It has been suggested because of connotations with the past, that neither term Motherland or Fatherland was really used in Ireland. The country is often represented in poetry and music as a woman. It has been suggested that it has probably something to do with our national Oedipus complex and unhealthy fixation with the Virgin Mary.
The Spanish call their country Mother/Fatherland (Madre Patria) Motherland has been used to refer to the homeland of a colonial power in contrast to the colonies. Russia & England have always been referred to as the Motherland. Perhaps that’s why Ireland has invariably been referred to as Fatherland….So much for the introduction.
Since the pre-reformation St Patrick has had universal appeal. The Irish church had not been fully assimilated into the Roman tradition until the arrival of St Patrick.
St Patrick was a man whose faith inspired and powerfully transformed a whole nation’s religious identity and is consequently worthy of veneration. In the United States we see in St Patrick the benchmark of all that is Irish. He has become the cause for national pride wherever people of Irish ancestry are found.
The Irish have been coming stateside for hundreds of years. Back in the 1700’s it was mainly Protestant and Dissenter who came. They came for the freedom to practice their religion and more often to get away from persecution by the English. Then came An Gorta Mor the great famine of the mid to late 1840’s. The coffin ships brought over a million Irish and these were mostly Catholics.
The Irish Diaspora consists of Irish immigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil and States of the Caribbean and Continental Europe. The Diaspora, maximally interpreted contains more than 80 million people which is more than 13 times the population of the island of Ireland itself; which had approximately 6.4 million in the year 2011 (comprising the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). After 1840 counting those who went to England between 9 and 10 million Irish people immigrated after 1700. The total flow was more than the population at it’s historical peak in the 1840’s of 8.5 million. From 1830-1914 almost 5 million went to the United States alone. By the 21st century an estimated 80 million people worldwide claim some Irish decent. Among them are 40 million Americans who claim “Irish” as their primary ethnicity.
Respect for the Irishman in this great country was not readily given. He first won it during the American Revolution. He became indispensible to the folks at home in the wake of the famine, He has rallied to every national cause, since the Fenians.
His nostalgic memories and proverbial generosity made him an easy target for all comers. From political leaders building up the National Movement at home, e.g. Charles Stewart Parnell, Michael Davitt and John Redmond to scores of Bishops and priests seeking financial aid to complete their new Churches-from Armagh Cathedral in the middle of the 19th century, to the Galway Cathedral in the middle of the 20th. From Douglas Hyde, appealing for the Gaelic League, Padraigh Pearse for St. Enda’s and Eamonn DeValera for the “Irish Press, Irish men and women, gave generously to every cause.
The history of the Irish in America is a success story. The histories of the Irish at home and in the United States are intimately intertwined. It is, I believe, because of the continuity of emigration from Ireland to America over such a long period of time. The attitudes acquired in the ancestral culture, influenced significantly the response of immigrants to their American destiny. Inherited values cannot be sloughed off. They have to be adapted.
Much of the Irish American experience was common to all immigrants. However, important distinctive features were the trademark of the Irish:
- Irish immigration lasted longer than any other major immigrant flow.
- Inter marriage between Irish born and Irish Americans has always flourished
- Unlike other cultures in emigration, where men dominated two to one, males and females emigrated in equal proportion from Ireland.
- That they had the English language was of inestimable value.
Recognition of the contribution the Irish made to this great state of Michigan is exemplary.
Prior to the Famine in our native country, the French and Belgians held sway in this State of Michigan. It was not for many years after, that the Irish who came to Michigan, most of them through the Port of Montreal, over the Georgian Bay, that there were enough Irish to have an impact in this State. This impact was all the more significant because it demonstrated triumph over despair. This triumph was achieved through:
- Close family ties
- An undying quest for learning.
- A careful tending of roots.
Because of these values, they were able to raise the profile and enhance the pride of this ancient Race, in its achievements.
Saginaw seems to have been the home of the Irish in Michigan until Henry Ford, changed Detroit with the Auto industry. Because the Irish no longer trusted the land, on account of the Famine, so on to Detroit they came, seeking their livelihoods.
In the late 19th century and right throughout the 20th century thousands more came seeking a new life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
What the descendants of all these have in common is that we all stand proud. Proud of our adopted homeland America and proud of what we’ve been able to do as a race of people, to enhance and shape it. Immigration was never an easy thing. Whether forced from homeland by persecution, starvation or whether like some more recent arrivals by economic stagnation and lack of opportunity; the road for an Irish immigrant like that of all immigrants, was an arduous one.
The Irish succeeded here because they had the opportunity to do so. In politics, in business, in organized labor, in sports, in religion, in the arts, and in just about every sphere of interest that comes to mind, our forefathers played a major role in shaping our country’s destiny that is America. From the first Irish American President, Andrew Jackson, who did so much if not more than anyone else to secure America’s status as a nation to the modern day Irish American presidents, all have played their part in building up this great nation.
Henry Ford, whose ancestors can be traced back to County Tyrone, set sail from his native County Cork, gave us mass production of the automobile and with it cemented America’s place as a leading industrial nation.
American History and culture are inexorably linked with the history and culture of the Irish that came here. We do not seek to be lauded over others but we have plenty of which to be rightly proud.
To be an Irish American is to stand with 40 million others so as to cherish the land that gave us our freedom. All immigrant communities have different experiences in history and ours is most certainly unique. The persecution devastation and starvation that brought our ancestors to these shores engendered a strong bond of love for the freedoms that America afforded. This St Patrick’s day we gather to remember the great St Patrick and watch the crowd parade down Michigan Avenue. When the Irish came here they became something different, they became Irish Americans; part of the melting pot.
Who says we have to forget where we came from to be truly American?
We have inherited traditions and are proud of them. Let’s pass them on to our children and our prayer should be:
God Bless the Glen’s of Ireland
Every Rock and Mountain Pass
Twas these same glen’s that under God
Preserved to us the Mass.
In conclusion, may I quote Christoir O’Flynn’s Poem:
“With hope in the new generations to come
With thanks to the courage of all that are gone
Let us wish for old Ireland in our own native speech.
“Go mberimid beo ar an am seo aris”
We carried you through a wee bit of the land
And a touch of history as well
A parting word-a simply prayer
Is all that is left to tell.
Go back in spirit to Ireland-
Your bonds do not untie;
Or return in person to hear these words
“God Bless” and not “Good Bye”
So I borrow this phrase as I take my leave,
No need for you to reply;
My wish to you is most sincere-
“God Bless” and not “Good Bye”
La Fheile Padraig Diobh Go Leir
“Happy St Patrick’s Day To You All”
