St. Patrick's Day
Ok, so yesterday was St. Patrick's Day. And because I live downtown Minneapolis, I got to experience the craziness that is usually associated with the day. And it got me thinking about all of the misconceptions and insults to the Irish folk, that we Americans tend to do unconsciouly on St. Patrick's Day.
For instance, something that is heavily associated with St. Patrick's Day (green beer) is actually one of the biggest affronts to Irish culture. Somewhere along the line of St. Patrick's Days of the past, someone had the "brilliant" idea to go out and dye their beer green to celebrate the day. This seems to have caught on, and now every time SPD rolls around, green beer appears. Yet this is the biggest affront to Irishness as it puts one more step in between the brewing of the beer and the drinking of the beer. Irish people don't care about the color of their beer. They just care about the beer.
Another "tradition" of SPD that seems to have caught on in America is going out and getting wasted. Americans somehow think that going out and getting wasted on one day will make them more Irish (or something like that). This is not "Irishness." This is binge drinking. If you were truly Irish, you would be drinking every day of the week, every week of the month, and every month of the year. Ok, that may be a bit of an exageration of the Irish, but come on, they're known for their drinking.
Let's face it: Saint Patrick's Day is a day where everyone who isn't of Irish desent wishes they were, and everyone of Irish desent looks at the morons making fools of themselves and wonders what the heck happened to cause all of this. I'm not saying SPD is a bad holiday, I just think that we need to approach it a bit differently. We aren't Irish (well you may not be, I am though). So let's stop pretending we are (if we aren't) and celebrate the Irish culture reasonably by getting flat out wasted with our Irish friends. I mean, "Be responsible." ....Yeah....
For instance, something that is heavily associated with St. Patrick's Day (green beer) is actually one of the biggest affronts to Irish culture. Somewhere along the line of St. Patrick's Days of the past, someone had the "brilliant" idea to go out and dye their beer green to celebrate the day. This seems to have caught on, and now every time SPD rolls around, green beer appears. Yet this is the biggest affront to Irishness as it puts one more step in between the brewing of the beer and the drinking of the beer. Irish people don't care about the color of their beer. They just care about the beer.
Another "tradition" of SPD that seems to have caught on in America is going out and getting wasted. Americans somehow think that going out and getting wasted on one day will make them more Irish (or something like that). This is not "Irishness." This is binge drinking. If you were truly Irish, you would be drinking every day of the week, every week of the month, and every month of the year. Ok, that may be a bit of an exageration of the Irish, but come on, they're known for their drinking.
Let's face it: Saint Patrick's Day is a day where everyone who isn't of Irish desent wishes they were, and everyone of Irish desent looks at the morons making fools of themselves and wonders what the heck happened to cause all of this. I'm not saying SPD is a bad holiday, I just think that we need to approach it a bit differently. We aren't Irish (well you may not be, I am though). So let's stop pretending we are (if we aren't) and celebrate the Irish culture reasonably by getting flat out wasted with our Irish friends. I mean, "Be responsible." ....Yeah....
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