How did St. Patrick’s Day go from a day of celebration in remembrance of the spread of Irish Christianity, to a day of massive amounts of green beer?
Asked by
miki (
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March 17th, 2011
According to Wikipedia St Patrick was born of Roman-British decent. He was captured by the Irish as a slave. When he escaped he became a priest and returned to Ireland spreading the teachings of Christianity and the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. After about 30 years of evangelism he died on March 17, celebrated as the principal champion of Irish Christianity.
Now I understand there are holidays to celebrate one’s culture. But it seems that this seemingly important detail has gotten lost amongst the drunken banter.
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12 Answers
It was the Irish immigrants in the US who changed the holiday into the drunken revelry we see today complete with parades and wearing green and green beer.
Well, nothing says Hallelujah laddy quite like a frosty mug of green beer!
I’m not quite sure how the holiday got to be what it is. All I know is that today, on this blessed day that makes me think of all things Irish, which I adore, I will be dressed in all green, including shamrock earrings and my shamrock shoulder tattoo, and I’ll be drinkin’ some Killian’s Red. I can’t drink Guinness; it’s too thick for me.
Like all holidays do….$$$$$$
The same way Christmas went from a celebration of the birth of Jesus to a day of massive amounts of presents for spoiled children.
@erichw1504 Although Christmas was originally a pagan festival for the winter solstice.
@tranquilsea – Not quite true, although close. Christmas has always been a Christian holiday. However, Constantine, being one smart cookie, knew that it would be unwise of him to mandate that everyone give up their winter solstice/Yule celebrations in favor of the celebration of the birth of the Christian Messiah. So, he strategically set the holiday to occur during a time when people were partying anyway. This is the reason that many of our Christmas traditions have their roots in pagan celebration from the Christmas tree right down to the Yule log.
Because any saint who gets rid of all snakes is more than worthy of a raised glass (or 3)
Well the Irish drink to celebrate literally anything, and especially so what is effectively the day of celebration of their national identity.
The Americans turned it into the sickeningly commercial, over-the-top, mega-hyped, all-too-contrived, over-organised fashion parade it is today (in America, at least)…
but then, what would you expect? That kind of thing is what they’re famous for!
But yeah… my main point is that drinking is an integral part of any Irish celebration.
Aren’t most holidays thinly veiled excuses to booze it up? St. Patrick’s Day is just the one that recognizes that boozing it up is reason enough.
Anything that people can make a buck off of goes downhill fast.
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