What do you like most about St. Patrick's Day? / LJWorld.com

Asked at Massachusetts Street on March 17, 2008

“Expressing my Irish heritage and watching the parade.”

— Laurie Winkel, actress, Topeka

“In Lawrence, it’s like suddenly no one has a job. Everyone is out watching the parade and partying. Most towns will move the parade to the weekend of something, but not here.”

— Matt Stumpff, self-employed, Kansas City, Mo.

“Finding good luck in some place other than a clover field.”

— Lauren Poell, sales associate, Overland Park

“That I’m Irish. It’s our day.”

— Adam Herrelson, welder, Shawnee

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BrianR 5 years, 3 months ago

St Patrick's Day was Saturday. Thanks Pope!

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 5 years, 3 months ago

Wearing orange.

notajayhawk 5 years, 3 months ago

Marion (Marion Lynn) says:

"After you look at these sites, go have a drink and toast to the martyrs of Ireland!"

Don't have to look. Some of those to be toasted were not-too-distant relatives, including some of those hanged in 1916.

hitme 5 years, 3 months ago

You mean all the innocents killed by the IRA?

Patty was a lame saint. Taking credit for chasing the snakes out of Ireland with green (used) beer and Celtic music was disingenuous. The snakes were already gone because green (used) beer and Celtic music were omnipresent in the land before that slave/cabin/alter boy showed up. He simply convinced the drunkards that the snake were lurking there and ready to initiate more terrorist attacks. Lame!~)

snap_pop_no_crackle 5 years, 3 months ago

Taters!

monkeyhawk 5 years, 3 months ago

Midnight.

Haiku_Cuckoo 5 years, 3 months ago

Wearing orange? Wow, that's real crazy! "Ooooh! Look out for that guy. He's wearing orange on St. Patrick's Day! He must be some kind of tough guy!"

thomgreen 5 years, 3 months ago

I still feel St. Patty's day is one of the best holidays. It's all inclusive (everyone is Irish on St. Patty's day); though commercialized, it's not about buying things for people (except maybe a beer for the person next to you); and it's all about having a good time.

canyon_wren 5 years, 3 months ago

Corned beef and cabbage! My corned beef is cooking right now and smells great. It shrinks up to such an extent that I have to resist taking tastes or there won't be any left for dinner.

I like what thomgreen said, too--it's nice that there is still ONE holiday where buying stuff to send/give is not the main point! I guess that is just a matter of time.

hawklet21 5 years, 3 months ago

You beat me to the "ditto," canyon_wren. I hate feeling obligated to buy things for other people for holidays that I don't believe in.

sunflower_sue 5 years, 3 months ago

That I have a whole week to get ready for Easter.

Better go see if the green shirt or the orange shirt is closer to the top of the stack. That will dictate whether I am Irish or Scottish today.

notajayhawk 5 years, 3 months ago

It's St. Patrick's Day? [hic]

snap_pop_no_crackle 5 years, 3 months ago

This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.

dajudge 5 years, 3 months ago

I enjoy to contiue paying off credit card debt I incurred last St. Patricks's Day. And...drinking beer and fixing and eating corned beef with cabbage and potatoes. I used to simmer the corned beef in beer, but now I'd rather drink the beer and cook the corned beef in my cast iron Irish(dutch) Oven, and for the last hour, put in the cabbage cut in wedges, and some little red potatoes. Serve it all with some sour cream. I'm gett'n hungry. Gotta go.

kawryan 5 years, 3 months ago

You can make a living as an actress in Topeka?

Kontum1972 5 years, 3 months ago

DUI lawyers love it, it fills the coffers because Dec 25 is just around the corner.

trinity 5 years, 3 months ago

well hawklet i guess if you feel that way i'll just have to return all your st paddy's day presents, hmm? hmm? ;)

won't be coming to ltown today, my motorbike club elected to cancel this year! :*(

notajayhawk 5 years, 3 months ago

And okay, I wasn't going to say anything, but those whose knowledge of Irish history seems confined to a belief in beer drinking leprechauns, who find it amusing to talk about wearing orange on St. Patrick's Day, might take a moment to think about a few things.

