A Shamrock of a Holiday U.S. and Irish Celebrations of St. Patrickís Day Differ by Gary Tischler Gerry Kelly is listed as the third secretary at the Embassy of Ireland, which makes him a diplomat with wide-ranging tasks and duties, one of them being the care and handling of cultural matters. ìThere is no cultural attachÈ, per se, here,î Kelly, 28, said. ìTruth of the matter is, I think weíre blessed in these matters. The presentation or celebration of Irish culture in America doesnít need much from us. And itís not just because of the common language. Itís kind of ready-made and already exists.î Nowhere is that fact more in evidence than at the annual orgy of the celebration of all things IrishóSt. Patrickís Dayóon March 17, a celebration held most dearly in the United States, less so and differently in Ireland itself. In truth, the Irish Diaspora around the world embraces St. Patrickís Day enthusiastically, and itís an amazing Diaspora, all told. There are more people of Irish descent scattered around every part of the globe than live in Ireland itself, a fact that sometimes surprises even the Irish. Last year, for instance, there was a large St. Patrickís Day parade in Moscow, for which approximately 15,000 people turned out. But nowhere is the connection felt more deeply, and celebrated with more enthusiasm, than in the United Statesónot even in Ireland itself. ìItís a little different in Ireland,î Kelly said. ìItís more like your Fourth of July, where people and families get together on picnics and the like. Thereís less of a specialness to it, itís a holiday, for sure, but after all, the people are Irish every day of the year, not just one.î Here, things are different. Almost every immigrant group to the United States celebrates special holidays native to the groupóBastille Day for the French, Octoberfest for the Germans, Cinco de Mayo for Hispanics, to name a fewóbut no celebration has quite captured the imagination so much and spilled over into the culture at large as St. Patrickís Day has. ìWell, there are so many people of Irish descent in this country. Thatís one good reason,î Kelly said. ìOne in seven Americans is of Irish descent, or around 44 million people.î So the people of the United States celebrate all things Irish, including a healthy dose of popular clichÈs and traditions. Prime Minister Bertie Ahern will arrive in Washington, D.C., with the traditional gift of a bowl of shamrocks for President George W. Bush. The traditional Irish establishments of Washington like Kellyís Irish Times, the Dubliner, the Four Provinces and Murphyís in Alexandria, Va., will all be clearing the decks for day-and-night-long full attendance, and those that arenít Irish strictly speaking will pretend to be. There will be St. Patrickís Day parades in Washington and Baltimore, Md., on St. Patrickís Day and one on March 2 in Alexandria, Va. The Irish fiddle, harp and other traditional instruments will be pounding out all sorts of Celtic music, soaring ballads and rebel songs on practically every street corner. If part of the day is an excuse to celebrate into bewilderment, part of it is also a celebration of the culture and history of the Irish, by way of America. Itís the celebration of an Ireland that probably doesnít exist anymore, or if it does, itís mostly in the imagination. ìThe Ireland of ëThe Quiet Maní and John Ford and Maureen OíHara, well, that isnít there any more if it ever was,î Kelly said. ìI think if people actually went to Ireland theyíd be surprised. Itís one of the most economically prosperous countries in Europe. The high-tech industry is booming. Itís all very modern. There may still be a pub on every corner in Dublin, but itís become a very modern, European kind of city. James Joyce might not recognize it, although Trinity, the Abbey, all that is still there.î The cultural and social clichÈs of the lovable Irish peasant, the red-headed beefy lads ready to fight and drink but afraid of their dear mother, the village priest, and the wandering poet and schoolmaster are part of tradition and history, but theyíre for the most part in the past. ìPeople donít live in that past any more,î Kelly said. The actual contributions of Irish culture are considerable and even something of a miracle. Irish literature thrived on the material of epic suffering and strifeóthe famines, the expulsions, the religious strife, the troublesóas well as great beauty. Itís not many people or nations who can count such large names in the annals of literatureó Joyce, Oliver Goldsmith, Jonathan Swift, George Bernard Shaw, John M. Synge, Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, Brendan Behan, Samuel Beckett and Sean OíCasey, and it only grows further with the genius of a Seamus Heaney, the greatness of a playwright who carries on the poetic gifts of Irish theater master, Brian Friel. ìWilde, Shaw, even Synge and Yeats, theyíre part of that turn-of-the-century Protestant renaissance,î Kelly said. ìSo there are factions and differences, not just in religion, but regions and generations.î Contemporary playwrights, while never abandoning the poetry of their version of enriching the English language, take a much less nostalgic or romantic view of the past or the present, following the harsher view of OíCasey or the bleakness of Beckett. ìIt has a lot to do with Gaelic,î Kelly said. ìWhen the teaching of Gaelic was banned by the British, aspects of it tended to find their way into the English of the Irish.î Perhaps not surprisingly, the youth of Ireland, as everywhere, have embraced aspects of one of Americaís biggest exports, which is its pop culture. ìThe Irish film industry is holding its own,î Kelly said. ìItís the same everywhere, American films dominate the market.î Still, Ireland is a beautiful place to film, which is probably why Mel Gibson chose it to make his epic of Scottish history, ìBraveheart.î Kelly comes from County Roscommon from ìnot quite a village, more like a crossroads.î He feels right at home here. ìItís got a self-contained, small Irish community that already exists,î he said. ìAnd youíve got a front-row seat to the workings of American politics and government, which is dramatic and exciting.î For a total immersion in Irish culture on St. Patrickís Day, thereís the fourth annual Irish Arts Festival of Washington, D.C., which runs through March 16 and includes, among other things, a lecture series on Irish-American history at the National Archives, readings at Olssonís Books and Records by Kate McCafferty and Liam Clancy, and a film festival at Visions Cinema, 1927 Florida Ave., NW. For more information, please call (202) 299-0159 or visit www.irisharts.org. Also, thereís lots of theater goings on: Oliver Goldsmithís ìShe Stoops to Conquerî runs through March 31 at the Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol St., NW. Brian Frielís ìGive Me Your Answer, Do!î runs through March 9 at the Keegan Theatre, 1500 North Glebe Road, Arlington, Va. ìThe Weirî by acclaimed new Irish playwright Conor McPherson runs through March 3 at the Round House Theatre, 12210 Bushey Drive, Silver Spring, Md. Gary Tischler is a contributing writer to The Washington Diplomat.