Saint Patrick's Day

Blog post #475 of 365

Happy saint Patrick's day.

That being said how did a religious holiday celebration of the patron Ireland become a reason for almost an entire country to go a little crazy? I mean they die rivers, beer and about anything else they can think of green. Many people use the day as a reason to get drunk in honor of what exactly? Are they Catholic or Irish even? Okay the holiday was adopted by other Christian religions but I wonder how many people even have a clue why we celebrate Saint Patrick.

When I was a kid our classrooms were decorated with shamrocks and rainbows with pots of gold at the end. I remember getting pinched if I forgot to wear green. (A really bad tradition that I hope schools would no longer allow.) In all of those years only one teacher gave us a lesson on Ireland one week around the holiday. She spoke of proud Irish traditions, the blarney stone and politics. As a culmination at the end of the week she wore traditional Irish clothing and brought in Irish soda bread. Even today I believe I would enjoy taking a tour of Ireland because of her lessons.

As I watch the news and TV programs today I don't understand the festivities. Saint Patrick's day is about a religious feast honoring the patron Saint of Ireland on the day of his passing. It is a Christian holiday celebrating the arrival of Christianity into Ireland and Ireland in general. And although I am not Irish, I am Christian and do honor the Irish with a feast of corned beef and cabbage, probably because of that one teacher so many years ago. I am a little confused about the rest of the country though.