KEEP ST. PATRICK OUT OF ST. PATRICK’S DAY

3/17/10

I’ve addressed this topic extensively in my 1/29/10 and 3/27/09 pieces, widely regarded as among the best posts ever to appear on this blog, specifically addressing the (Thank God!) demise of the South Side Irish Debauch Rationalized as a Parade. But since it is St. Patrick’s Day, I thought it incumbent on a guy named Quinn to write a brief reflection on what some of my national origin refer to as the High Holy Day(s).

I hate St. Patrick’s Day. At least I hate the way it is currently celebrated in this country. The day seems designed to make the Irish look like a bunch of drunken buffoons, mostly because so many Irish-Americans seem determined to fulfill that stereotype. There is more to being Irish than getting drunk and making a fool of one’s self. There is more to Irish culture and heritage than throwing up green beer, or even throwing up Guiness and Jameson’s. Our ancestors didn’t come here and work like mules digging canals and working in meat packing plants so we could dishonor their memories by making them look like a bunch of besotted imbeciles.

Further, St. Patrick would be appalled by the way we celebrate his feast day. (So would Eamon DeValera, Michael Collins, St. Brendan, St. Bridget, James Joyce, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Gene Kelly, Georgia O’Keefe, Pat O’Brien, Jimmy Cagney, Michael Flatley, Herb Kelleher, Jack Ford, William Brennan, Patrick Fitzgerald, Fulton, Sheen, Eugene O’Neill, Tom Clancy, Jimmy Breslin, Tim Russert, Bill Buckley, John Barry, Cardinal O’Connor, Audie Murphy, George M. Cohan, Bing Crosby, Richard J. Daley, Jack Dempsey, Louis Sullivan, et. al.) While he was clearly a charismatic person (and not Irish, but that’s another issue), St. Patrick was not the type to prance around in a stupid green derby and an Erin Go Bragh tie while swilling beer and whiskey and effecting an increasingly strong fake accent as the aforementioned consumption increased. St. Patrick was a serious, contemplative, austere, some might say severe man who took himself, his mission, and his adopted countrymen seriously. We display none of those traits on his feast day.

Am I saying that St. Patrick’s Day should be spent in prayer and contemplation? While Mass should probably (and always used to) be part of the day’s celebrations, I am not saying that the whole day should be given over to reflection on the life of St. Patrick and the virtues and values he attempted to impart to his adopted homeland. Celebration, fun, music, dancing, and, yes, for those who can and enjoy doing so, a few drinks ought to be part of St. Patrick’s Day. But where did we ever get the idea that the day should consist of mocking and deriding the values that indeed were the man whose feast we are ostensibly celebrating?

I’ve never been to Ireland, but I understand that the day is celebrated quite differently there. While it is a fun day, it is not a day of debauchery. And that it’s SAINT Patrick’s Day is not forgotten. Or at least that’s the way it used to be over there. With the rise of the Celtic Tiger (in abeyance, apparently, hopefully temporarily), perhaps “globalization” has led to the importation of the American approach to this Irish feast day. I sure hope, and pray, not.