Many Americans go all out every year to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and this year was no different. 

They don their green and state how this is “their holiday” because their great-great-grandfather was a quarter Irish. While St. Patrick’s Day has become such a mainstream holiday here in the United States, the birthplace of the holiday puts a little less emphasis on St. Patrick’s Day. In Ireland, St. Patty’s Day takes second stage to the Rose of Tralee International Festival. The Rose of Tralee is a celebration held by Irish communities all over the world based off the Irish ballad of a woman named Mary who, because of her beauty, was called the Rose of Tralee. Every year before the festival in August, women from all over compete in pageants to be selected as a Rose. The women that win at their regional pageant will go on to represent their area in the finals in Ireland to compete to be crowned the Rose of Tralee and to represent the qualities of the original Rose of Tralee for the year. But not every woman is welcomed at this pageant. 

Only women who are Catholic may enter this pageant. Yes, only one certain religion enter this pageant. This rule that potential participants must meet to even qualify for the pageant has no logistical reasoning behind it.  The festival has no religious ties and to even further the point of why diversity should be allowed in The Rose of Tralee pageant is that Irish citizens practice multiple religions. So, why should a main criteria for the queen that represents them be that she is only a practicing Catholic? As a Catholic myself, I find this a rather unreasonable request. The criteria that a woman must be Catholic to be able to compete in this pageant hinders so many women that are perfectly eligible to win the title only hinders the organization itself from the opportunity to see fantastic competitors only because of archaic traditions of having Catholic women compete.

One community that holds this pageant to select a Rose representative is New Orleans, Louisiana. So, perhaps if you are lucky enough, or should I say Catholic enough, maybe a young woman reading this right now has a chance at becoming New Orleans’ Rose. Being Catholic is one regulation for the contest’s selection process. The Rose of Tralee differs slightly from a typical pageant. The competition is not a typical beauty pageant, but rather, the winners are chosen based on which contestant best embodies the attributes of the original Rose of Tralee. So, why should religion even be a factor? Yes, the original maid, Mary, that the legend is based on was Catholic. If the main trait that decides the winner is personality, shouldn’t the organization allow women of all faiths the chance to compete to widen the prospect of finding the best woman to represent the Rose of Tralee Festival? I feel as if this marginalizes the whole system which the pageant circuit definitely does not need any more of. 

With the stereotypes that pageant queens must be a certain size, height and color, the idea that queens must be a real life Barbie is a pageant stereotype that has gone on for generations. The pageant world is slowly taking its first steps into accepting that normal body types should be what is considered beautiful enough to win a crown. With so many physical restrictions already in place, preventing many girls from even attempting to compete in pageant circuit,  why add on another obstruction like religion to marginalize an already tiny competitive committee? 

Times have changed, and I believe that the Rose of Tralee’s organization should also update their traditions to keep up with society’s changes and allow women to compete in the Rose of Tralee’s pageant regardless of their religion.