Often, holidays are deemed harmless, treated with little concern and seen as a time for people to gather together and celebrate life with food, drink and family. But often these seemingly harmless days of celebration hide a darker secret behind their colorful trappings. Labor Day was infamously made possible by a massacre of dozens of people during a labor dispute, Memorial Day is a time of remembrance of those who gave their lives in service to their country and any number of other holidays can trace their lineage back to a time when larger churches tried to usurp the local culture. St. Patrick's Day is no exception to this, having a history of racism and stereotypes behind its cheerful, drunken demeanor.
Many have heard of the claims that Saint Patrick's Day is racist against the Irish or that the Irish use it as an excuse to become unruly. The day has been related to Ireland and their culture since the beginning and some would claim that a day famous for drinking may be an unfair representation of the Irish people. But what few have realized is that there's a far more sinister undercurrent of racism against an even smaller minority, both figuratively and literally: Leprechauns.
Once upon a time the traditional color for Saint Patrick's Day was blue and the feast was held for religious purposes. The story of Saint Patrick bringing Christianity to the Irish has been a part of their culture for centuries. But as time went on, the color slowly shifted towards green and the celebration turned towards more libatious gatherings. Over roughly the same period of time the traditional colors for the depictions of Leprechauns shifted from red to green. And so, a once religious holiday now became a day when people dressed like Leprechauns and made light of the infamous drinking problems of the wee folk.
Overnight, the Leprechaun became a mascot for a day that didn't represent their best interests. And, of course, this wouldn't be the first time a mascot was degrading to who they were based on. We've frequently seen the kind of things that people have turned into mascots, such as:
And people have protested all of these. When someone is discriminated against, someone comes to the defense of that ethnicity and tells the others that it is not okay. So long as it is "human" it is not acceptable. Thus the Indians mascot, despite their logo being an "Indian", actually looks like this:
But look at the last one for a moment there and consider what that actually looks like. Have you ever seen an Irishman dressed that way? No, it looks like a leprechaun. And how are they depicted there? Violent and disorderly.
For a very long time, Leprechauns have been treated as second or third class citizens with stories about how imprisoning them would benefit their captors or that they were the causes of mischief for no reason at all. And while it is true that there is a tendency for disorderly behavior among their people, the truth of Leprechauns is that many of them are alcoholics, and should be helped, not mocked.
But this isn't the only time when a Holiday has taken the image of an unfortunate Alter and twisted it to their own means. Consider Cupid, a small, winged cherub with no apparent clothes forced to hunt for his livelihood with a small bow that he clearly had to make himself.
Has anyone thought to rise to his defense or provide him with food, clothing and shelter? As you hand chocolates to your lover, have you ever considered that the boy depicted on the box has to hunt for his food?
Yes, Cupid often hunts humans, but if you were that hungry, wouldn't you too?
And what of the Christmas Elves? For a few months of the year, the Christmas Elves are paid slave wages, worked at all hours and pushed to fill an unreasonable quota in below zero temperatures under the authority of a man who is clearly not only a glutton but has all of the signs of severe substance abuse problems.
And then what? As the season is over, they're unemployed once again, pushed aside and forgotten for the rest of the year, left without anywhere to turn to and discriminated against because their youthful features make them appear to violate child labor laws, something Mr. Claus has never addressed in the past.
Often, the only means for these poor souls to find employment the rest of the year is to dress in diapers for New Years and Valentines or don a green outfit and take part in the bigotry of the Saint Patrick's Day revelry.
And thus, the circle is complete.
If you think this is unacceptable, know Leprechauns, Elves or even have one in your family - show your support for Alters United. Together, we can stop the hate
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