It's Not My Holiday





  Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day. It's a time for eating soda bread, corned beef, cabbage and drinking green beer. Bars are full of patrons celebrating and if the bar is an Irish pub, it will most likely be standing room only.
  I was not among the revelers yesterday. I didn't wish anyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day. I didn't consume any corned beef or cabbage. I didn't even wear green.
  The reason is because this isn't my holiday. I'm not Irish, I'm a citizen of the United States. My ethnic background is German and Italian. I'm not Catholic and if I was my patron saint would not be Patrick. It would be either St. John Leonardi, St. Jude,St. Hannah or St. Gertrude of Nivelles. (These are the patron saints of pharmacists, hopeless causes, childless wives and cats respectively. I couldn't find a patron saint of stepmothers.)
  I have never understood why this holiday is celebrated so widely. It's marked on most calendars. Stores sell green items and items with shamrocks on them for weeks in advance. Some restaurants have seasonal items that they serve around St. Patrick's Day.
 I personally think it is unfair. No other group like that gets their own holiday. I've never seen a day set aside to honor Welsh, Russian, Spanish, Austrian or Portuguese heritage. Why do the Irish get their own holiday?
  I'm grateful that as an adult I can choose to observe St. Patrick's Day or not. When I was in school I didn't have much of a choice. If you didn't wear green on that day you could expect to get pinched. I would sometimes forget and was on the receiving end of lots of pinching. Sometimes if I wasn't wearing enough green I'd get pinched anyway. I did not look forward to this.
  My thoughts of 17 March are not all bad. There are a few good things about the holiday. One of them is the Shamrock shake. I treat myself to one every year about this time. I know that it is nothing more than a mint milkshake. I could make it at home, but for some reason it just tastes really good. When I was in college, the Quantity Foods class  prepared lunch once a week. If you signed up ahead of time and were on the meal plan you could eat their lunch. They made a special St. Patrick's Day lunch once. It started with homemade tomato soup. It was the first time I had eaten tomato soup that did not come from a can. The next course was corned beef, cabbage and Irish soda bread. I learned that I liked all three foods especially the soda bread. I have no idea what the dessert was. I'm sure it was good too. I'm also sure it was nonalcoholic. NDSU was a dry campus back then. It was one of the best meals the class made.
  I've mellowed over the years. I used to be quite aggravated over St. Patrick's Day celebrations. Now I don't mind so much. Just because I don't agree with it doesn't mean that others shouldn't enjoy it if they choose. Maybe someday there will be holiday equality. If there is ever a special day for those of German and/or Italian descent I will celebrate.

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