Blair's teens in green

If you forgot to wear your green garments on St. Patrick's Day, today, March 17, consider yourself warned. "I will personally hunt you down and give you a good finger-wagging," junior Sean O'Brien cautions to all Blazers who do not wear green on the day that honors Ireland's patron saint. Oh yeah, and not just any shade of green either. "Kelly green, that's the hardcore Irish color," O'Brien adds in a picky manner.

O'Brien boasts that anyone will be able to pick him out of Blair's huddled masses by the green top hat, the well-worn pair of green Chucks, the knitted pin his grandmother made for him and "maybe some sparkly streamers for more effect" that he wears. Actually, even with his audacious outfit, you might still have a little trouble telling him apart from all of Blair's other St. Pat enthusiasts, since 87 percent of 100 Blazers informally surveyed on March 7 said they would be decked out in green to celebrate the holiday. Some, like O'Brien, are "pretty freakin' proud to be Irish," while others are non-Irish students who would just like to get into the spirit of a holiday that has woven itself into the fabric of American culture.

Even though the day is not an official holiday, it's one of the most widely celebrated cultural holidays in America, observed by the 34.3 million U.S. residents who claim Irish ancestry, about nine times the 3.9 million-population of Ireland itself, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. (In fact, of the 42 presidents of the United States, 21 were of Irish descent. Others "opt to become Irish for a day on this day," according to senior Alex May, who will celebrate by "wearing something green" and who claims to have "been deemed a honorary Irish" by an Irish friend and the friend's family since his birthday falls on St. Patrick's Day.

Thus, while St. Patrick's Day is, for O'Brien, "an opportunity to express my culture," for people like May, the holiday is a chance to learn more about that culture. May takes his honorary status seriously, and over years of research, he has evolved into some sort of a "St. Patrick know-it-all." "I chose St. Patrick for my confirmation saint," he says proudly. "As a saint, Patrick is such an appropriate role model in addition to being an important cultural symbol. I often aspire to be similarly saintly," May says.

The man behind it all

"I'd like to imagine St. Paddy was a wicked pipe player," O'Brien jokes, "but all I really know about him is that he was a man who brought Christianity to Ireland, where [people] had been pagans. " O'Brien ponders then quickly adds, "Of course, that's pretty darn cool, too."

Though the holiday has come to be represented more by figures of Irish lore like leprechans and clovers, St. Patrick's day is actually based on an actual man, who was born in Britain in 387 A.D. and died in Ireland on March 17, 493, according to NewAdent.com's Catholic Encyclopedia. St. Patrick, the Irish Apostle, was born into an upper-class Roman family, but when he turned 16, he was kidnapped and brought to Ireland by Niall of the Nine Hostages, according to St. Patrick.com, who sold him off as a slave to the Druid chieftan Milchu or Meliuc to work as a shepherd.

In the six years of his captivity, St. Patrick learned two important things that would be crucial to his later success. First, he learned the principles of Druidism, the traditionally practiced Irish religion of the time, from his master, who was a Druidical high priest. Also, St. Patrick became fluent in Celtic, allowing him to directly converse with the people he would later convert. During his solitary labors, Patrick became a more fervent Christian since he had no one to talk to except for God.

Facts and legends blur starting from the point Patrick escapes Ireland. Legend has it that God's voice told him of the escape route in a dream. But most sources agree with the account on Donabate.com. After Patrick's escape, he realized that his calling was to become a priest and advocate the voice of God. After studying in Britain, he was consecrated as a Bishop and then moved to France. According to popular lore, St. Patrick heard the voice of the Irish in a dream. The voice said, "We beseech thee, holy youth, to come and walk once more amongst us." Unable to resist the voice, he returned to Ireland at the age of 60. But he did not receive a warm reaction at first and was instead greeted with sticks and stones as he landed at Wicklow. But over time, Patrick's teachings overthrew the influence of Druidism, and he built the first Irish church at Saul on Strongford Lough where he died and wrote his famous "Confessions."

May believes that the Apostle's greatest strength was that he could relate the thenentirely foreign concept of Christianity to ideas and objects that the Irish were already familiar with. "His major contribution to Christianity, I think, is his shamrock-God analogy to explain the idea of the Trinity," May explains. "He said that just like how there were three leaves growing from one stem of a clover, three persons are contained in one God."

