March Madness

I love to play with words. And ideas.

March is madness. I mean, in what other month do we describe the weather as a lion or a lamb? And college basketball, oh yes, Cinderellas still make it in the Big Dance. And yes, every year I am amazed at how horribly my bracket turns out. It is truly madness! Incomprehensible madness!

But what about today’s holiday? Could it also fit in with the theme of madness? It does happen in March, after all.

So, let’s look at what we have to work with. We have a Saint called Patrick, a pot of gold, a four leaf clover, a leprechaun, the color green, Ireland, luck, and lots of beer. Lots and lots of beer! How does it all go together?

Well, Ireland is green, and so are four-leaf clovers. Good start, eh?

The saint was a Catholic, and Catholics like beer. Another connection. 😉

Leprechauns are the weirdos who put their coins in a pot of gold at the end of rainbows. Another!

And, if you drink beer you increase your chances of getting lucky. Right?

I’d love to leave it at that, just for the sake of comedy. You know me, though, I have to dig deeper and try to find the truth of the matter. So, as I was digging, I learned that getting lucky and drinking beer have not always been the focus of the holiday. Irish pubs actually used to be closed on two days of the year–Good Friday and St. Patrick’s Day. I also learned the traditional color associated with Saint Patrick was not green, but blue. As for Patrick, the clover had something to do with him, as you can see in the icons or stained glass images of him. But if you look carefully, you’ll notice he wasn’t carrying a four-leaf clover. It was a three-leaf clover. Supposedly, he used a clover to try to explain the Holy Trinity.

I appreciate his effort, I guess, but I’m not going to follow in his footsteps. Trying to explain the Trinity is madness as well. Cheers, anyone? “To the Madness!”