On a day when it seems virtually everyone seems to lay some claim to Irish ancestry, and others, in typical American fashion, use the day as an excuse to get insanely drunk, St. Patrick’s Day can be many different things to many different people.
Cities such as Savannah, Chicago, New York and Norfolk, Va., all have notable parades where thousands gather and celebrate. Virtually every Irish pub in every town will be packed to the gills and serving up the suds along with boiled bacon and cabbage or Irish stew.
The last time I enjoyed a huge St. Patrick’s Day celebration was in Raleigh, N.C., about five years ago. Downtown Raleigh was an excellent place to celebrate and have fun with friends. But before it was all over, in a crowded Uber ride back to my friend’s house, a woman in our crowd in the backseat, got sick and projectile vomited in the van, mainly on the dude sitting in front of her. That dude was me. My shirt interestingly—and quite disgustingly—did look covered in Irish stew. I didn’t even try to wash it when I got back to the house. It went straight in the trash.
Since then, I’ve observed the holiday in a little tamer fashion, keeping away from those who tend to overindulge.
With the holiday falling on a Sunday, and not having to necessarily work, it will be a great day to go shooting. Could be a great way to celebrate the day for you as well. Again, maybe the ranges will be a little less crowded since everyone else will be pounding Guinness and dodging darts in some pub.
It’s interesting, but St. Patrick’s Day actually has a somewhat violent history, well into today if you take the increased number of arrests and DUI’s meted out.
Here are some odd and assorted facts related to the holiday and the Irish in general to stoke your St. Paddy’s vibe:
The Tommy Gun/Irish Connection: The Thompson submachine gun, or “Tommy gun,” originated from the designs of retired US Army Lt. Col. Marcellus Thompson in 1916, aiming to create an automatic rifle based on recoil principles, diverging from the then-common gas and piston system. The development was postponed by the US’s entry into WWI, but resumed post-war with Thompson’s founding of the Auto Ordnance Corporation, amassing 285 patents for small arms.
Investment came from Thomas Fortune Ryan, a senior Clan na Gael member, recognizing the weapon’s potential for both profit and the Irish Republican Army’s (IRA) struggle. He facilitated financing through Michael Collins, with Harry Boland acting as intermediary, unbeknownst to Eamon de Valera.
The “Tommy gun” appealed to Collins due to its simplicity, concealability, and firepower, crucial for the IRA’s operations against the well-armed British forces. Priced at $225 each, an initial order for 500 guns was placed after successful tests. The Thompson saw its first combat use in an IRA attack in Dublin in June 1921.
Production was licensed to Colt Arms Company, and an IRB agent arranged for the guns’ storage in New York, with the IRA as their exclusive initial customer. A planned shipment to Ireland was foiled by a US Customs raid right before departure, resulting in the impoundment of the guns, which later ended up with the FBI.
Despite the setback, a few Thompsons did reach Ireland, contributing to the IRA’s arsenal, albeit in smaller numbers than intended, with their repeated appearance in propaganda suggesting a greater presence. (Source: History Ireland)
St. Patrick Wasn’t Even Irish: St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, whose life is largely known through his work, the Confessio, was born in Great Britain, possibly Scotland, into a wealthy, Christian Roman family. At 16, he was captured by Irish raiders and enslaved for six years in Ireland, where he found solace in religion. He escaped to Britain after a dream guided him to a ship. Later, another dream, where he received a letter called “The Voice of the Irish” from someone named Victoricus, implored him to return to Ireland. Following his calling, Patrick studied for the priesthood, was ordained a bishop, and in 433, he returned to Ireland. Over the next 40 years, he devoted himself to preaching the Gospel, converting thousands, and establishing churches across the country. Patrick passed away on March 17, 461, in Saul, the location of his first church, leaving behind a legacy of Christianity and devotion in Ireland. He led a life of poverty, teaching, traveling and tirelessly working according to History.com.
Parade Facts:
- Depending on where you look, there seems to be some contention over whether New York City or Boston held the first St. Patrick’s Day parade. It wasn’t in either. According to Irish Central, research by historian Dr. J. Michael Francis has unveiled that St. Augustine, Florida, may have hosted the first St. Patrick’s Day celebration in 1600 and its inaugural parade in 1601, predating similar events in Boston and New York by over a century. This revelation came from a gunpowder expenditures log found in Spain’s Archivo General de Indias (AGI), detailing spring festivities and a feast day for San Patricio (St. Patrick) in St. Augustine. Francis noted that artillery was traditionally used not only for navigational assistance but also in public celebrations and religious festivals in the city. In March 1601, the residents of St. Augustine honored St. Patrick, who had become the Spanish garrison town’s official protector, particularly of its maize fields, by processing through the streets. This parade, under the direction of the colony’s Irish vicar, Ricardo Artur, marks an early and significant instance of St. Patrick’s Day observances in the New World.
- Boston was most likely next. According to History.com: “Boston has long staked claim to the first St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the American colonies. On March 17, 1737, more than two dozen Presbyterians who emigrated from the north of Ireland gathered to honor St. Patrick and form the Charitable Irish Society to assist distressed Irishmen in the city.”
