FROM A SAINT AND SNAKES IN IRELAND TO PARADES AND DRINKING GREEN BEER

Everyone is Irish today. It’s St. Patrick’s Day!

The wearin’ of the green. Even I am in green. I dug out an old green tee shirt and am wearing it as I write.

Think about it. Today’s title fits: From a Saint and Snakes in Ireland to Parades and Drinking Green Beer.

I am going to share some tidbits of information concerning St. Patrick and the holiday. Some you may know, or think you know. Others not and will be surprised.

St. Patrick was not Irish. If one goes way back, he has been described as Italian born as a Roman. Some say he is of English birth since when captured at 16 he was living in England. One thing is sure, he was not born in Ireland.

St. Patrick’s Day was not always a big party. Not even a parade. Initially considered a celebration. It was a Catholic feast day. The first largely public celebration occurred in Boston in 1737.

Note again, no parade involved. Merely a party of sorts.

Now for the real confusion.

Confusion arises in trying to accurately determine  the date of the first parade and why March 17 is the day we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Repeating myself, the first celebration was in 1737.

The date of the first parade claimed by a number of communities. St. Augustine, Florida 1601. New York City 1762. New York City again 1776.

March 17 is also significant for other claims. His date of capture 432 A.D. His date of death 461 A.D.

All of the preceding have been claimed as having occurred on March 17 and such is the reason St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17. Obviously no one is sure why.

St. Patrick, the shamrock and the Irish are interrelated. Legend has it that Saint Patrick used the shamrock to describe the idea of God as a Holy Trinity. Three leaves on a normal shamrock. God consisting of Three Persons.

St. Patrick wore blue. Never green. People started cloaking images of him in green in the 19th century. For purposes of celebration and to commemorate St. Patrick’s use of the shamrock.

Snakes were never driven out of Ireland by St. Patrick or anyone else. There never were any snakes in Ireland. The snakes are actually a metaphor for the pagans St. Patrick drove out of Ireland.

There are more Irish in the U.S. today than in Ireland. Significantly more. The present U.S. population of those of Irish descent is 35 million. Ireland’s population is only 4 million.

The river running through Chicago is always green for St. Patrick’s day. Huge amounts of green coloring are hosed into the water. The greening of the river began in 1962.

I watched it being done yesterday in Chicago this morning on TV. Relatively large tug type vessel. Celebrants on board already partying one day early.

Corned beef and cabbage is a popular Irish tradition. Each year it is estimated 26 billion pounds of beef and 2 billion pounds of cabbage will be consumed worldwide. Also consumed worldwide will be 13 million pints of Guinness beer.

The one source considered accurate re Saint Patrick’s life is a work by St. Patrick himself wrote in the last years of his life. Confessio.

Normally I would be running around Key West tonight looking for an empty table to have corned beef and cabbage. Donna, Terri and I become a three some for dinner. Not tonight, of course. I still do not have my third shot and even if I did. there are too many virus carrying visitors in town.

Every restaurant will have excellent corned beef and cabbage. I happen to love corned beef. Especially when fatty. Last year, I began frequenting Shanna Key on Flagler one night a week. A true Irish restaurant, Shanna Key has corned beef and cabbage on the menu every night. I recommend it.

Enjoy your St. Patrick’s Day. I will be spending my evening home in front of the TV set probably eating a ham and cheese sandwich. I might sneak a Beefeater in.

 

 

 

15 comments on “FROM A SAINT AND SNAKES IN IRELAND TO PARADES AND DRINKING GREEN BEER

  1. We’re having Fish and Chips ala GrubHub, again this year. Even Guinness delivered.

    Not exactly the same, but better than not!

      • The reality of this issue is NOT a joke, or anything to be spun with political rhetoric. Responsible reporting everywhere, says Hate crime against Asian Americans, is up substantially across all of America. It can be no doubt this is fueled by people like Sandy Feet and his incredibly hateful anti ‘Chineze’ posts here on Lou’s blog over the last year or so.

        All because he thinks that sort of thing is ‘cute?”

  2. Some more news, Global warming High priest John Kerry, caught on a commercial flight not wearing his mask.

    You liberals are all scumbags.

    • Like that’s news worthy of a “scumbag” smear?

      Look at the photo azzhole, he was eating! Under what pretense does that normal act of daily life connect Liberals as scumbags?

      OK, go back to burning churches and painting swastikas on everything you don’t like, fool.

      • Kerry was not eating, he was reading !
        I suppose he will be forgiven as he said it wouldn’t happen again.
        I happen to think he did it on purpose so he would not be allowed on commercial airliners and he could then try and make a more valid argument for using private jets.

    • The only true “Global Warming” High Priest is actually Vice President AL Gore. You have your respected ‘High Priests’ mixed up a bit.

      Try and get your honorariums right when attempting to smear somebody, otherwise it makes you look like an idiot, say nothing of confusing the sh*t out of us scumbags.

  3. How do you tell the difference between an azzhole and a Republican? Well, the azzhole is the one killing an Asian, the Republican is the one egging him on.

  4. Trump gave billions to pharma to fund vaccine development, the same as even our worst President would have done, which he was. Nothing original about that.

  5. He did and should be given kudos, for that, although I agree with you that it was not unique and really not very productive.

    Trump claimed that without government help a vaccine, if left to drug companies, would take 5 years to develop, so government help, his help, was necessary.

    Turns out that Pfizer was the first company to develop a successful vaccine. Pfizer was not part of the group that Trump helped, they would not sign on to his demands.

    What he didn’t do was have any plan for distribution of the vaccine after it was developed, apart for some help to nursing homes.

    Beyond that, he was famously known to have said “Let the states figure that out.”

    Now however he’s trying to take credit for widespread distribution, which he had nothing to do with.

    • Trump stopped international inbound flights to the complaints of the likes of Pelosi, Schumer, Fat Jerry, etc.
      He also ordered 800,000,000 [ million for those confused by comas ] doses of vaccine.
      At that time this was all new to everyone and something had to be done, he did it.

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