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I just wanted to wish all Dakka members a very happy and healthy St. Patrick's Day

Or, as gaelige, lá fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh!

Happy St. Patricks.

-Chugs down green beer-

Time to drown all my sorrows and stress!

Seeing as dakkas mods censor me with a gusto rarely seen outside of North Korea whenever i say anything negative about religion i will merely say that i fail to see whats to celebrate about some bloke introducing Christianity to Ireland. And following years of sectarian violence and numerous disgusting examples of child abuse involving the church im truly stunned that people celebrate anything at all. Still, im sure 99% of people dont read newspapers or history books, so any excuse for a good booze up eh? Cheers! :-)

I thought it was just an excuse for a few beers...?

MeanGreenStompa wrote:I thought it was just an excuse for a few beers...?

DINGDINGDINGDING

Like Christmas there is the religious holiday and the secular version that has evolved over the years. In the US it is a way of saying "thanks for building those bridges and canals even though we treated you like crap" as well as for all the "no dogs or Irish" signs. I can't get to angry at a holiday where everyone is supposed to treat eachother like family and share a pint.

St. Patrick's Day supports English lazy drunken dirty stereotypes of the Irish.

Having said that I'd still drink a beer to celebrate if one appeared next to me

MeanGreenStompa wrote:I thought it was just an excuse for a few beers...?

Oh my no. In the States, we booze and wear green, usually in that order. In Ireland, it has always been a very hotly contested religious and political holiday. St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. By snakes, we mean druids. And by St. Patrick, we mean the Catholic Church. So it really is a celebration of the triumph of Catholicism over the native culture (pagan belief system).

Nowadays, in Ireland itself wearing green on St. Patrick's Day identifies you as Catholic, while wearing orange identifies you as a Protestant. This is less exciting than it used to be since the majority of the Catholics broke away from British rule and re-formed Ireland. As I understand it, the majority of Irish Protestants were members of the Church of England.

During the Troubles though, this was an extremely volatile time of year. You could easily be beaten to a bloody pulp for walking into a Green pub wearing Orange, and vice versa.

One more additional fun fact and I'll return to anticipating my stout- corned beef was never associated with the holiday until Irish immigrants in America started looking for cheap meat. Unsurprisingly, most traditional Irish dishes involve sheep.

I like corned beef and brown sauce sarnies, or i dish my nan always made called Panaculty that is just basically corned beef, tatties, onions and beef broth in a big bowl. its true though, when i lived in America they all mentioned corned beef when this day rolls around, but ive not heard of the reference specifically over here.

No, you're misunderstanding me Gitz, I'm saying it IS just an excuse for beers and stirring up all the sectarianism, destruction of preChristian culture and controversies of the Catholic Church is really only going to spoil the froth off the Guiness.

My (maternal) Grandfather was an Irish Catholic national who served in the British army in WW2 as a sergeant and who continued serving after, being stationed on the Rhine (where my mother, duel Eire/UK nationality) was born and went on to be a senior guard in Parkhurst. He had no time for the sectarians on either side and, like that vast majority of the Irish, Eire or Ulster, wanted a peaceful and prosperous life for him and his family, fighting in the front lines of the most destructive war the world has ever seen will do that I guess.

I'll raise a toast to him today.

Fair enough, MGS! You've got a great deal more knowledge of this than I do. Slainte!

I prefer St.Georges day where we all drink tea, eat scones then go out and beat up some Pak.....

...Sorry, wrong meeting :S

I miss the patricks day parades from home :( the US doesn't do it on the right day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day America!

J.Black wrote:I prefer St.Georges day where we all drink tea, eat scones then go out and beat up some Pak.....

...Sorry, wrong meeting :S

You are a bad, bad man. But funny as feth.

We're not allowed to have Saints in america.

I'm going to spend today like I spend every Paddy's day- away from everyone else. I hate Dublin on Paddy's day. Seems like we sum up the total cultural accomplishments of our nation with "Let's get obnoxiously drunk and puke in the streets! YEAH!"

I drink beer, but not...that way.
So today I'll be staying out of it if I can. It is nice that our national day gets celebrated in other countries, but I've always felt if it wasn't a giant piss up it probably wouldn't be .

malfred wrote:We're not allowed to have Saints in america.

The sad thing is this will probably come true sooner or later, what with political correctness tearing the soul out of everything. In the future, St. Patrick's Day will probably become "Irish Day" or some PC crap like that. In the meantime, I am going to relax in my barracks, paint up some more Eldar, and enjoy the fact that my sergeant gave me a compensation day off today

lucky you.ill spend the day getting asked by customers,
"So David, your Irish, what will you do for Paddy's Day, No doubt you'll get roaring drunk, cause thats what you Irish do...." and a little bit of me will die inside everytime they say it, and I get that much closer to throttling somebody.

Sergeant Horse wrote:lucky you.ill spend the day getting asked by customers,
"So David, your Irish, what will you do for Paddy's Day, No doubt you'll get roaring drunk, cause thats what you Irish do...." and a little bit of me will die inside everytime they say it, and I get that much closer to throttling somebody.

I feel your pain, I used to work a customer service job before I enlisted. There were times in boot camp when everything would be just absolute SH!T, and I would think to myself "at least I'm not still stuck in customer service" and I'd feel a little better. No sarcasm, I'm serious.

meh, its not the job I dislike, I own a gamestore, how could i hate that!...........................sob.....................................



its the look of shock and horror I get when I tell people I'm not terribly fond of alcohol

Sergeant Horse wrote:meh, its not the job I dislike, I own a gamestore, how could i hate that!...........................sob.....................................



its the look of shock and horror I get when I tell people I'm not terribly fond of alcohol

Well if it makes you feel any better, I'm still 19 so no St. Patty's Day drunkeness for me :(

Haha! The last thing I was trying to do was stir up a religous debate on the validity of St. Patrick's Day. Truth is, these days, the day is seen as a celebration of everything that is Irish rather than a religous holiday. It's Ireland's national day, it just so happens to be on a Saint's day.

Delux, where are you from in South East Ireland? I'm from New Ross myself

Sergeant Horse wrote:Delux, where are you from in South East Ireland? I'm from New Ross myself

No way! I'm from Horeswood! Living in Waterford now though

I'm from Rosslare myself. Coincidental!
Here, are any of you in the North Wexford Gamers?

Happy St. Paddys Day All!

Da Boss wrote:I'm from Rosslare myself. Coincidental!
Here, are any of you in the North Wexford Gamers?

I'm not anyway. Like I said, I'm Waterford based. I don't actually have a gaming group at all, haha!

My family's ancestral spawning bog is in Leitrim. I don't need a day to celebrate being Irish. I drink almost everyday, but rarely to the extent of roaring projectile vomit "nows-wheres-me-toothpick" drunk...because I'm old. Gramps died on St.Paddy's day in '78, with his Ronald McDonald Ginger wig and all. One side of the family are Evil Catholic Papists and the other side are Free Masonic Satan worshipping Prottys, if I'm to believe what my relatives say. Apparently an escaped aristocratic Romanized Briton slave returned to Eire and vanquished all the snakes with sorcery and magic. Nice one.

Anyway, Dakka, here's mud in your eye. To all the sons of Erin and to those who wished they were...show us to your sisters.

Happy St. PATS!!

Everybodies Irish today!

As I am not given this chance often, i now say it with pride!


DRINK UP BITCHES!!!

Happy St.Patricks day to you all.