Saint Patrick’s Day. I assume that I learned about him and the reason for the day of celebration at some point in my life, but it is not one of those things I kept in my memory. So I checked out what Wiki has to say about it. I am often amazed at what things started out to be and how they evolved. Are you familiar with Saint Patrick’s Day? I know it to be a “Drinking Holiday”. I tell everyone I see to be careful — often times they reply, “I don’t drink.” And I remind them that it does not matter if THEY drink others do and so it does a body good to be careful. I remember this is the day that started my love for bagels. I had never liked bagels and especially cream cheese. Then one Saint Patrick’s Day the company I was working for at the time brought in some green bagels. I thought that was super funny so I tried one. So began my love affair with bagels and cream cheese. I don’t remember if the cream cheese was green, but the bagels were. So what is Saint Patrick’s Day?
Well, according to Wiki Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated on the day that the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick died. It is also known as “the Feast of Saint Patrick” and “the Day of the Festival of Patrick”.
In the early 17th century is “was made an official Christian feast day” and anything one gives up for lent can be consumed on this day. So lent takes the day off on Saint Patrick’s Day. Which could be why Saint Patrick’s Day has the reputation as a “Drinking Holiday”.
It could be that I don’t know a lot about Saint Patrick because it sounds as if the information we have is not very concrete. The three left clover is thought to have been used by Saint Patrick to explain the Holy Trinity. And green was originally used in association with Saint Patrick but then someone started using blue but then it went back to green.
There are big celebrations held throughout the world to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day which is really a celebration of a man whose mission was to bring Christianity to Ireland. There are even celebrations “out of this world” as there has been Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations on the International Space Station by some of the Astronauts. (Click here to see Cady Coleman play an Irish Tune, 2011). Seems as if one of the biggest “Drinking Holidays” in the United States started out as a religious holiday.
Which reminds me of something I heard on the radio this morning. The DJ’s were having a contest to see who knew the top five most popular drinking holidays in the United States. There was a survey done by Yahoo of 2,000 adults in the United States. The survey was called “Alcohol and America”.
The results of the top five most popular drinking days are:
1. New Year’s Eve
2. Christmas
3. Fourth of July
4. St. Patrick’s Day
5. Thanksgiving
It took a few callers for this list to be guessed. Because Cinco De Mayo was one of the ones guessed first.
Well, I hope everyone had a Happy and Safe Saint Patrick’s Day. And if you were like me you learned a little something.
What did you do today? Did you wear green? Did you eat any green food?
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