WHY ST. PATRICK'S DAY IS CELEBRATED EACH YEAR IN
AMERICA
The reason the Irish celebrate St. Patrick's Day is
because this is when St. Patrick drove the Norwegians out of Ireland
It seems that some centuries ago, many Norwegians
came to Ireland to escape the bitterness of the Norwegian winter. Ireland was
having a famine at the time, and food was scarce. The Norwegians were eating
almost all the fish caught in the area, leaving the Irish with nothing to eat
but potatoes. St. Patrick, taking matters into his own hands, as most
Irishmen do, decided the Norwegians had to go.
Secretly, he organized the Irish IRATRION (Irish
Republican Army to Rid Ireland of Norwegians)
Irish members of IRATRION passed a law in Ireland
that prohibited merchants from selling ice boxes or ice to the Norwegians, in
hopes that their fish would spoil. This would force the Norwegians to flee to
a colder climate where their fish would keep. Well, the fish spoiled, all
right, but the Norwegians, as everyone knows today, thrive on spoiled fish.
So, faced with failure, the desperate Irishmen sneaked into the Norwegian
fish storage caves in the dead of night and sprinkled the rotten fish with
lye, hoping to poison the Norwegian invaders.
But, as everyone knows, the Norwegians thought this
only added to the flavor of the fish, and they liked it so much they decided
to call it "lutefisk", which is Norwegian for "luscious fish".
Matters became even worse for the Irishmen when the
Norwegians started taking over the Irish potato crop and making something
called "lefse". Poor St. Patrick was at his wit's end, and finally on March
17th, he blew his top and told all the Norwegians to "GO TO HELL!! ".
So they all got in their boats and emigrated to
Minnesota, the only other place on earth where smelly fish, old potatoes and
plenty of cold weather can be found in abundance
AMERICA
The reason the Irish celebrate St. Patrick's Day is
because this is when St. Patrick drove the Norwegians out of Ireland
It seems that some centuries ago, many Norwegians
came to Ireland to escape the bitterness of the Norwegian winter. Ireland was
having a famine at the time, and food was scarce. The Norwegians were eating
almost all the fish caught in the area, leaving the Irish with nothing to eat
but potatoes. St. Patrick, taking matters into his own hands, as most
Irishmen do, decided the Norwegians had to go.
Secretly, he organized the Irish IRATRION (Irish
Republican Army to Rid Ireland of Norwegians)
Irish members of IRATRION passed a law in Ireland
that prohibited merchants from selling ice boxes or ice to the Norwegians, in
hopes that their fish would spoil. This would force the Norwegians to flee to
a colder climate where their fish would keep. Well, the fish spoiled, all
right, but the Norwegians, as everyone knows today, thrive on spoiled fish.
So, faced with failure, the desperate Irishmen sneaked into the Norwegian
fish storage caves in the dead of night and sprinkled the rotten fish with
lye, hoping to poison the Norwegian invaders.
But, as everyone knows, the Norwegians thought this
only added to the flavor of the fish, and they liked it so much they decided
to call it "lutefisk", which is Norwegian for "luscious fish".
Matters became even worse for the Irishmen when the
Norwegians started taking over the Irish potato crop and making something
called "lefse". Poor St. Patrick was at his wit's end, and finally on March
17th, he blew his top and told all the Norwegians to "GO TO HELL!! ".
So they all got in their boats and emigrated to
Minnesota, the only other place on earth where smelly fish, old potatoes and
plenty of cold weather can be found in abundance
