International Women’s Day has become slightly more popular in Ireland over the past couple of years. This is mostly due to social media.
However, the holiday is not nearly as popular in Ireland as it is in Eastern European countries.
For example, most Irish women do not expect gifts on this day.
However, in countries such as Poland, celebrating the women in your life and gifting them flowers is a tradition.
In other words, this holiday is a part of their culture. They see it as a big occasion.
The reason International Women’s Day is more popular in Eastern European countries is that it was predominantly a communist holiday up until the end of the 1960s.
It wasn’t until the late 60s and 70s that the day became popular amongst feminists in general.
As a result, International Women’s Day did not become a large part of western culture. In fact, most Irish men today grew up without realising that it was even a thing.
It’s not that they are against the holiday. It’s just that they never knew it existed in the first place.
Over the years, Irish men have celebrated the women in their lives on other days.
- Valentine’s Day.
- Mother’s Day.
As you can see, there is no general day to celebrate all women.
Instead, we have two separate days. And these two days are pretty specific.
We celebrate our partners in February and we celebrate our mothers in March.
Misunderstandings and cultural differences.
This cultural difference can lead to “misunderstandings” between Irish and Eastern European couples.
In one case, a Polish woman was extremely hurt because her Irish boyfriend did not buy her anything on International Women’s Day.
She took this as a personal insult. And that is understandable.
This woman grew up in a culture where you receive gifts such as flowers on International Women’s Day.
However, her Irish boyfriend grew up in a different culture. A culture in which you gift your partner on Valentine’s Day.
The day came and she received nothing. He didn’t even mention it.
As a result, she felt hurt and unappreciated.
Truth be told, neither of them were in the wrong on this. It was just a cultural misunderstanding.
And they did not realise this until they actually sat down and spoke about it.
As you can see, tradition plays a major role in determining whether or not a certain holiday is celebrated. As a result, it can be difficult to “kick start” a new one.