St Patricks Day

[Pangurban]

St.Patricks day as it presently celebrated by a large percentage of our population, brings nothing but embarrassment and shame on the Country

[Eamonnca1]

I don't think anyone is bashing St. Patrick's day, if anything I am saddened and embarrassed by what it has become.

+1

[mc_grens]

I don't think anyone is bashing St. Patrick's day, if anything I am saddened and embarrassed by what it has become.

+1

+1

[johnneycool]

I don't think anyone is bashing St. Patrick's day, if anything I am saddened and embarrassed by what it has become.

Exactly right, why does St Patricks day make it alright for someone to be totally pished out of their skull 'celebrating' their national saint?

[thebigfella]

Yeah lets get rid of the saint part (and catholic nonsense) and rename it Paddy Day. That way it's a day to celebrate all things Irish by having a good pish up.

All the rest of you worried about saints and religion can fcuk off to your mass for the fire and brimstone bullsh1t. The rest of us won't give a fcuk as we'll all be fish faced and enjoying ourselves; content in the knowledge that while we will have a good time whoring about, God is very forgiving and hopefully just before we kick the bucket we can repent to hedge our bets

My biggest gripe is we don't make a big enough deal in Ireland about it (Queen's Day in the Netherlands being an example of what we should do). FFS everyone wants to be in New York for it.

[Tony Baloney]

I don't think anyone is bashing St. Patrick's day, if anything I am saddened and embarrassed by what it has become.

Exactly right, why does St Patricks day make it alright for someone to be totally pished out of their skull 'celebrating' their national saint?

Lads, lads, lads. All this talk is age and experience speaking. 15-20 years ago youse would have been at the same craic. The only difference is now the wife won't let you 

[thejuice]

I was in college doing my part-time studies yesterday but to "celebrate" I spoke as much Gaelige as I could to the appropriate folks, read some Yeats, listened to some Irish music such as the Dubliners and Primordial.

My Catalan girlfriend was nice enough to bake some soda bread for me. Not as nice as granny used to make it but for her first effort it was very good, better than I can do it.

I went to the local Irish pub to have a pint. It was full of English folk(probably have Irish grannies) dressed in head to toe in shamrocks and what not and falling about drunk. I was accosted by some pissed "chav" who couldn't have been a day over 16 while there, so in order to avoid trouble I slipped out to the smokers area to chat with the lads from the football team.

The drinking side of St. Patrick's day is ruining it but that's the way society is gone. We celebrate, weddings, births, deaths, job promotions, sporting success by getting wasted.

I think I'll make more of an effort to make it the Bealtaine festival either in Edinburgh or at the Hill of Uisneach. Looks a bit more culturally relevent and less Paddy-wackery.


For Your Listening Pleasure, The Sons on the Morrigan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqwJIL6LIBc

[The Iceman]

Yeah lets get rid of the saint part (and catholic nonsense) and rename it Paddy Day. That way it's a day to celebrate all things Irish by having a good pish up.

All the rest of you worried about saints and religion can fcuk off to your mass for the fire and brimstone bullsh1t. The rest of us won't give a fcuk as we'll all be fish faced and enjoying ourselves; content in the knowledge that while we will have a good time whoring about, God is very forgiving and hopefully just before we kick the bucket we can repent to hedge our bets

My biggest gripe is we don't make a big enough deal in Ireland about it (Queen's Day in the Netherlands being an example of what we should do). FFS everyone wants to be in New York for it.

My gripes have nothing to do with Religion. Its the attitude of young people and the complete and utter abandonment of sense for the sake of puking on yourself, all in the name of your "Irishness". Everyone does not want to be in NY for it. I live beside NY and I want no part of it there.
You should come on over, you'd be a real celebrity asshole over here....... 

[oakleafgael]

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?fbid=10150120165800292&set=pu.193105345291&theater

The finest young scholars in the country.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10150120165240292&set=pu.193105345291&theater

[anglocelt39]

Either there are an above average number of teetotallers/wowsers on this thread or more likely it's people discovering the joys responsibilities of careers/parentage/mortgages who have developed incredibly selective memories. I lived overseas for a long stint from the mid 80's and St Pat's day, and the days leading up to it were all about the booze for anybody in their early 20's to whatever. And it wasn't Irish/Americans Irish/Australians or any other third generation group that was leading the charge, you tended to be expected to be a social animal and many of us were damned if we were going to let the image down and be personally blamed for it.

I'm sure a few of the tut tutters on here could perhaps relate to that. So 25 years later I'm a parent I don't do the madness any more, I too view the madness differently but it helps to remember that I was that age once. Has anything changed, a bit I suppose in that youngsters do seem to have a few more bob in their pockets  now and drink is more accessible but don't let anybody think that March 17th and filling the skip are recent partners.