A charming legend surrounding the saint of the Irish is the story of his battle with snakes. Lore describes how a "mean old snake" vowed to make Patrick's life miserable, but after years of battle, armed with righteousness and piety, St. Patrick drove the vile creature out of Ireland. The story is a romanticized retelling of the way St. Patrick convinced the Irish to burn the snake idols that they had worshipped and to turn instead to Christianity in the forty years he preached in Ireland as a bishop, according to www.donnasholidaysentiments.com.

While celebrating the Irish culture on St. Patrick's day is great, people should remember that it's not only "Irish Appreciation day, but also St. Patrick Appreciation day," May says. "We need to remember that the real intention of this holiday is to remember and pay homage to a man who shaped Irish history. Remember St. Pat when you dress up, party and have your good, green fun!" May suggests.

Party hardy, party Irish

"St. Patrick's day is a time for some good food and family celebrations," says junior Conor Casey, a proud Irish.

The celebration is particularly welcome at this time of the year because the holiday temporary dispels the solemn mood of Lent, according to O'Brien. Lent began on Feb. 9 this year and will last through Good Friday on March 25. "Lent is a time of mourning where we lament Jesus' death and honor his sacrifice, so we do not and are not allowed to celebrate and have parties. But that rule is exempt on St. Patrick's Day. So you see," O'Brien explains, "St. Pat gives us a chance to raise a general brouhaha."

An usual inclusion in the "brouhaha" of St. Paddy's is Ireland's famous alcohol. "Yeah, it's bottles of beer for the adults and an occasional sip for us kids," Casey says, adding that he personally does not accept these sips even if offered.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 22 gallons of beer are consumed per capita by Americans annually, meaning that on average, each person drinks about 228 mililiters of beer, about one-twentieth of a typical can. However, on St. Patrick's Day, the amount of beer consumed rises significantly. Some drinking establishments even offer beer with green food coloring to entice their patrons to drink up even more.

In Ireland, says senior Owen McKain of D.C.'s Gonzaga College High, who grew up there, residents celebrate the day with heavy drinking because there is no legal drinking age limit. "But you really don't need to drink to celebrate. Beer is not the most important idea behind the holiday. It's about heritage and tradition, and there are some better ways to honor that than getting wasted," McKain states.

McKain says that 80 to 90 percent of his family is still in Ireland. While they are allowed to drink, the biggest attraction of the holiday is definitely not the chance to drink alcohol. Instead, it is the cultural cuisine. "It's all about the corned beef and cabbage," McKain emits a longing "Mmmm" as he mentally conjures up the dish.

"Corned beef and cabbage - best meal that ever existed," agrees O'Brien, who says that he can't wait to get home on St. Patrick's Day because his mother will be leaving the beef "cooking all day until it's just perfect."

May celebrated the holiday as well as his birthday early on March 16 with a friend's family, adding his Asian tradition of eating longevity noodles to the typical corned beef feast. "My own delicious multi-cultured party," May says with a chuckle.

However, just having spirit is enough of a celebration, according to junior Katrina Emery, who wears an "Everybody Loves an Irish Girl" shirt. "You don't have to have a party or eat special foods to celebrate," she claims. "You don't even need to be Irish. All you need to do is to feel Irish for one day. A good way to show that is by dressing in green."

Susan Madden, a Media Center specialist and the school's unofficial "Spirit Lady," is decked out in a leprechaun headband, two chains of green Mardi Gras beads, a deep-green long-sleeve shirt and faded-green shoes, set off with gold shamrock earrings. "I grew up in a strict Catholic community. You celebrated the holiday whether or not you were Irish. Then I married my husband who has an Irish last name, so the holiday became that much more important for me," Madden explains.

For someone who grew up in a community totally different from that of Blair, the sense of involvement in St. Patrick's at school was a pleasant surprise for art teacher Audrey Wilson. "I grew up in a small community in New Jersey where you were either Irish or Italian," Wilson describes. "The Irish celebrated St. Patrick's and they wore green, but we Italians just waited until St. Joseph's to wear our reds."

With rows upon rows of people in pale green, yellow-green, grass-green, forest green pushing through the halls, you'll really start to wonder whether Blair has turned into the Emerald City for a day. "Sure, there are a couple of Irish kids in that crowd," says Madden, "but most of these kids are not Irish. They just want to participate. They just want to have fun." She indicates a pin on her chest, which reads "Today I'm Irish." "They're all Irish today. I think that's great because it shows that Blair has a lot of spirit."