The Chinese have announced that the St Patrick's Day march in Shanghai has been cancelled. The reason, apparently, is that the authorities are concerned that the mass assembly of people may be used as a cover for the sort of anti-authority riots we have been watching in the Middle East.
Good for them! It's high time we banned this booze-soaked bore in England. If it weren't for the marketing department of the Guinness brewery the whole thing would have sunk without trace years ago, except among the Irish community. As an Englishman, It is my birthright to get drunk as a skunk on any day of the year, not just one accepted as a safety valve by the Irish Catholic church. Anyway, this is a protestant country; we don't do saints. Which is why, incidentally, we don't celebrate St George's Day.
That's Patrick, above. Note the snakes, to which the old lad is pointing. They are symbolic of Patrick, as the cross keys are symbolic of St Peter. That is because, according to legend, St Pat drove all the snakes out of Ireland. ( in reality, they were driven out by the last ice age). That is also why you will find similar posters of Patrick all over Haiti. Voodoo devotees use them to symbolise their serpent god, Damballah.
Not many people know that, as Michael Caine used to say.
No comments:
Post a Comment