I'm always amazed at the number of funny Irish drinking jokes that come out on St. Patrick's Day. Is that because everyone is drinking green beer? Here is one of my favorites:
An
Irishman walks into a bar in Dublin, orders three pints of Guinness and sits in
the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn. When he finishes
them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more. The bartender approaches
and tells him, "You know, a pint goes flat after I draw it, and it would
taste better if you bought one at a time."
The Irishman replies, “Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is
in America, the other is in Australia, and I'm in Dublin. When we all left
home, we promised that we'd drink this way to remember the days we drank
together. So I drink one for each o'me brothers and one for me self."
The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it
there.
The Irishman becomes a regular in the bar, and always drinks the
same way: He orders three pints and drinks them in turn.
One day, he comes in and orders two pints. All the other regulars
take notice and fall silent. When he
comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, "I don't
want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your
loss." The Irishman looks quite puzzled for a moment, then a light dawns
and he laughs. "Oh, no, everybody's just fine," he explains,
"It's just that me wife had us join that Baptist Church and I had to quit
drinking. But it hasn't affected me brothers though."
I hope that little joke made you laugh out loud, and I
hope it gets you in a jovial and happy mood for St. Patrick’s Day.
Remember to wear green on St. Patrick's Day! Any other day of the year it would be very rude to pinch someone; but on this day, if you are not wearing green; it is perfectly acceptable for anyone to come up and pinch you! Be careful! Wear green!
Did you know that originally at the
first celebrations the color was actually blue?
The blue has been long forgotten in honor of the fact that Ireland is
the Emerald Isle, Ireland’s flag is green, and St. Patrick used the green 3
leafed clovers to teach about The Trinity. An old legend
also goes that wearing green makes you invisible to leprechauns who will pinch
you if they can see you.
For the hidden, not often shared, educational
value of the green; we do know that wearing green commemorates the Irish Rebellion of 1798, when the
British, who were oppressing Ireland, declared that wearing a shamrock, or anything
green, was considered a symbol of support for Irish rebellion and was
punishable by hanging. Many people were shot on sight for the offense back in
those days. Back then green was used by
the Society of United Irishmen; a political organization that was fighting for
parliamentary reforms as well as a Republic for the Irish people. An Irish Republic would have ended the English
rule. The wearing of the green is,
therefore, a "fist in the air" act of defiance representing the brave
men and women who fought for their independence. Today, if you do not wear a touch of green on
St Patrick's Day, you get symbolically punished by getting pinched, instead of
getting killed for wearing it. I'm happy to be living on this side of history.
In
the 1700's, Irish immigrants in the United States started the first St.
Patrick's Day Parade in New York City. Those old Irish traditions came to be cherished in the land of the free and the home of the brave ever after; making Americans enjoy this day as much or more than they do in ole Ireland.
In
the very beginning though, the Irish Catholics originally noted this day for
celebrating the life and times of their patron Saint Patrick, which is a real
interesting twist of the story, considering that the real St. Patrick wasn’t
even Irish. He was born in Britain
around A.D. 390 to an aristocratic Christian family, who owned a townhouse and
a country villa and plenty of slaves.
Patrick
professed no interest in Christianity as a young boy. At 16 Patrick’s destiny unfolded. He was kidnapped and sent overseas to tend
sheep as a slave in the chilly mountainous countryside of Ireland for seven
years. It was during this horrible
experience that Patrick met God and became a deeply convicted Christian. It is a long and intriguing story but
according to St. Patrick’s Day lore, Patrick used the three leaves of the
shamrock to explain the Christian Holy Trinity; the Father, The Son and The
Holy Spirit.
Many
traditions have evolved from this day over time, some centering around St.
Patrick and some not.
In
1962 in a show of solidarity in Chicago, the city decided to dye a portion of
the Chicago River green. A parade
organizer for a plumber’s union noticed how a dye used to trace possible
sources of river pollution had stained a fellow worker’s overalls a brilliant
green. He decided why not use the dye to
turn the whole river green on St. Patrick’s Day? It not only added to the celebration, but
helped to keep the river healthy. The custom
is still traditional in Chicago today.
5.5
million pints of Guinness beer are consumed around the world on any given day,
but on St. Patrick’s Day that number more than doubles to 13 million
pints. It seems those Irish immigrants
brought this habit with them too. This
is a night when Irish pubs, as well as pubs in general, are packed. If you happen to run into a real lrishman at
one of these happy establishments, he will probably tell you that St. Patrick’s
Day in Ireland at one time was only a special story and possibly a nice dinner at
home until the American’s turned it into parades and huge community celebrations
to raise money for charitable causes.
They aren’t complaining in Ireland though, they have even upgraded their
own celebrations in order to attract more tourists in the spring. Everyone wins, and it is really a lot of fun.
Do
you have a favorite Irish food that you eat on St. Patrick’s Day? You will find corned beef and cabbage in all
the finest restaurants on this day, as well as, Irish stew, colcannon and soda
bread all served up with green beer.
So
go ahead – Go green!
