Luck of the Irish

A happy St. Patty's Day weekend to everyone! Even though I haven't traveled out of Cork the past two weeks, I thought I'd update everyone about what St. Patrick's Day is really like in Ireland, and some fun facts about Ireland that I haven't shared yet.

Although, first (on a sad note), I have to let everyone know that the luck of the Irish was NOT with us on Saturday, as the rugby team lost their final game to England, 33-10. With all of our points scored in the first 10 minutes of the game (games are 80 minutes long). I have never hated England as much as I did yesterday! We ended up getting fourth place in the tournament, ahead of the only two teams we beat (Scotland and Italy). Still had a great time watching it at the pub--the crowd was pretty awesome! (So I guess the craic was sort of mighty...)

I'm sure you all are wondering what St. Patty's Day is like in Ireland! Since it falls on Monday of holy week, the pope said that the holiday was moved to Saturday the 15th this year. In true Irish form, other than (sort of) moving the religious celebration to Saturday, the Irish are having a three-day celebration! Monday is still a national holiday, which means no classes! All weekend they've had cultural stuff going on in the main part of city centre, like different groups singing, puppet shows for little kids, and a big open air market selling GREAT food. All of that is still going to be going on Monday still, along with the parade! And lots of people have been dressed up all weekend already to show their Irish pride.

A few differences:
-No one dyes the river green (have to wait to go back to Chicago for that).
-They don't traditionally eat corned beef and cabbage.
-St. Patty's Day, although it's been getting more and more attention each year, was never hugely celebrated in Ireland. It all the Irish-Americans making a big deal about it in the States. When the Irish-Americans (and those in other countries) decided they should visit Ireland to celebrate the holiday, the Irish started making it a big deal in order to cater to the tourists.

Then there's some other stuff I've learned since being here:

• There's much more of an effort to be environmentally conscious here. When you go grocery shopping, most people bring their own bags and packs and stuff to carry groceries back home. If you want them to give you a bag, they charge 30 cents for each one you ask for.
• Since you don't tip here, positions like waitstaff actually get paid by the hour. Since they don't rely on tips, the service at restaurants is definitely not as good as what it is in the States.
  
• Divorce wasn't legal until the mid-90's (1995, I believe). Abortion isn't legal at all. (Even though this shows how much Catholicism has affected the country, the Irish still believe we are much more religious than them, because a lot of times when they think of religion in the States, they think of the Bible Belt.)
• The police here are officially called Garda Síochána or the "Peace Guard." The Garda don't carry guns, ever. As my Irish flatmate puts it, since people don't have access to guns, the police don't need them, either! The only exceptions are detectives, emergency response units, and the special branch--these make up no more than 25% of the police force.

Well, those are all my fun facts for now. I'm off to see what's up in city centre for more celebrating! I'll post some pictures in the next few days to show what the parade and celebrations have been like!