is saint pattys more a country holiday or a catholic holiday?

[malcolm]

we should probably all know saint patrick's day is a holiday commemorating the patron saint of ireland, saint patrick-not his real name-who is hailed as the saint who brought catholicism to ireland and taught pre-christian irish the holy trinity via the shamrock.

but the holiday has kind of evolved since then into more of a national recognition of the emereld isle altogether and is considered the countries official holiday wether protestant,catholic or other.

now, only one side fo my family-and not direct bloodline related mind you-is catholic but we do have quite a bit of irish heritage (pierce/helton) and are distantly related to the "queen of ireland" as well through blood relation
(victoria of the house of hanover) so yes, we do celebrate saint pattys day as a heritage based holiday.

but my question is do you feel it is more a catholic holiday, a heritage holiday or an excuse to drink green beer and boiled cabbage?

[nathanmbailey]

It's an excuse to drink beer and whiskey in mass quantities, often in public areas and in some of the cities I've celebrated it in, on the streets themselves. I'm Irish, my grandmother even claims that we're related to the original makers of Bailey's Irish Cream, but she was a senile old hag so I highly doubt that. She sure did love drinking it though...

Anyway, since I'm not going to be able to celebrate it, someone do a couple car bombs and have some corn beef and cabbage for me.

[malcolm]

will do and erin go braght! to ya.

[VoltaireBlue]

st patrick was a fucking asshole. he killed thousands and thousands of innocent pagans that were not interested in changing their beliefs. fuck that guy. fuck him in the ass with a cactus. I'm half irish and I hate that guy. what a bloody holiday. fuck him. I light a candle every year for all the men, women, and children he killed in the name of god.

[mystoo]

Wow, I didn't even know the history behind it. Brutal.
I think it's just another excuse to drink, but really, who needs excuses?

[malcolm]

st patrick was a fucking asshole. he killed thousands and thousands of innocent pagans that were not interested in changing their beliefs. fuck that guy. fuck him in the ass with a cactus. I'm half irish and I hate that guy. what a bloody holiday. fuck him. I light a candle every year for all the men, women, and children he killed in the name of god.

that is true. when they refer to him 'throwing out the snakes" they're actually glossing over him forcing the druids out of ireand who were reffered to as snakes because of the snake being a major symbol of earth based faith.

and i think he was actually form rome instead of ireland. i know patrick isnt even his name.

[VoltaireBlue]

he didn't just force them out, it wasn't that simple. he murdered them.

yeah, I believe he was roman too.

[malcolm]

I know. i consider it part of forcing them out. but i guess that would be me glossing ti a bit too. my bad. they've also changed the origin of the harp too since christianity came to ireland.

[VoltaireBlue]

yeah, he was a british born roman. I just checked.

fwiw, I like corned beef, but cabbage does not like me.

[malcolm]

cabbage i think was a substitute the irish used when they came over here for kelp.

Im not gonna lie though, i love me some boiled cabbage with some cider vinegar and hotsauce oh! and sou kraute! yummers unfortunately mom doesnt like it.

oh! another fun tidbit, show how irish my family is partially? my mom's name is patricia.

[VoltaireBlue]

we all have family names in my family; some italian, some irish.

[VoltaireBlue]

Im not gonna lie though, i love me some boiled cabbage with some cider vinegar and hotsauce oh! and sou kraute! yummers unfortunately mom doesnt like it.

oh I like it, it just doesn't like me. at all.

[malcolm]

we all have family names in my family; some italian, some irish.

well, im changing my name completely in a couple o years but the one i've got now is weird cus malcolm is a scottish name and we dont have alot of scots in my family but pierce is definately an irish name lol.

[malcolm]

oh I like it, it just doesn't like me. at all.

i'm like that with garlic.

[Valerian Reign]

st patrick was a fucking asshole. he killed thousands and thousands of innocent pagans that were not interested in changing their beliefs. fuck that guy. fuck him in the ass with a cactus. I'm half irish and I hate that guy. what a bloody holiday. fuck him. I light a candle every year for all the men, women, and children he killed in the name of god.

Here, here. I was going to post just that.

It seems that not many people do not know the history behind the day. They just want to get as drunk as fuck. Even if they were informed of the history, they'd probably be like, "Who fackin' cays. Give me a beeah. Kiss me, I'm Irish."

[Xavialune]

zomg those fuckin CONFORMISTS!!

Howdya like that, allah?

[Amelia G]

Shamrocks and Leprechauns and Green Beer



As a holiday, St Patrick’s Day has dubious origins but fabulous iconography . . .

[malcolm]

Shamrocks and Leprechauns and Green Beer



As a holiday, St Patrick’s Day has dubious origins but fabulous iconography . . .

well green goes good with just about everything. i'd love to see someone really sell the anti patrick stuff though.

ya never hear much about people wearing orange on st.pattys which is common for the northern irish to do...think im gonna wear orange on tuesday.....

[nathanmbailey]

Any holiday based on violence and unnecessary brutality is okay in my book.

[toxicat]

My dad used to tell me he became a saint for scaring all the snakes out of Ireland.

[toxicat]

He meant actual snakes, though.
And I hate when people call syncretism because they don't want to say "geno"cide of beliefs and the people who hold them.

[toxicat]

V-Day, for example, has helped to mitigate a tiny bit of the trauma of Valentine's Day (another bloody massacre), esp. for women.
The 'V' in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina.
Perhaps we can invent P-Day and piss away some of that green beer.

[malcolm]

well, yes, that's the childrens story of st. patrick is that he drove out the snakes from ireland but in actuality the snakes were the druids, they were called snakes because of the symbol,

as for valentines, i think it was actually created to cover up imbolic which is a "pagan" holiday between yule and estora to celebrate the maturing of the sungod into manhood and the first signs of life coming back to the world.

they synche around the same time period (valentines beign the 14th of february and imbolic being around the 3rd)

but it's no surprise, the caths have taken over alot of former holidays into their liking like well.....yule (christmas), all saints day or hallows eve (sam-hein) and easter (estora).

[Ajax Knucklebones]

I'm almost all Irish and I don't think I've celebrated St. Patrick's Day since I was a kid. For one, I don't need a holiday to get drunk. If that were the case then lately every Friday is a holiday to me. And two, Irish food sucks balls. I'm a meat and potatoes kind of guy, but for Christ's sakes, add some taste to that shit. Some seasonings and other goodies. Except for corned beef, most Irish food is bland as fuck. I think that's why Americans always make Corned beef on St. Patty's day, because it's the only Irish food that doesn't taste like cardboard.

[Mr Karl]

I'm not irish...........I won't have anything to do with that holiday

[Valerian Reign]

but it's no surprise, the caths have taken over alot of former holidays into their liking like well.....yule (christmas), all saints day or hallows eve (sam-hein) and easter (estora).

That's what new religions have to do. They have to assimilate the parts of the old religions that are compatible with their dogma, and then demonize and destroy the rest.

[toxicat]

It's not sleazy being green.