Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
By Brian Schoeneman | Thursday, March 17th, 2011 | Catch-All
Today is St. Patrick’s Day, a day revered around the world by the Irish as the feast day of St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland. According to the generally accepted histories, today is the 1518th anniversary of Patrick’s death.
Captured in a raid by celtic marauders when he was sixteen, he was sold into slavery and spent the next six years as a shepherd in County Antrim, Ireland. He escaped captivity, made his way to France, joined the Church and returned to Ireland where he spent the rest of his days.
Not much is known about his work besides the apocryphal tales we’ve all heard, from the driving the snakes from Ireland to his teaching about the Holy Trinity using a shamrock.
Don’t let my last name fool you – I’m more Irish than German, hailing originally from that Irish-Catholic bastion that was Baltimore. And I’m happy to say that us Episcopalians still treat St. Patrick with the respect he deserves, as March 17 is the feast day of St. Patrick here as well.
For the rest of the country, St. Patrick’s Day is a convenient excuse to go drinking, and as an Irishman, I can’t give anyone a hard time for that. So from me, the Kenney’s and the rest of us Irishers at Bearing Drift, raise a pint of Guinness or Smithwicks (NO GREEN BEER) with a cheer of Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!
Tags:
Contribute for Conservatism!
Share this post
About the author
A veteran political professional, a long-time Republican party activist and new attorney, Brian W. Schoeneman has been offering his opinions at Bearing Drift since 2010. He serves on the Board of Virginia Line Media, LLC, which operates Bearing Drift and spends his days representing the U.S. Merchant Marine in Washington, D.C. He hails from Fairfax County, Virginia, where he lives with his wife and son.
We're 75% there! Thank you to everyone who has so far contributed! Just $2000 to go!
Comments
9 Responses to "Happy St. Patrick’s Day!"
Yeah, I know it’s tradtion, but there’s something just not right about green beer. So I second the Guiness recommendation. And don’t be afraid to drop a shot of Irish whiskey in there either.
I just can’t drink a beer that is of a color not found in natural beer nature. It weirds me out.
I will make my traditional corned beef and cabbage and make a toast to all my friends on Bearing Drift. May the luck of the Irish be with us all!!
Ah, Kathy, I wish I could be making corn beef and cabbage today, but my wife hates them both. And she’s a red-head with freckles, who couldn’t look more Irish if she tried.
If you drink too much beer this is how you will end up singing O Danny Boy:
Erin go bragh to everyone at Bearing Drift. I’m one-quarter Irish with my maternal grandfather being Irish-American, but on March 17th that bit of blood takes over completely.
I’m in Charleston, SC, for the annual black tie St. Patrick’s Day banquet at the Hibernian Society. The guest speaker tonight is Bill O’Reilly. History will be made tonight when SC Gov. Niki Halley will be the first woman in the 170-year history of the society to attend the traditional men-only event. Hopefully the Hibernians will be more polite than they were last year when Gov. Mark Sanford was taking the podium, but I doubt it. They played “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” as he was walking over to the podium.
A Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to everyone! Everyone is Irish for today! So, join in!
That is classic, HisRoc. I love those guys for having a sense of humor. Hopefully Sanford took it well.
Brian,
I can assure you that Sanford took it well.
Five years ago Dick Cheney was the guest speaker, shortly after the bird-shooting accident in Texas. When he got up to move to the podium everyone at the head tables put on blaze orange hunting vests over their tux jackets and pulled out blaze orange hunting caps.
BTW, Sanford was there last night as the former governor. No hard feelings apparently.
Leave your response