A not very Irish...but still fun St. Patts Day

I finished all my necessary academic obligations at 3:30 on Wednesday and it was around that time that I decided to explore the festivities around campus. On South University and State Street, all the bars were certainly filled to capacity; and they all emitted that 12:30 A.M. on Saturday aroma of smoke, booze, and crowds. Everyone was dressed casually in green and full of holiday cheer. Although one out of three people had a shamrock somewhere on his or her wardrobe, no one seemed to make much mention of being Irish, or Irishness. People were simply celebrating and talking about the weather.

I headed further down South University to my fraternity's house. I'm a pledge at Triangle this semester. I was greeted by quite a nice surprise, some friends of mine had set up a few amplifyers on the roof. In all there were three guitars and one bass, and we had quite a good jam session. Below us, some people set up furniture on the lawn and enjoyed the sun and free flowing liquor. Again, everyone was in some shade of green, but no one made any comments about St. Patrick himself, or the loss of traditional blue dress on March 17th; they just talked about what plans were for the evening and how nice the weather was.

The equinox is five days after March 17th. This of course marks the changing of seasons from winter to spring. While meditating on the meaning of St. Patrick's day after class I remembered a lecture on Celtic festivals I listened to last term as part of a class I took on Norse and Celtic mythology. My professor talked about a harvest festival that used to happen in Iron Age Ireland (pre-Roman conquest), where feasts and dances were held, all the celebrating was meant to try and impart fertility on to the land and to celebrate the changing of seasons. When the Romans conquered Ireland, they brought with them Chistianity and (like is done with many holidays, including Christmas) they changed the meaning of this harvest festival to a day about a saint. And through the years the holiday has been adopted in turn to celebrate that saint, or Ireland, or Irishness. But on Wednesday the 17th I celebrated spring and the shift from whipping winds to gentle breezes, darkness at 5:30 to long hours of daylight, and grey to green for godsakes.

The best part of my St. Patricks day was by far a long walk around campus, and a poorly planned picnic that ended very nicely before it even started with a girl whose eyes get a bit greener when the seasons change.