At some point we all have to face up to our prejudice. I never wished to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, for me the holiday meant pubs decorated in horrid dark green balloons and lots of drunken people in the streets. Even though I have no direct experience of this I must have gotten the image from TV or elsewhere.

Giving Saint Patrick a closer look I found a former slave who became bishop once converted from Pagan into Christian. A legend goes that he drove all the snakes from Ireland while preaching from a hilltop.

I don’t know what he would say about the celebrations today but they don’t seem to have much to do with him so maybe he wouldn’t even recognise the holiday anyway. Maybe he would have thought of them as some sort of modern Pagan, rather than sober Christian, behaviour.

I decided to celebrate like usual even though I was less impressed than usual. I always get slightly suspicious with people who make it their goal to convert others to what they believe is the right way of life, especially when they preach some of the ascetic values that I associate with Christianity.