Friday, March 27, 2009

I have a Pet Peeve

I find somethings very annoying when St Patrick's Day rolls around. Maybe its just living among so few Catholics? Maybe its just people being unaware that it even matters to some (not all) of us Catholics?

First at Alex's school, the office staff said something to the effect of it just being a day for the Irish to get drunk. No, not entirely true. The Irish are mostly Catholic and celebrate the feast day of their patron saint. And I highly doubt that every Irish person is getting smashed in the middle of the week, national holiday or not.

Second, a mom I know said something about it just being a day to sell stuff on the calendar. No, not true. Its a feast day for a saint that converted many many people in more than one country to Christianity. Bet ya didn't even know about how much the FRENCH love St. Patrick.

Third, the shamrock is not just a green leaf associated for no reason with St. Patrick's Day. The shamrock was used to show the three parts of the Holy Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Fourth, leprechauns, pots of gold, rainbows, are part of the mythology of Ireland and are therefore associated by smart marketing people. They do not have anything to do with the feast day of a popular CATHOLIC saint.

Fifth, eating corned beef and potatoes (we're not cabbage type people) has nothing to do with St. Patrick. Its just a fun tradition. As are the whole pots of gold, leprechauns, etc. I love the holiday, I just had it with the insults to the Irish and the ignorance associated with the symbolism.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I cannot believe the office staff said that at a kids school. However, like you pointed out this is not a majority Catholic state, LOL.

I know a teacher pinched Jordan at school on that day because she wasn't wearing enough green. She was so upset about that because she had her HAnnah Montana shirt on and Hannah was wearing a green shirt.