Happy Monday !
We hope you had a scrumptious Pi Day, are having a cautious ides, and are looking forward to a mirthful St Patrick's Day! In honour of the occasion, both this week's trivia and lagniappe have a certain Hibernian quality to them.
When most of us think of celebrating St Patrick's Day, we think of two things: green as far as the eye can see, and pints on pints on pints. But it was not always so!
No Beer Please, We're Irish
St Patrick's Day is the biggest day on the Irish calendar, and it wouldn't be complete without a few pints. Unless you lived before 1903, in which case it wasn't even recognised as an official holiday in Ireland. And of course unless you lived between 1903 and 1970 when it was officially observed as a religious holiday, meaning pubs were closed!
I'm Blue Da Ba Dee Da Ba Di
Although nowadays any St Patrick's Day parade is a sea of green, for most of the last 1000 years, the heraldic colour most associated with both Ireland and St Patrick was blue. A deep azure known as St Patrick's Blue was the colour of The Order of St Patrick, and still features on many national symbols of Ireland. Eventually green representing the lush pasture of the island replaced blue, largely due to its adoption by the Irish Catholic Confederation, who presided over a decade of Irish home rule in the 17th century.
Good Things Come To Those Who Wait
In fact, like Halloween/Samhain, much of the aesthetic of the modern incarnation of St Patrick's Day owes as much to the US as it does Ireland. Not all of the American takes on the holiday make it back across the pond though. Green beer would never be spotted in an Irish pub. Go for a Guinness instead. Such is the American desire to dye things green on St Patricks Day, that after missing 2020 due to COVID, Chicago surprised residents by dyeing the Chicago River green at the weekend despite the cancellation of the St Patrick's Day parade.
Remember tonight's quiz starts at 8:00pm GMT/ 3:00pm CT. We've got 8 green rounds of questions. We hope to see you there!
For those looking for something faster, join our short and sweet speed quiz on Thursday at 6:30pm GMT/ 3:30pm CT.
Thank you as always for your support and Éire go Brách!!
MJ and Jessica
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