CANADA – Party goers across the country are marking the holiday dedicated to the patron saint of Ireland by enjoying food, drink, and activities that do not originate from the island of roughly 6 million people.
“I really feel in touch with my ancestors,” said Kyle Callaghan of Saskatchewan as he and his friends listened to LA based band Flogging Molly and chowed down on quesedillas. “It’s nice that we have days like this where we can get a true feel for the old country.”
Numerous people showed their Irishness by talking wistfully about starvation and violence they had never experienced.
Others treated themselves to Guinness, believing that it was imported and not brewed under license in Toronto.
“I am very Irish, and still do my best to keep in touch with my roots,” said Eileen O’Hara of Montreal, of whose family not a single member has been to Ireland in 170 years. “It’s nice to know that after centuries of strife, Ireland is now just as crassly commercialized as the rest of the western world.”
