
I took this picture in Savannah, home to one of the world's largest St. Patrick's Day celebrations. Funny how a religious holy day in Ireland has come to mean excessive drinking of green beer and loutish behaviour (remembering the riot last year in London, Ontario with torched cars and violence through the night).
We do like to pervert the normal course of a celebration when we bring it to North America and make it 'ours'. I may be critical of North America when I seek to blame it yet so much excess starts here and then the rest of the world 'catches up'. If you don't believe me look at what Easter, Valentine's Day, Hallowe'en, Christmas used to be like in other parts of the world, how it has been transformed to become a huge spectacle here, and how pieces of this spectacle are now flowing back and changing the original celebration.
SIGH
Another good example of this is with the food eaten on St. Patrick's Day. Over on facebook all of my friends are talking about getting their corned beef boiling with cabbage and potatoes. I've mentioned before about how my Irish friend would rant about this every year, declaring that no self-respecting Irish person would ever serve boiled corned beef and cabbage to guests. It would be an insult.
Yet to many of us it just wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without a pot on the stove filled with a lump of pink, cured beef boiling away. In fact, one of my 'happy US discoveries' has been that corned beef in the US is better (and cheaper) than corned beef in Canada (although my experience with other cuts of beef has not been the same). A few weeks ago when we were over the border I grabbed two large packages and brought them home for our St. Patrick's Day celebration. I knew it was as Irish as the hated Olive Garden is Italian, but once a year . . . who am I to stand in the face of North American will?
We had planned our annual St. Patrick's Day dinner for yesterday but when my sinus infection from hell (sorry, there are no other words to describe this mutant virus) decided to make a return visit I cancelled dinner; the first time in my life I have ever cancelled a dinner party.
As a result, there are no photos of this year's celebration to share.
Instead - how about a smile or two and some trivia?


And now some trivia . . .
In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is a religious holiday similar to Christmas and Easter.
Erin go Bragh translates to “Ireland forever.”
The very first St. Patrick’s Day parade was not in Ireland. It was in Boston in 1737.
The largest parade in the US, held since 1762, is in New York City, and draws more than one million spectators each year.
Over 100 US cities hold a parade every year. Some of the other
biggest St. Patrick’s Day parades are in Chicago, Illinois and Savannah,
Georgia.
In 1948 President Truman became the first president to attend a St. Patrick’s Day parade.
The city of Chicago goes so far to celebrate that they dye their river green.
Green is associated with Saint Patrick’s Day because it is the color of spring, of Ireland, and of the shamrock.
The colour originally associated with St.Patrick and his holy day was blue.
o celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, 110 million people will celebrate the
day by wearing green, making an Irish-inspired meal, or going out to
celebrate.
There are 33.7 million U.S. residents who are of Irish
ancestry. That number is almost nine times the population of Ireland
itself.
15 million cards are exchanged on St. Patrick’s Day. 10% of all St Patrick’s Day cards are sold in New York.
St. Patrick is a hero in Ireland. And there are about 60 churches and
cathedrals named for him in Ireland alone. One of the most famous
cathedrals is St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. These grounds bear the
mark of the place where St. Patrick baptized his converts.