The Truth about Today

Sorry, folks, but St. Patrick's Day was canceled this year. It's quite possible that you weren't aware of this, unless you are an observant Catholic or just really up to speed with the complex rules about the observations of Saints' days on the church calendar. Traditionally, the celebration of St. Patrick, the patron Saint of Ireland, is on March 17. Normally, since March 17th is not leap day, St. Patrick's is observed every year. Unfortunately, this year, because of the arcane regulations governing the shifting date of Easter, Holy Week is on the week of St. Patty's (something that won't happen again for another hundred-plus years). Traditionally if you're a Saint and your special day falls during Holy Week, you're just out of luck. Nobody is allowed to care about you that year. Fortunately for the not-really-Irish guy who didn't really chase away Ireland's snakes, he's identified with a nation with nearly as much nationalistic pride as the Greeks, so in Ireland his day was shifted to this past Saturday. The church just chose to ignore the festival as is customary for Saint's days during Holy Week in several other countries.

I'm not sure exactly how it's being handled in the states as I read about this on the BBC and they failed to mention how this controversy affected the most important country in the world. What? You think I just have this kind of crap stored in my noggin? I actually just read about this during my morning wasting of time. As for the celebration of of every wannabe Irishman's favorite day, I'm going to say that since St. Patty's is really more of a day about beer and corned beef in the US that all of this church stuff is rather irrelevant here, especially since the Catholic faith has never exactly been a state religion in the US. Besides, with Easter being about eggs, bunnies, and candy; and Christmas being about loot and evergreens, it seems that the religious aspects of religious holidays are more decoration than anything else.

Personally, I don't officially observe St. Patrick's. I'm not Irish and I'm still of the old opinion that the Irish are an inferior race. I did drink an Irish-themed stout last night (but it was brewed in Wisconsin) and I'm wearing green today (but half of my wardrobe is green anyway), but instead of eating corned beef and cabbage tonight and pinching any little kids for not wearing green, I'm going to be coaching tennis at a JV match and eating at the local Mexican restaurant.