Culture and Celebration

On our last night in Italy, my cousins and I were walking my brother and his wife to the train station. Between il Centro and the station is a park, and Betti was telling me that this is where they hold the annual fair. My mother had mentioned the fair many times, so that was kind of special to realize this was the spot.

I told Betti about how we have the Rose Festival in June. She told me that in June they have a Gay Pride celebration, and I told her ours is in June too. After I translated, Lance asked if they had the Naked Bike Ride too. Translating that was a little more difficult, and it led to some joking, but no, they do not have that.

That was just a fun little conversation over a short walk, but what caused me to think of it was a different conversation that has been on my mind as I write about Portland and how we are. My sisters were telling me about a friend who was bothered that all of the things we celebrate are from other cultures, and we don't really celebrate our own. I should specify that this conversation happened about halfway between St. Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo.

Where do I start? My first thought was that this is the complaint of someone watching Fox News, which I know runs in her house a lot. Also, those are not really good examples of another culture taking over. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated more in the United States than in Mexico. Some regions do celebrate it, especially Pueblo, their small regional holiday is largely an excuse to drink here. Sure, they will call the beer "cerveza", and break out the tequila, but that does not make it a triumph of Mexican culture.

Our celebrations of Saint Patrick's Day are similar. The beer is green, and it's Guinness instead of tequila, but still it's basically an alcohol thing. The sad part about this is that my understanding growing up was always that in Ireland the primary commemoration was going to Mass, but this year an Irish girl tweeted about her father being dressed up as a leprechaun and heading to the pub, and I'm afraid we did that to them. Our culture remains dominant (and possibly in need of a 12- step program). Of course, we add fun runs and big sales to everything too, but still, those seem like very American things.

What should a celebration of American culture even involve? A hot dog eating contest? We don't have one locally, but those happen. There will be fireworks all over the place Thursday night, and parades in some places. Some things have faded over time, but if the Latin Music Festival outdraws the Rodeo, that's not because of the immigrants; it's because of the natives not wanting to go to the rodeo.

My heritage is Italian, and that is important to me, but I pretty much never go to the Festa Italiana, and I try to never miss the Greek Festival. There's no self-hatred or family forgetfulness there, but there are things that I like at the Greek Fest that I only get there, and I get Italian culture in different ways.

Even if we do not need to go out of the way to get steeped in American culture or Oregon or Portland culture, we do have a lot of festivals here that do relate to our history and environment. There is the Rose Festival, and festivals for garlic and tulips, and corn mazes at Halloween, and lots of smaller agricultural celebrations. I don't think they still do Boones Ferry Days, but I'm pretty sure the Crawfish festival still happens.

Maybe we are less connected to our agrarian background, and there are downsides to that, but how about Wordstock, Ignite Portland, Stumptown Comics Fest and Rose City Comic Con, First Thursday, the Waterfront Blues Fest, and the Portland Bridge Pedal? Doesn't that celebrate the local culture?

One thing this person says frequently is that we value the wrong things, and that may be true, and that goes with what I was saying yesterday. We do need to choose what is important, consciously, and protect the things that are important. But if we get into this mood of being besieged, it's too easy to find fault with everything and it is taking attention away from the real threats. That once a year you can go to Pacific University and watch Tongans dance and eat traditional food does not threaten society the way underfunded schools or cuts in public transportation do.

I guess really what I am trying to say is Happy Independence Day, and for the love of all that is good and pure, please quit watching Fox News. I know CNN and MSNBC have been disappointing lately, but still, don't watch Fox.