St Patrick’s Day appears to have been able to transcend being a national holiday in Ireland to becoming almost like a global party. Now, the one thing that it is certainly linked to is alcohol, and the answer is now linked to the fact that the Irish are rather fond of a drink or ten.
Nope, it is more to do with its origins and people in general taking advantage of it all.
At the outset, it was seen as being simply a feast day and was a time where Christians were allowed to celebrate and commemorate him, and in order to do so they could put aside the various restrictions on both food and alcohol that were linked to Lent.
In other words, religion decided that you could have some nice food and a few drinks on that day, but at the time there was no way of knowing that it would turn into what it has done now. To be honest, the food part has largely been left alone, but the same cannot be said for alcohol, as that is certainly being done to excess.
So, the next time you want to blame the Irish for this alcohol-filled day, stop yourself in your tracks and decide to blame the Christians instead.