{"id":46124,"date":"2016-03-20T19:29:15","date_gmt":"2016-03-20T19:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=46124"},"modified":"2016-03-20T19:35:55","modified_gmt":"2016-03-20T19:35:55","slug":"ever-wondered-why-montserrat-have-a-day-off-for-st-patricks-day-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=46124","title":{"rendered":"Ever wondered why Montserrat have a day off for St Patrick\u2019s Day too?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever wondered why Montserrat have a day off for St Patrick\u2019s Day too?<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

TheJournal.ie<\/a>
\nDublin, Ireland
\n2016-03-17<\/p>\n

Laura McAtackney<\/strong><\/a>, Associate Professor in Sustainable Heritage Management (Archaeology)
\nArhus University, Aarhus, Denmark<\/em><\/p>\n

Krysta Ryzewski<\/a><\/strong>, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
\nWayne State University, Detroit, Michigan<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This edited article, written by Laura McAtackney and Krysta Ryzewski, is part of a chapter \u2018Historic and contemporary Irish identity on Montserrat, the \u2018Emerald Isle of the Caribbean\u2019 in Alison Donnell, Maria McGarrity & Evelyn O\u2019Callaghan \u2018s book: <\/em>Caribbean Irish Connections<\/a> for University of West Indies Press.<\/em><\/p>\n

CONTEMPORARY MONTSERRAT<\/a> IS marketed globally as the \u201cEmerald Isle of the Caribbean\u201d. This tagline inspires tourists and scholars to visualise a verdant, fertile paradise bolstered by genuine and lasting historic links to Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The island\u2019s Irish connections have long been a source of interest for local residents and tourists alike, and over the past two decades government agencies, the tourism industry and local communities have made concerted efforts to bolster its Irish legacy and build upon perceived connections between present-day Montserrat and historic Irish communities.<\/p>\n

Its most prominent example of these efforts is St Patrick\u2019s Day<\/a>, a national holiday that simultaneously commemorates the island\u2019s Irish heritage and a failed uprising by Afro-Caribbean slaves and members of the island\u2019s free black community on the same day in 1768.<\/p>\n

The St Patrick\u2019s holiday has grown into a week-long festival that attracts international tourists and acts as a major homecoming event for Montserrat\u2019s diaspora community.<\/p>\n

Today, Montserrat\u2019s connection to an \u2018Irish\u2019 identity is strong but this has not always been the case…<\/p>\n