You know we love to celebrate… we will throw a party in a hot second, and at this time of year all eyes are on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s the one day of the year when everyone is Irish, and the only day after Packer season when you’ll see so much wearin’ of the green.
Here are a few fun facts about this holiday:
Did you know that St. Patrick wasn’t actually Irish, or named Patrick? His parents were Roman, settled in the Scottish colonies. He gave up his birth name (Maewyn) for the name Patrick (well, Phadraig. Or Patricius. Depends on whom you ask.)
He was captured by pirates and sold into Ireland, where he worked as a shepherd for six years. In his life, he had at least two oracular dreams, the first of which told him how he could escape slavery. The second dream inspired him to return to Ireland and spread Christianity. Contrary to legend, he did not bring Christianity to Ireland. He did popularize it, however.
The tradition of “drowning the shamrock” refers to the tradition of floating a shamrock atop a measure of whiskey before drinking. The shamrock was not, in fact, used by Patrick to explain the Holy Trinity, but was worn by Christians as a symbol of it.
Join us on Friday, March 17th for the wearin’ of the green, the drownin’ of the shamrock and a rollicking good time with traditional Irish music by Dublin O’Shea, and a special Irish menu featuring corned beef & cabbage, Irish stew and, of course, plenty of green beer.