- New York’s parade, which remains the largest and longest running in the United States, didn’t pop up until 1762. “Ironically, it was a band of Redcoats who started the storied green tradition of America’slargest and longest St. Patrick’s Day parade in 1762 when Irish-born soldiers serving in the British Army marched through lower Manhattan to a St. Patrick’s Day breakfast at a local tavern. The March 17 parades by the Irish through the streets of New York City raised the ire of nativist, anti-Catholic mobs who started their own tradition of “paddy-making” on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day by erecting effigies of Irishmen wearing rags and necklaces of potatoes with whiskey bottles in their hands until the practice was banned in 1803,” History.com reports.
- So, when was the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in Ireland? Not until 1903 in the town of Waterford.
The Famed Rigby Firearms Was Founded in Dublin: John Rigby, an eminent figure in the history of firearms, founded the high-end arms manufacturer John Rigby & Company in Dublin, Ireland, in 1775. Renowned for its craftsmanship and innovation, Rigby & Company established a legacy in the firearms industry that persists over two centuries later. Despite relocating its principal workshop, showroom, and museum to London in 1894, the company has maintained its operational prowess, holding numerous patents and introducing significant advancements such as the magnum Mauser action and the development of dangerous game cartridges like the .450 Nitro Express and .416 Rigby. Rigby-made rifles are celebrated not only for their functionality but also for their artistry, with many pieces considered collector’s items and displayed in prestigious museums worldwide. Current models still sold by the company can fetch more than $200,000, even $250,000 for a single rifle. Among the notable users of Rigby firearms was professional hunter Jim Corbett, who wielded a .275 Rigby rifle to take down the infamous “man-eating tigress of Champawat,” a Bengal tigress attributed with the deaths of an estimated 436 people before Corbett’s intervention. The enduring legacy of John Rigby & Company underscores its significant impact on the firearms industry and its connection to historic acts of marksmanship.
So, with all of that interesting, yet useless trivia tucked under ball cap, well, Erin Go Bragh.
BREAKING NEWS: NY AR-15 Ban Under Major Legal Assault with HUGE PRO-2A FILING.
A major legal filing by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Firearms Policy Coalition challenging NY’s “assault weapon” ban places NY’s gun ban in legal jeopardy. Mark Smith Four Boxes Diner analyzes this motion for summary judgment in Lane v. Rocha.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjphzh4Vo1U
Good luck NY! I may have a bit of Irish in my background. Have an English woman in there & haven’t investigated further. My sons are named Kevin, Ryan,Brian & Shawn🙂
Well now to see if this is the SAFE act challenge from last year or a new one.
Artillery in religious festivals in Florida in 1601? They’ve always known how to party down there
The first Christmas celebration in the New World was held in Florida also. It was at a Spanish Mission in what is now downtown Tallahassee. There is a living history state park on the site now. No word on the cannons.
Heading out to watch the Allentown, PA St. Paddy’s day parade. It is hokey….very much so…but I like hokey. It is honest fun. Schools and local organizations, local businesses and families. Last year, the last float in the parade was a flat-bed truck with port-potties. A local business advertising their wares. Funniest part was when someone came out of one of the potties.
I’m not Irish. Jewish-Puerto Rican raised Catholic. But a down-home, family oriented parade…gotta love. Hokey, here I come.
Eastwood should sue someone over that first picture.
I agree.
His finger ISN’T on the trigger. That’s just wrong.
“Are you after my Lucky Charms? Well? Are ya? PUNK!”
Hell, it’d be tough to get your finger on the trigger, which is sticking OUT of the left side of the trigger guard. Also, loor choice of two-handed hold for a semi-auto revolver – or is it a semi-revolving auto ?
oops – ” Poor choice “, not
(fat thumb) ” loor choice “
At least you don’t have AI thumbs, those things drive me to rage.
@James,
I scrolled down here to say just that. I didn’t read the article…simply saw that AI-generated artwork (no doubt following its coding to keep fingers off triggers, or somesuch), and went straight down here to the comments to sound off on the desecration of He Who Will Always Be Known As Pale Rider.
👍
Federal Judge Upholds California’s AR-15 Ban with Crazy Opinion full of errors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzjUsaz8TC0
Centuries ago Gun Control determined people of color were not sophisticated enough to be trusted with any firearms. The mentality behind yesterday’s Gun Control is clearly alive and well in today’s Gun Control. Instead of race being the litmus test it is now what criminals do with firearms that determine what firearms law abiding citizens can possess.
I for one am sick of seeing so called defenders of the Second Amendment bow down and fold like a cheap tent everytime a perp criminally misuses a firearm. There is a million mile wide difference between criminal misuse of inanimate objects and The Second Amendment. The knee jerk blame Gun owners, blame the NRA should have ended where it began and wimpy zip lipped so called defenders of the 2A have allowed it to continue. The sneaky CA judge sees a chance to capitalize on mixing the 2A in with criminal behavior and ran with it.
The habit of cowering down and going back and forth with a Gun Control judge who mixes a Constitutional Right in with the behavior of criminals is the Big F-ing problem that needs to end. Criminal misuse auto-forfeits one’s Second Amendment Right; not yours, not mine or anyone else…Period.
