Having lived part of my life in Ireland (ok, it was just a few months, never mind...), celebrating St.Patrick's day is a kind of obligation to me. By the way, St.Patrick was the one who introduced Christianity into Ireland, at the time when Christianity and Catholicism were both the same thing. Nowadays, Irish people care less about the religious meaning of this fest and St.Patrick has turned more into a day for getting pissed and showing your Irish patriotism, although you were born in Micronesia and have never put your feet onto Ireland.
On the day before, I surveyed my flat mates if they would be interested on going to an Irish pub nearby for celebrating (surprisingly the pub was called Mollly Mallone). For one reason or another, at the end of the day I found myself alone, but I was determined to go. Interestingly, my feelings were just the same as on St.John's day. This is a Spanish fest, as far as I know, which takes place on the 23th of June every year, that means, the summer equinox or the shortest night of the year. Although is not a bank holiday, on that night everybody goes out and have a few. Going out to see the bonfires and drink something is a must. I felt on St.Patrick's day just the same.
So I went to the pub. I hesitated whether to get into Molly Malone when I was at its very doorstep, and finally went to the other Irish pub next. There were a few more people there and the atmosphere was in fact more warming. I ordered my Guinness, got my free Irish leprechaun hat, and slowly paced my pint while ate some snacks. In fact, I don't like Guinness much, it makes my stomach feel stodgy, but one is ok, and in St.Patrick's a pint of Guinness should be a must.
After that, I made my way back home. I was done with the black stuff one year more. Once at home, I took this stupid picture to immortalized myself with this hat commemorating the 250 years of existence of Guinness. Maybe someday when Guinness turn 300 I could show this pic to my grandsons and tell them: “I still remember the day Guinness celebrated its 250 anniversary and I went alone to a pub on St.Patrick's day...blablabla".
Happy St.Patrick's day 2009!