St. Patrick's Day on March 17th -- a day of solemnity and National Pride for the Irish -- has, like so many other holidays, become “Americanized" and a huge part of American consumer culture, especially for those of us in college. Target decks itself out in green decorations, and the classic “Kiss me I'm Irish" shirt makes an appearance on even those who claim to have 1% Irish heritage.
At the university level, St. Patrick's Day has become a weeklong celebration that rivals Halloween. St. Patrick's day comes at a time, for us in Boulder, when the weather is finally getting nice after weeks of winter, and serves as somewhat of a combination of a warm-up week for spring break and a mid-semester syllabus week. A week where it is not only acceptable to go out all days of the week leading up to the holiday, but also expected.
Kegs are filled with green beer and everyone rages, both day and night, for as many days as they can muster up the energy before the actual holiday comes. On the 17th, the streets of Boulder are turned into giant parties, the entire student body raging together to celebrate a holiday we college kids center around green beer and plastic bottles of Burnett's. Boulder on any given day is a party school, but being in Boulder for the week of St. Patrick's Day is a college experience like no other.
St. Patrick gave college students across America a reason to drink beer and claim Irish heritage, though very of us know anything about who he was or why he was a Saint. St. Patrick was born in Britain, when he was about six was taken by Irish pirates to Ireland where he spend most of his adolescence. He found his faith while he was captured in Ireland and around the age of twenty he was able to convince some Irish sailors to help him get back to his family in Britain.
Once back in Britain, St. Patrick helped to spread his faith to others, who were at the time losing their own. We celebrate St. Patrick on March 17th each year because that is the presumed day of his death. Though I myself know little about St. Patrick and how he helped to serve mankind I felt it was important before celebrating him, to know who he was and why we celebrate him. From what I can perceive, he was a good guy that wanted to help as many as he could.
So as we go out and celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year with out block parties and day-gees decked out in Irish green, remember to think like St. Patrick and be a good person. College kids take any excuse to celebrate, but it means that much more if you know what the celebration is for. Happy St. Patrick's Day to all the Irish and non-Irish alike.
