing if they are used as a launching point for genuine curiosity and inquisitiveness about a culture.
What if, rather than looking at St. Patrick’s Day and other cultural stereotypes as comprehensive profiles of foreign cultures, we were to look at events like these as an opportunity to scratch the surface of other societies? What if we were to take advantage of these holidays and popular images of other cultures as just a starting point to dig in and learn about the actual history and values of other nations and peoples?
By all means, celebrate St. Paddy’s Day. But take advantage of holidays like this one to expand your curiosity and genuine understanding of other cultures rather than being satisfied with shallow stereotypes.
– Briana is a political science major in her last semester at USU. She is an avid road cyclist and a 2013 Truman Scholar. Proudest accomplishment: True Aggie. Reach Briana at b.bowen@aggiemail.usu.edu