St. Patty's Day

Whenever I think of St. Patrick's Day, I think of wearing green, drinking green beer, and eating corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes. And being Irish, I've always had a strong desire to celebrate and go along with the norm. However, I've never really thought as to why these are the types of things people do on March 17th. Why do we wear green? Why does almost everyone (even those who aren't Irish) celebrate in some way? And why does everyone have a strong desire to binge drink all day?

After our discussion in class and my observations of (and participation in) this past Wednesday's campus events, I believe that St. Patrick's Day has ultimately become an excuse to drink for Americans. What else would you call waking up at 7am to start drinking then bar hop the rest of the day, maybe go to class in between bar stops, taking a quick nap after a corned beef sandwich, then going out again as if it was a Friday or Saturday night? Someone in class had a good point when they compared St. Pat's Day to both Halloween and a football Saturday; the only difference being that people wear crazy green outfits rather than a costume or maize and blue. Plus, it's even celebrated the weekend before if the 17th doesn't fall on a Saturday.

I believe that all the craziness of the day relates to Irish stereotypes in some way, but why has it become so huge? What is the actual history of St. Patrick's Day and how was it celebrated in the past? How is it actually celebrated in Ireland? And why does the Americanized version revolve around all day drinking? These are many questions I will explore in my project.

Even though there's no rhyme or reason why Americans deck themselves out in green and drink as much Guinness and whiskey as possible in 24 hours, and many people find these actions cliche; it is definitely more fun to join in on the celebration. Afterall, everyone is Irish on March 17th.