I think the inborn longing for the homeland is what made Irish Americans and Scottish Americans seem sometimes a bit "over the top" in their celebration of and attachment to any trace of the old country...so, while we make St. Patrick's Day a real distortion of what it would be in Ireland, or while we will wear the kilt or the claddagh, and the people in the homeland do so much less frequently, we do it with love and pride, for our ancestors and for the struggles they encountered "over here", we remember and celebrate!