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I'm a bit late to the party (pun intended) but on my blog, you get everything you pay for! A British / Irish reader of my blog (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
daveon) asked the question "Why is St. Patrick's Day (in America) such a drunk-fest?" In Ireland, the day is more like Thanksgiving in America (a quiet day at home) and similarly in the UK. I answered him in comments, but I've decided to recycle that thought as a post. (Hey - I'm a "liberal" - we're green!)
So, in America (and Great Britain, for that matter) during the 19th century, most holidays were somewhat drunk-fests, at least for the lower classes. Back in the Goode Olde Dayes, people worked six and seven day weeks from "can" to "can't," so any break was greatly appreciated. Well, the upper classes found all this public intoxication and rowdiness unacceptable. So, all sorts of efforts were made to "civilize" and otherwise modify acceptable social behavior.
The first problem that hit St. Patrick's day was that it was never an "official" holiday. Therefore, the drying-out process was never applied. The second problem was that in 19th Century America the Irish were treated only marginally better than blacks. One of the political responses to this was to hold a parade, demonstrating that there were a lot of Irishmen and that they voted. It was a "respect or else" kind of demonstration.
These two factors coincided in America to produce the 21st Century St. Patrick's Day - an excuse to drink green beer in public.
daveon) asked the question "Why is St. Patrick's Day (in America) such a drunk-fest?" In Ireland, the day is more like Thanksgiving in America (a quiet day at home) and similarly in the UK. I answered him in comments, but I've decided to recycle that thought as a post. (Hey - I'm a "liberal" - we're green!)So, in America (and Great Britain, for that matter) during the 19th century, most holidays were somewhat drunk-fests, at least for the lower classes. Back in the Goode Olde Dayes, people worked six and seven day weeks from "can" to "can't," so any break was greatly appreciated. Well, the upper classes found all this public intoxication and rowdiness unacceptable. So, all sorts of efforts were made to "civilize" and otherwise modify acceptable social behavior.
The first problem that hit St. Patrick's day was that it was never an "official" holiday. Therefore, the drying-out process was never applied. The second problem was that in 19th Century America the Irish were treated only marginally better than blacks. One of the political responses to this was to hold a parade, demonstrating that there were a lot of Irishmen and that they voted. It was a "respect or else" kind of demonstration.
These two factors coincided in America to produce the 21st Century St. Patrick's Day - an excuse to drink green beer in public.
