What is St. Patrick's Day?

Happy St. Patrick's Day. This is a beer. It's called Guinness. It's from Ireland. There's

another thing that I'd like to teach you about something from Ireland. It's called St. Patrick's

Day. It happens every March 17th. This year is 2014. On March 17th, 2014, there's going

to be a lot of drinking. There's going to be a lot of parties. There's going to be a

lot of parades and festivals. Why? Okay. "Why is Ronnie wearing green again? Why is she

wearing a green wig? Why is she wearing a green shirt? Why does her shirt say 'fek'?

What does that mean?" Let me tell you. "Fek" is the Irish replacement word for a very naughty

word called "f*ck". So instead of saying "f*ck", you could say "fek". It's really cool, and

nobody thinks you're saying a bad word except for the people that know.

So a little bit of history for you about St. Patrick. St. Patrick, apparently, was a real

person. And he was the saint of Ireland. Now, the funny thing is that we don't know exactly

when he was born. There are a lot of historical errors about his life. What I have read -- some

rumors. For sure, he is the saint of Ireland.

Now, this is how you spell "Ireland" in Irish Gaelic. I cannot say it properly. I think

it sounds like "aija". I do not speak Irish Gaelic. I do apologize. But this is how they

spell "Ireland" in Ireland. This is the name of it. So St. Patrick is the patron saint

of Ireland.

March 17th, funnily enough, represents the day of his death. So we are not 100 percent

sure when the guy was born. But apparently, they know he died March 17th -- I don't know

the year; it's not important. What is really important about St. Patrick and St. Patrick's

Day -- especially St. Patrick -- is he marks the begins of Christianity in Ireland. Now,

Christianity is a kind of religion. There are two main parts of Christianity, Catholic

and Protestant. In Ireland, Catholic and Protestant people are always fighting but they have the

same religion. I don't understand it either.

So in Northern Ireland and Ireland -- or the southern part of Ireland -- Newfoundland or

Newfoundland, which is in Canada, and Labrador, a province in Canada, and also in the tiny

Caribbean island of Montserrat, we celebrate St. Patrick's Day. And it's a public holiday.

That means you don't have to go to work, and you can spend all day partying and drinking

and wearing green. Doesn't this sound like a great holiday? I live in Ontario. Unfortunately,

St. Patrick's Day is not a public holiday. I have to go to work unless it's a weekend.

What do we do on St. Patrick's Day? We drink. We drink a lot. Now, I was interested as to

why on St. Patrick's Day people drank. And the answer is because of this thing called

"lent". Now, "lent" is the six weeks leading up to Easter. Easter happens in either March

or April depending on where it lies in the calendar. And lent is six weeks where people

will give up one thing that is a luxury. For example, if you really, really like chocolate,

you will give up chocolate for lent. If you really, really love beer, you will not drink

beer -- [laughs] yeah right! You will not drink beer for six weeks -- not going to happen.

St. Patrick's Day happens to fall smack-dab in the middle of lent. So for one day, you

can drink, eat, feast, party as much as you want, and we're not going to tell anyone.

So the reason why people drink so much -- only on March 17th -- is it's because the one day

during lent, the restrictions, or the rules, have been banished, which means you can do

whatever you want.

In your city, in your country, do you have a St. Patrick's Day celebration? When I was

living in Japan in Tokyo, I went to the St. Patrick's Day parade. I drank a lot of beer

on the street. It was great. Some people wear a lot of green. Some people don't wear green.

You do not have to wear green. You can wear whatever you want.

One interesting ironic thing that I think about St. Patrick himself if history is correct

is that he was not even born in Ireland. He was born in Roman England, I think known today

as Wales. He's not even Irish. He was born in Wales.

Now, how did he get to Ireland? What happened there? The legend has it that St. Patrick

was captured by Irish pirates, and he was taken as a slave to Ireland. Whilst in Ireland

as a slave, he had a vision from God that he would be a really cool guy and make us

drink on St. Patrick's Day. He had a vision from God that he would help people around

the world and be a saint. So he became free magically, went back to where he was from,

went back to England, and brought Christianity to people in Ireland.

That's my crazy little story about St. Patrick's Day. How about you celebrate St. Patrick's

Day -- you tell me your crazy little story about St. Patrick's Day. Sláinte!