Well now that will make things interesting in a year or two.
My ancestry is more Irish than anything else…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=urIsx9rxZ4U&feature=shared
I did not know the history of the Thompson, my great grand uncle, Dads side, had one, back when you could buy one just because you had the cash and didn’t need .giv permission.
Saint Patrick’s day was the day Grandpa, moms side, my dad’s dad died when he was 16, is when we planted potatoes, that was the party at our place. Sliced in quarters and Eyes up.
Can’t remember any booze? Grandpa was a bootlegger during prohibition and he sold some booze to some young men who crashed their car and died, after that Grandma put the shut down on the booze they say.
I found a bottle of Apricot Brandy stashed in a sheds rafters( kids like to snoop) I said ” Hey Grandpa ,look at this.” He took it from me ,looked it over, looked up at the house to check where Grandma was at then opened the bottle and took a drink. ” Ugh, gag,gag, spit. Motor oil” he said.
I figured Grandpa had put motor oil in the bottle cause them old people saved everything for later use, like scouring the plow with used motor oil, but Mom said Grandma probably put the oil in there to teach Grandpa a lesson. ?. Her last name was Kennedy but she was 1/2 Native American by way of a French Canadian fur trapper who traded her to my great uncle at age 14, he died and my Grandpa took her in. Wish I’d have paid more attention to her, she knew all the weeds(greens) you could eat, made her own soap, sour dough bread baked in a wood cook stove,and could get a razors edge on a knife with just two licks.
Good times.
Hey possum, she sounds alot like my great-great grannie… lived to be a few weeks shy of 106 while still living on the family farm in a very small northern Mn. town of 200-something. Her secret to her long tenure on God’s green earth was a three-finger shot of her family brandy every morning and again before bedtime… and grannie had fat fingers. The brandy?… an old ” Family Recipe ” from prohibition days, made in a buried condensing loop and hidden cook room in the large barn on the farm. Oh, and for some reason, all of my uncles had fast cars in the day, cuz’ The Lord provides for them that provides for themselves.
When talking with a group of good fellows a week ago about the recently passed CC bill(SB1) in Louisiana, I encountered a new argument. One of the good fellows, Vietnam vet, became frustrated and said he could agree some with both sides and that he was taking the middle ground. I contend that there is no middle ground just as there is no “but” in the 2A.
His view was exposed after I ask the question: Do you think “We the People” or the Government should have control over your guns? He answered “We the People”, however he had just previously stated he felt there should be certain limitations controlled by the government. One fellow refused to answer the question and 2 others answered “We the People” both of whom had expressed government limitations.
Click: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_xrjbL5o98
Fast forward to 58 seconds.
Any arguments I presented fell on deaf ears. To my surprise these 4 gents did not fully support SB1 or the 2nd Amendment.
We took an oath to defend the constitution….. doesn’t mean we all understand it. Wonder what he would think of my neighborhood mortar league idea.
The Irish shillelagh. Every American should have one. And train how to use it.
Any group that shoots at the Redcoats are fine by me.
I guess it’s not traditional but I love me some corned beef and cabbage with taters and carrots. Got some in the crock pot right now. Can’t wait. Happy St. Patricks Day all!
Whether you are Irish or not, enjoy your St. Paddy’s Day, but remember the wisdom conveyed to me by one of the study group from law school (he was the one who introduced me to the wonders of GOOD single malt Scotch, so he will always occupy an honored place in my thoughts!) – “There are four days a year where I NEVER go drinking or out to bars – New Year’s Eve, St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, and Fourth of July. That’s when all the f*cking amateurs go out, get drunk, and puke all over themselves and everyone else. I stay home with a bottle of good single malt, and watch all the amateurs and idiots make damn fools of themselves.” He was not wrong. I’m only partly Irish, so I can be somewhat objective about it, but St. Paddy’s Day does seem to encourage stupid excess. Have fun, but don’t be stupid.
US: “So, again, you’re *sure* you know what a human hand holding a revolver looks like? How our fingers don’t meld into the space behind the trigger, we don’t have four thumbs, and all that?”
A.I.: “MY RENDERING CAPABILITIES FAR EXCEED THOSE OF ANY PRIMITIVE HUMAN ARTIST, MEATBAG.”
US: “Okay, as long as you’re sure…”
Weirdly made double or triple vests, messed up knuckles, and a thumb that could be something else…
Didn’t have time to get on here for St. Pats. So hope everyone had a safe, sane and enjoyable day.
Cooked up a home cured corned beef brisket, cabbage, potatoes and carrots.
Served with some home brewed stout and made bread pudding with an irish cream sauce on top for those who wanted it. Whipped cream for those who don’t want the booze.
Later in the evening we enjoyed a little good Irish Whisky around the bon fire.
Had about 20 people including kids etc. Since we had adult beverages on hand the guns stayed in the racks and vault. Planning another family and friends meal for Easter Sunday.
Glad I ran the grader blade up the road a few days ago otherwise the dirt road out here would have been a muddy and rough ride.
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