St. Patrick’s Day booze: festive or excessive?

A selection of St. Patrick’s day’s finest on tap at Shebeen in Vancouver. (Photo: Notable/Notable.ca)

A frosty pot of gold at the end of a rainy day

Every year, St. Patrick’s Day blows into town like a drunk in an old Western film, bawdy and ready to fight.

But the holidays have simply become an excuse to drink the mid-March blues away with very few people actually celebrating the holiday for what it’s really about.

We all want a day off come mid-March. It’s cold, rainy and, aside from the odd cherry blossom, it’s a grey month for Vancouverites.

We’ve long forgotten our Christmas cheer and summer seems like a distant, unattainable daydream.The calendar seems rife with income taxes, end-of-term assignments and final exams for the foreseeable future.

Once March 17 hits, it seems like everyone is long overdue for some fun.

And this year was no different.

St. Patrick’s Day leads to hangovers and regrets

Throngs of people put on their green outfits as if they’re invincibility cloaks. The guise of a holiday, a tradition, that must be treated with respect and celebrated dutifully, allows folks to pound back countless pints.

And when March 18 rolls around, the bleary-eyed masses feel no shame despite the fact that they’re nursing a mind-bending hangover on a Tuesday morning.

Most St. Patrick’s Day partygoers would be hard pressed to come up with the holiday’s origins or meaning.

It’s a holiday from Ireland. The Irish like to drink, right? It’s a holiday about drinking!

Break away from the (six) pack next year

St. Patrick’s Day is less a holiday and more a get-out-of-jail-free card for anyone over 19.

A walk down Granville Street the next day is more than enough evidence of what the Feast of Saint Patrick really means to us: drinking, drinking and more drinking.

In the clamour of it all, people forget that just because everyone else is doing it, doesn’t mean you should too.

Next year, take it easy on St. Paddy’s Day. If you need a day off, just wait for the weekend. Throw back a pint of Guinness, just one, and relax.

And if you need a break from the stresses of the season, find a friend or a professional to hash things out with. Your liver will thank you in the long run.