You know how we always hear that St. Patrick's Day in Ireland is kind of like Cinco de Mayo in Mexico...no one really celebrates it in those countries and we Americans just use it as an excuse to drink in the middle of the week? According to my research (thanks Wikipedia) that's not necessarily the case with St. Patrick's day.
In the interest of brevity I'll spare you all the historical details of the actual St. Patrick and get right to the modern day celebration of Ireland's most recognized patron saint.
In 1903 St. Patrick's day became an official public holiday in Ireland, full of feast and merriment. So much merriment in fact that there was a law passed that required pubs to be CLOSED on March 17 because things were getting a little out of hand. That law wasn't repealed until the 1970's...to much merriment I'm sure. Still, even with the pints flowing, St. Patrick's day in Ireland is much less a secular holiday and much more a religious observation.
The same can most definitely NOT be said about our observation of March 17th. So every March we put on our green hat and go streaking through the quad to the gymnasium, all in the name of the man who helped bring Christianity to Ireland.
Make perfect sense to me.
Thanks for mentioning the 5 de Mayo urban myth. Considering that my wife´s name is Patricia and that I am a huge St. Patty´s day fan, we celebrated yesterday in Mexico City as well. I love Dia de San Patricio!
ReplyDeleteThat a boy Fur-man...I love that you keep bringing a little bit of the Red, White and Blue...and green for that matter, to Mexico City.
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