Parade was a source of pride and a milestone for our community

THE time to openly celebrate Irish culture in Glasgow has finally come in a symbolic way with the cultural parade (above) which travelled through the city centre as part of the St Patrick’s celebrations.

This was a moment that for many—myself included—proved to be particularly emotional, given the history of the Irish community in the city.

I grew up in Glasgow in the 1980s and 90s and had a very enriched cultural background being involved in St Roch’s as a child—immersed in Irish music. My mother was from County Tyrone and my father’s background is rooted in Donegal so any opportunity to hop over the Irish Sea on holidays was taken to visit family.

There was one part of my ‘background’ that I really struggled with growing up, and it was attached to my name. ‘Paddy Callaghan’ in Glasgow was like a neon sign on my forehead which said ‘Irish’ and whilst within my wider Irish community that was fine, in wider society, it wasn’t.

I grew up hating my name for this reason, I found it to be a barrier to a lot of things. Just to be clear I’ve never been ashamed to be ‘Irish,’ however, in many social situations I found myself instantly pigeonholed. Sometimes in a good way, often however, not.

It is for this reason that I found the parade in Glasgow to be such an emotional experience, for what felt like the first time in my life, the Irish community could express their cultural heritage and identity in a way that wasn’t even just accepted, but even celebrated.

For many people from the Irish community in Glasgow, they express their identity through Celtic Football Club—it’s one of the reasons why Celtic are seen as more than just a club, its defined by its Irish roots which a large section of the support share.

For others their vehicle to enjoy their culture is through the GAA, maybe Irish language classes or groups through Conradh na Gaeilge, or like myself, through Comhaltas. I’ve always felt that the trad music community have been open to all, and its one that ive found Irish culture or particularly ‘The Glasgow Irish’ music scene to be a well-respected part of the wider world.

Whilst all these communities existed in their own right, the parade brought all those different micro-communities together, and whilst each group was proud to wear their own colours and badges, during the parade, everyone was wearing the badge of the Irish community—openly parading their culture, through Glasgow city centre.

It’s something I never really thought I’d get to see, but it was an even bigger honour to share it with the St Roch’s Marching Band, and all the other cultural groups—I’m hopeful that this will be something that becomes a regular fixture in the cultural calendar.

This newfound confidence of the Irish community has been built on previous generations, we didn’t get here quickly or easily, but given we have now enjoyed this milestone, it’s time to push on and consolidate for the future.

For anyone interested in finding out more about this new development, visit: www.comhaltas.ie/education

Paddy Callaghan is the Operations Manager of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in Britain. You can follow him on Twitter: @paddy_box and Instagram: paddy_box and contact him via e-mail at: paddy@comhaltas.co.uk