Irish Eyes

Many holidays whose very name originates with "holy day" seem derived pagan rituals as if Christians had co-opted the holiday for themselves. Consider a few examples. What do most Americans do when they celebrate Christmas? Get a Christmas tree! A tree! Then, they decorate the tree! Oh sure, you get divinity scenes, but really. A tree is a physical object, and you can imagine it originating with some sort of nature worship.

Or Easter? Here's a holiday that has some religious significance. Apparently, on Easter, Jesus came back from the dead. But that's pretty deep stuff. Crucification. Resurrection. What's the imagery we have for Easter? Bunny rabbits. Easter eggs. Soo cuute!

Or Halloween. Halloween seems really pagan, but really, it does have some religious significance. An alternate name for Halloween is "All Hallow's Eve" which is also know as "All Saints' Eve". Indeed, November 1 is known as "All Saints Day", though it's hardly known in the US. November 2 is known as "All Souls' Day" which seems to be closer to what Halloween is all about, a kind of celebration of the dead. There is some belief that this holiday originates with pagan rituals too.

But St. Patrick's Day, held each March 17. How many people observe this (at least in the US, where I'm writing this) with any religious fervor? Ask anyone about this holiday and many will say it's all about Irish songs, wearing green, and of course, excessive drinking. Perhaps like many Judeo-Christian-Islamic holidays which are rather downbeat, people prefer to embrace fun holidays. Heck, what's a little (or a lot) of drinking?

And the pinching thing for not wearing green? Where did that come from? Too weird.

I was also thinking about holidays in the US. The standard vacation for Americans is two weeks. But there are two additional weeks (0 days, really) for holidays. These holidays are bunched up at the end of the year. Typically, two for Thanksgiving, two for Christmas, one for New Year's Day. That leaves four more days.

Three of the four days are typically Memorial Day in May, Independence Day in July, Labor Day in September. There's a huge gap between Jan 1 and Memorial Day, so usually companies want to observe some holiday in between.

A favorite is Martin Luther King's Birthday because he symbolizes the civil rights struggle in the US. But his observed birthday is quite early in the year, usually two weeks into January. There is President's Day, which was a combination of Washington and Lincoln's Birthday, though no one particularly thinks of that as really important (it's in mid-to-late February). There is Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, which is in April, but that's kinda late in the year.

A great holiday that sits right in the middle is, yes, St, Patrick's Day. Mid March. Perfect!

Except it's not for a variety of reasons. First, it's a holiday most associated with one country, Ireland. Well, that's fine, if you're in Ireland, but in the multicultural US, why pick Ireland? What about the Italians, the Chinese, not to mention African Americans, Latinos. Worse still, as a holiday, it's a bit too religious and not religious enough, being a Christian holiday (like Christmas), but most associated with, well, guzzling beer. It's nowhere near as uplifting at MLK, nor as historical to the country as President's Day. And there's been historical issues with gay and lesbians wanting to join the St. Patrick Day parade, where they've been restricted in many communities.

So another St. Patty's Day comes and goes, and as a party day, perhaps it only rivals New Year's Day, and perhaps even more excessive.

Think about next time you imbibe that green beer.