I'm not Irish, but kiss me anyway!

[poltr1]

St. Patrick's Day. The day that St. Patrick allegedly drove the snakes out of Ireland.

Do I celebrate it? No, not really. I have no Irish ancestry. And if this is a metaphor for driving out pagans and druids and replacing them with the Church, then there certainly is no need or desire for a ceabration.


What I find appalling is that St. Patrick's Day has, in the States, become an excuse to get drunk on green beer and act stupid. Why? Where did this come from?

I still cringe and shudder when someone mentions the name "P.J. Bottoms" -- a tavern near the SUNY/Buffalo Main St. campus that had the green beer and other shenanigans on March 17 of every year. They'd start the day at 8 am with cups of green beer for a nickel, and raise the price a nickel every hour. The bar gained notoriety in the early '80s because of their "General Hospital Happy Hour" -- watch the soap and down the suds for cheap.

I've heard of too many young men who have died from excessive alcohol ingestion. Some voluntary, some coerced (i.e. hazing). It's not funny anymore; it's deplorable. The most recent example off the top of my head was the president of a college fraternity chapter who celebrated his 21st birthday with.....21 shots. He passed away within a day.

I want to take a picture of someone who's had too much to drink, is in the process of getting sick, enlarge the picture to poster size, and add the caption "Alcohol poisoning is very glamorous." (We did something like that in my fraternity days before the great FIPG crackdown, except we didn't add the caption to the poster.)

Not only that, it perpetuates a negative stereotype about the Irish, that they're excessive drinkers.

If you're gonna drink something on St. Patty's Day, consider quality, not quantity. Have a pint of Guinness, or a shot of Tullamore Dew (fine Catholic distillery, as one spirits distributor told me).

Comments

[folkmew.livejournal.com]

Interesting point about St. Pat's day.
My mother's maiden name is Fitzpatrick. My great great grandparents I think are the ones who came from Ireland. Valentine Fitzpatrick (is that a great name or what? ;-)

For years I wore both green and orange with a black armband to school on St. Pat's day.

I think, like any other ethnic holiday in the States, it is a celebration of "where we came from, and triumph over difficult odds" "No Irish Need Apply". For many people it's just an excuse to drink bad green beer. For some of us it is a time to reflect on our Irish heritage and what it means to us, and, I'm sure for those more deeply rooted in Ireland, there are other meanings.

If I were to drink anything to celebrate though it would have to be either Jamesons (which is what my very Irish ex-mother-in-law drank) or good strong black Irish tea with milk and sugar.

[poltr1]

Ah, Jameson. Another fine Catholic distillery. Old Bush Mills is produced at a Protestant distillery.

I think I should follow this up with a post about an Italian holiday: St. Joseph's Day (March 19).

[doeadear.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree more. I have disliked St. Patty's day since I was in first grade and the kids on the playground were pitchin a hissy since I didn't wear green. I thought, this is really dumb. I have no Irish ancestry, either. I am assuming that your heritage includes Italian? I mean, the Italians were working right alongside the Irish when they built the Brooklyn Bridge. If we were to make a day for all the members of our melting pot, we'd be drinking 24/7! My heritage is German, Polish, English and Seminole. I always thought well, I'm not Irish and I am not a drinker, but everyone who wants an excuse to get wasted is Irish for a day. And, I have observed that the Irish don't mine being lampooned as drunks. They work hard, and they drink hard. Then the Scots are waiting for postal money orders to pay back the 10 quid they borrowed, but that's another story.

Hallmark has already made Valentine's Day an excuse to make people buy all kinds of crap so they keep getting regular sex. I don't know why St. Patty's day has become so huge, I know we had a huge influx of Irish immigrants 150-odd years ago who were treated worse than dogs, but, we can say that about almost every immigrant (or slave!) can't we?

If we were to celebrate the feast days of the patron saints of every immigrant, here is just a small sampling:

Germany-St. Boniface
India-Our Lady of Bandel
Italy-Madonna of St. Luke
Poland-Stanislaus of Cracow

(My mother used to always say, "Well, then, I want to celebrate St. Stanislaus day!")

By the way, my patron saint is on the cover of Time Magazine. Gonna buy 5 copies for my mother.

P.S.

[doeadear.livejournal.com]

St. Stanislaus Day is coming up on April 11! Mark your calendar!

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I try hard not to comment on religion publicly, largely because of strong impulses to say nasty things while there's a part of me that knows better and wants to acknowledge the good as well as the bad side of it.

But on St. Genocide's Day, I have to admit, I pity anyone who has to be outdoors too much. Most especially I pity anyone near a known hazard, such as a tavern, or the parade in Manhattan.

Give me a calendar of saints, and I think I could point to upwards of 350 preferable saints and days to celebrate annually.

[jhayman.livejournal.com]

I think that celebrating EVERYONE's varying ethnicity is a fine idea.

[poltr1]

I am assuming that your heritage includes Italian?

Aye, it does (on my dad's side). And if you did a Google search on my last name, you'll get many websites featuring Italian furniture.

I'm Polish on my mom's side of the family. And her parents are buried in St. Stanislaus Cemetary in Cheektowaga NY.

By the way, does "Dyngus Day" mean anything to you?

[doeadear.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. America is one big melting pot, and focusing on the culture of one set of immigrants seems odd to me.

[doeadear.livejournal.com]

Dyngus Day sounds familiar, but I don't really know what it means.

And Cheektowaga is Polish for "Near the airport." See, I still remember a few things!

[doeadear.livejournal.com]

.Here you go!

[jhayman.livejournal.com]

And I'm not American.

CANADA is a cultural mosaic and has never taken the point of view of being a melting pot. We have lost too much by that stance. Though after 200 years here (on my mom's side) we're pretty much melted.

[poltr1]

Someone I know compared the melting pot to a box of crayons. If one melts all the crayons together, what is the resulting color?

I like the cultural mosaic paradigm. Each culture is distinct, but we all fit together. At least it's more appealing than calling it the salad bowl.

I miss that cultural diversity. I don't get much of it here, unless it's German or Appalachian.