Summer Smith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
somethingwithturquoise) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2020-03-17 06:56 am
somethingwithturquoise) wrote in fandomhigh2020-03-17 06:56 am
Entry tags:
The Multiverse is F'ed, Y'all - Tuesday, Second Period [03/17].
"Good morning, everyone!" said Summer, who was definitely wearing enough green right now to possibly blend into today's backdrop for class. "And welcome to the Irish countryside! I assume. I've never actually been, so I'm trusting the Danger Shop on this one. Anyway, some of you may already know it, but today is a holiday called St. Patrick's Day, and since it conveniently landed on our class day, I'm going to completely bastardize it and use it as an example of how you don't need to go all the way out into space to find crazy celebrations and weird holidays.
"St. Patrick's Day is literally a day created to celebrate the Catholic patron saint of Ireland, which then developed into a very secular excuse for parades and drinking a lot. Anyway, St. Patrick himself was captured into slavery as a shepherd, which apparently was a thing, and while being a shepherd, he found religion and then worked to totally cancel pagan regliions in Ireland and replace it with Catholocism. This aspect of his contributions is sometimes told as a story where he drive a massive horde of 'snakes,'" oh, yes, very much finger quotes on that, "out of the country and saved the Irish from these 'snaaaakes.'
"'Snakes'," she added, in case anyone wasn't following, "is just code for druids and shit. It basically a holiday celebrating a dude who sparked a religious take-over that sort of changed the whole make-up of the country in a way that would stick around pretty much through until present day. And, over the centuries, the celebration of this one dude has turned into just a massive excuse to drink based on a stereotype, a few things about leprechauns that I'm sure real leprechauns find offensive, an obsession with the color green and shamrocks, and...well, I don't know, it's just a really good example of how there are so many cultures, including Earth's, that kind of take something and run wild with it until you can barely recognize its original origins. I mean, technically, a lot of the popularity of the holiday stems from Irish diaspora in world where they have trouble finding a place and clinging to their identity when emigrating to different countries like the United States, which, at times, greeted them with hostile stereotypes (adding a bit of irony over the whole start of the holiday where good old Pat came sweeping in with a shillelagh to drive off perfectly comfortable 'snaaakes' who were just minding their own business and were there all along).
"Anyway, for those of you not from Earth, these odd ways our holidays morph probably makes us all seem particularly crazy. And this is just me talking about St. Patrick's Day. Don't even get me started on Easter! But, at the same time, though the origins might be a little fucked up or weird or bastardized or completely taken out of hand into potentially offensive territory, at the heart of the matter, it's just an excuse to get together and have a good time with a vague general sort of agreed-upon theme to bolster it. Does that excuse it? Does celebrating a holiday without really paying attention to its origins cheapen the history of it or normalize problematic details of history? What do you do, when you come across a culture with an odd holiday that you don't really understand? Embrace it? Question it? Try to change it?
"I also feel this is a good time to mention that, hey, remember that purge planet a couple weeks ago? That was a holiday for them, too. One that was actually propegated by the social and economic elite of that planet to keep the peasants at bay, which we didn't really get to. But it just turned into a big, albeit bloody, party for them in the long run, and part of their culture. So where does it the line fall? Where's the point where accepting or even adopting a culture's traditions and holidays become untenable? Do we really take the time to examine the origins of something like St. Patrick's Day, or do we just lighten up and enjoy it because it's just supposed to be a fun, good time?
"Just some questions to think about while we do a little activity. Wherein one of you will be St. Patrick, and some of you will be druids and 'snakes' and general Irish peasants, and St. Patrick will do whatever he or she can to drive out the druids and snakes and the general Irish peasants can decide if they want to support St. Patrick or not, and we'll go from there!
"Also," she added, almost as if a quick afterthought, "there's definitely a little leprechaun dude running around that's going to pinch you the whole time if you're not wearing green." She smiled brightly. "Any questions?"
[[ ocdon the way! is up! ]]
"St. Patrick's Day is literally a day created to celebrate the Catholic patron saint of Ireland, which then developed into a very secular excuse for parades and drinking a lot. Anyway, St. Patrick himself was captured into slavery as a shepherd, which apparently was a thing, and while being a shepherd, he found religion and then worked to totally cancel pagan regliions in Ireland and replace it with Catholocism. This aspect of his contributions is sometimes told as a story where he drive a massive horde of 'snakes,'" oh, yes, very much finger quotes on that, "out of the country and saved the Irish from these 'snaaaakes.'
"'Snakes'," she added, in case anyone wasn't following, "is just code for druids and shit. It basically a holiday celebrating a dude who sparked a religious take-over that sort of changed the whole make-up of the country in a way that would stick around pretty much through until present day. And, over the centuries, the celebration of this one dude has turned into just a massive excuse to drink based on a stereotype, a few things about leprechauns that I'm sure real leprechauns find offensive, an obsession with the color green and shamrocks, and...well, I don't know, it's just a really good example of how there are so many cultures, including Earth's, that kind of take something and run wild with it until you can barely recognize its original origins. I mean, technically, a lot of the popularity of the holiday stems from Irish diaspora in world where they have trouble finding a place and clinging to their identity when emigrating to different countries like the United States, which, at times, greeted them with hostile stereotypes (adding a bit of irony over the whole start of the holiday where good old Pat came sweeping in with a shillelagh to drive off perfectly comfortable 'snaaakes' who were just minding their own business and were there all along).
"Anyway, for those of you not from Earth, these odd ways our holidays morph probably makes us all seem particularly crazy. And this is just me talking about St. Patrick's Day. Don't even get me started on Easter! But, at the same time, though the origins might be a little fucked up or weird or bastardized or completely taken out of hand into potentially offensive territory, at the heart of the matter, it's just an excuse to get together and have a good time with a vague general sort of agreed-upon theme to bolster it. Does that excuse it? Does celebrating a holiday without really paying attention to its origins cheapen the history of it or normalize problematic details of history? What do you do, when you come across a culture with an odd holiday that you don't really understand? Embrace it? Question it? Try to change it?
"I also feel this is a good time to mention that, hey, remember that purge planet a couple weeks ago? That was a holiday for them, too. One that was actually propegated by the social and economic elite of that planet to keep the peasants at bay, which we didn't really get to. But it just turned into a big, albeit bloody, party for them in the long run, and part of their culture. So where does it the line fall? Where's the point where accepting or even adopting a culture's traditions and holidays become untenable? Do we really take the time to examine the origins of something like St. Patrick's Day, or do we just lighten up and enjoy it because it's just supposed to be a fun, good time?
"Just some questions to think about while we do a little activity. Wherein one of you will be St. Patrick, and some of you will be druids and 'snakes' and general Irish peasants, and St. Patrick will do whatever he or she can to drive out the druids and snakes and the general Irish peasants can decide if they want to support St. Patrick or not, and we'll go from there!
"Also," she added, almost as if a quick afterthought, "there's definitely a little leprechaun dude running around that's going to pinch you the whole time if you're not wearing green." She smiled brightly. "Any questions?"
[[ ocd
Re: Sign In - Multiverse, 03/17.
Re: Sign In - Multiverse, 03/17.