As one result of William's deposing his father-in-law to accede to the British crown, and the subsequent brutal conquest of the Catholics in Ireland, the penal laws were imposed. These decreed that:

A Catholic was forbidden to enter a profession. A Catholic was forbidden to hold public office. A Catholic was forbidden to engage in trade or commerce. A Catholic was forbidden to live in a corporate town or within five miles thereof. A Catholic was forbidden to purchase or to lease land. A Catholic was forbidden buy land. A Catholic was forbidden to vote. A Catholic was forbidden to hold a life annuity. A Catholic could not be guardian to a child. A Catholic could not attend Catholic worship. A Catholic could not himself educate his child.

While I'm willing to give the people who joked about it the benefit of the doubt that they were not intentionally being malicious, such humor reflects an insensitivity on the level of wrapping yourself in a white sheet on Martin Luther King's birthday.

ms_canada 5 years, 3 months ago

This day will just not be the same because I could not find any corned beef for my Jig's Dinner. This is what the dish is called in Newfoundland and usually there is cod included with the corned beef, potatoes, turnips and carrots etc If I can't find any today I will just have to cry in that yucky green beer, what a travesty, green beer. Oh well, green is my favourite color, so it seems if one looks around my house where it is the predominant color. I have often wondered why that is. Maybe an irishman among my ancestors. Hmmm!!

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 5 years, 3 months ago

notajayhawk, What about the persecution by the Catholics in the Netherlands where King Billy came from?

Remember the Irish flag is green and orange banner with a white stripe between them.

What are your thoughts on fuchsia?

ndmoderate 5 years, 3 months ago

All in good fun:

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0301/stpatrick.html

ndmoderate 5 years, 3 months ago

Last year I wore orange. This year I'm wearing green. Peace among Catholics and Protestants!

notajayhawk 5 years, 3 months ago

RETICENT_IRREVERENT (Anonymous) says:

"What about the persecution by the Catholics in the Netherlands where King Billy came from?"

I would think it equally insensitive to wear a shamrock to a Dutch parade celebrating their nationalism. If you're Protestant and wish to wear orange on July 12th, then by all means do so. It's inflamatory and insulting to wear it on St. Patrick's Day, which is after all a holiday brought to this country by immigrants driven out of their own home country by persecution over their religion.

Ceallach 5 years, 3 months ago

Silly people, 1) the snakes were not copperheads, bull snakes, etc. St. Paddy brought Christianity to a pagan land. The snake was a powerful fertility symbol. The serpent represented the male due to its shape, and rebirth through the shedding of its skin. It was thought to be one of the most mysterious, sacred creatures to the Celts. When the Celts embraced Christianity the snakes were replaced. (I wouldn't go to far as to say they are all gone, but they no longer rule the isle.) St. Paddy drove them out; and 2) every Irishman knows that beer should be red!!

What do I like most? Having an entire day when being a Houligan is okay :)

snap_pop_no_crackle 5 years, 3 months ago

Having

wonderful

internet

life

not

allowed

aginglady 5 years, 3 months ago

I'll be missing my corn beef and creamed cabbage. Living alone, it's too much food to cook. And leftover corned beef just isn't my thing for some reason. Cabbage will be on sale next week tho'. And that's a good thing.

notajayhawk 5 years, 3 months ago

Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says:

"Looking at the priests, and the number of people mentally scarred by this religion, I'd say William had a pretty good head on his shoulders, and was ahead of his time."

Why, now, there's a healthy attitude. I guess since the number of crimes committed by African-Americans is far in excess of their share of the population, the KKK has a pretty good head on its shoulders, too? What a completely *sinine thing to say.

BrianR 5 years, 3 months ago

I look forward to The Sand Bar's float.

GretchenJP 5 years, 3 months ago

getting pinched

notajayhawk 5 years, 3 months ago

Just settling down to watch the Quiet Man.

GretchenJP 5 years, 3 months ago

Nope, I'm at work.

notajayhawk 5 years, 3 months ago

hitme (Anonymous) says:

"You mean all the innocents killed by the IRA?"

Uh, right. The Irish people weren't supposed to fight for their own independence from a country that we won our own from, even though they had been oppressed in a way that far exceeded taxation without representation, and for far longer. Spoken like another expert whose knowledge of Ireland consists of it being a nice excuse to get drunk on March 17th.