[ludermor]

good post

[Tyrones own]

Either there are an above average number of teetotallers/wowsers on this thread or more likely it's people discovering the joys responsibilities of careers/parentage/mortgages who have developed incredibly selective memories. I lived overseas for a long stint from the mid 80's and St Pat's day, and the days leading up to it were all about the booze for anybody in their early 20's to whatever. And it wasn't Irish/Americans Irish/Australians or any other third generation group that was leading the charge, you tended to be expected to be a social animal and many of us were damned if we were going to let the image down and be personally blamed for it.

I'm sure a few of the tut tutters on here could perhaps relate to that. So 25 years later I'm a parent I don't do the madness any more, I too view the madness differently but it helps to remember that I was that age once. Has anything changed, a bit I suppose in that youngsters do seem to have a few more bob in their pockets  now and drink is more accessible but don't let anybody think that March 17th and filling the skip are recent partners.

Well said/written!

[mylestheslasher]

I went home for Paddys day. Met a gang of my mates that I don't get to see as often as I liked. We went for pints at 4pm, did a couple of pubs and were all pretty worse for wear at 1am when we called it a day. We had good craic and no one puked, bet anyone or got arrested. Just cos a load of young ones go mad doesn't mean that sensible people can't go on the lash for a bit of craic does it?

[ardal]

Either there are an above average number of teetotallers/wowsers on this thread or more likely it's people discovering the joys responsibilities of careers/parentage/mortgages who have developed incredibly selective memories. I lived overseas for a long stint from the mid 80's and St Pat's day, and the days leading up to it were all about the booze for anybody in their early 20's to whatever. And it wasn't Irish/Americans Irish/Australians or any other third generation group that was leading the charge, you tended to be expected to be a social animal and many of us were damned if we were going to let the image down and be personally blamed for it.

I'm sure a few of the tut tutters on here could perhaps relate to that. So 25 years later I'm a parent I don't do the madness any more, I too view the madness differently but it helps to remember that I was that age once. Has anything changed, a bit I suppose in that youngsters do seem to have a few more bob in their pockets  now and drink is more accessible but don't let anybody think that March 17th and filling the skip are recent partners.

Well said/written!

Agree, but..........

Remember getting on the train with the lads in the early morning. Harp carry outs already half gone, arriving in Dublin for a late breakfast, more drink, followed by more drink, bit of a dander off the parade route as such for cheaper pub grub, more pints, train back home. Anybody needed a puke it was in the jacks, nobody drank themselves unconscious, nobody pissed on the street, no stupid handbags at 10 paces. We were all 17 or a wee bit more, pissed, had a great time, and still remembered the details.

Maybe I was naive for thinking that was the norm for everybody of our age back then

[anglocelt39]

Either there are an above average number of teetotallers/wowsers on this thread or more likely it's people discovering the joys responsibilities of careers/parentage/mortgages who have developed incredibly selective memories. I lived overseas for a long stint from the mid 80's and St Pat's day, and the days leading up to it were all about the booze for anybody in their early 20's to whatever. And it wasn't Irish/Americans Irish/Australians or any other third generation group that was leading the charge, you tended to be expected to be a social animal and many of us were damned if we were going to let the image down and be personally blamed for it.

I'm sure a few of the tut tutters on here could perhaps relate to that. So 25 years later I'm a parent I don't do the madness any more, I too view the madness differently but it helps to remember that I was that age once. Has anything changed, a bit I suppose in that youngsters do seem to have a few more bob in their pockets  now and drink is more accessible but don't let anybody think that March 17th and filling the skip are recent partners.

Well said/written!

Agree, but..........

Remember getting on the train with the lads in the early morning. Harp carry outs already half gone, arriving in Dublin for a late breakfast, more drink, followed by more drink, bit of a dander off the parade route as such for cheaper pub grub, more pints, train back home. Anybody needed a puke it was in the jacks, nobody drank themselves unconscious, nobody pissed on the street, no stupid handbags at 10 paces. We were all 17 or a wee bit more, pissed, had a great time, and still remembered the details.

Maybe I was naive for thinking that was the norm for everybody of our age back then

Sure isn't that pretty much the version of events that a lot of the 16/17/18 year olds waking up yesterday willl have in a few years time. If you were poleaxed it was great crack, if you weren't it was a pain in the hole, if you weren't bladdered because you were under orders it was sad and if you were in your 40's and still treating it like you were 20 something there was no sadder sight.