From Green Midgets to Mexicans?

[baavgai]

I have some Irish background and a painfully Irish surname. I'm not a big fan of St. Patrick's day and will consistently refer to it as "Drunken Mick Day", often to the horror of innocent bystanders.

I'm not real fond of most cultural pride celebrations. More often than not, they emphasize negative stereotypes and propagate more ignorance than the awareness they purportedly raise. Also, the inherent divisiveness of "yay us" is hard to get over.

Still, I try not to piss in the green beer (would it turn blue?) and smile and let those who choose to celebrate have their fun. Besides, next week, corned beef should be cheap. Most people follow holidays in happy ignorance of their history anyway, content to simply revel in the modern trappings.

My issue this year is... timing. The Irish drinking day used to be something you'd hear about a week before, as all the bars started pumping their promotions. I've been hearing blarney belching brownies for the past month. Somewhere in the last five years, Saint Patrick's day has been Hallmarked. In short, whatever soul it might have had has been quietly stolen by the media PR machine that views all things as merely commodity.

Of course, it really doesn't matter what the genesis of an observance day is, as long as there's booze. There is now a contender for drunken Mick day that's even more obscure than a Catholic Saint's Day. It's been creeping in the past few years and is poised to make it big. It is the Mexican observance of the Battle of Puebla. Don't know what I'm talking about? Yeah, I had to look it up, too...

Hint, it falls on the fifth of May? Or, in Spanish, "Cinco de Mayo!" That's right, keep an eye peeled, in just a short time the bars will push this one too. We don't even have a clue what it means, but that's alright; as long as there's alcohol involved, it's all good.

Comments

[edelweiss68.livejournal.com]

St. Pat's Day should also be a Greek holiday. ;)

I, meself, am all for A Swiss Holiday. We could all eat pure Swiss chocolate 'til we faint from sugar shock...

[baavgai.livejournal.com]

Consume chocolate 'til ya puke day? Count me in.

Don't know if Swiss have a lock on that one. Aztec awareness day could be more fun, anyway; at the end of the basketball game we get to behead the players.

[edelweiss68.livejournal.com]

True, true... but which would be more fun: eat-Swiss-chocolate-til-ya-puke-day, or play-with-Swiss-Army-knives-day? Wait, don't answer that... ;)

Or we could do pelt-the-Swiss-Guards-with-water-balloons...

I like your Aztec idea. ;D

[tashadandelion.livejournal.com]

Still, I try not to piss in the green beer (would it turn blue?)

Nay, chartreuse.

[h3salthea.livejournal.com]

Grimm is of the same opinion about Holidays of his background...