Just a quick note on Saint Patrick's Day ... last weekend I was invited to go on a "Mental Mission" with Shane and Kyle, the innovative team behind "Cultural Distortion". This went out on CNN and you can listen in to the podcast now on culturaldisotortion.com. Some fresh "Saint Patrick's Day Perspectives" maybe?

Marching bands playing hymns? Priests praying to the patron saint? Comely maidens skipping along to the music from "Riverdance"? What exactly can you expect at a Saint Patrick's Day Parade in Ireland? Well ... these days anything goes. Even Brazilian samba queens dressed slightly inappropriate for the Irish climate. But attracting even the most jaundiced eye in the crowd ...

To be quite honest, the parades are more like a carnival, not very "traditional Irish" at all. But they are a lot of fun. From tractors with garlands in small villages to Dublin's multi-cultural mega-parade. A choice of highlights from the variety of attractions found at the 2008 Saint Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin will give you an idea.

Photo © 2008 Bernd Biege licensed to About.com, Inc.

Saint Patrick's Day in Dublin - every year on March 17th, Dublin's inner city experiences a period of unusual calm (when the gardai have closed all streets for traffic) before the storm. The storm being the annual celebrations for Saint Patrick's Day. With the parade through the city being the unmissable highlight.

How to get the best out of this is easy - just follow my instructions on "How to Make the Best of Dublin's Saint Patrick Parade" - from being there early to choosing the right spot ... and planning your quick getaway in the process.

Photo © 2009 Bernd Biege licensed to About.com, Inc.

We all know about "Paddy's Day", once a religious festival celebrating the death of Saint Patrick, today a worldwide celebration of all things Irish. And one of the hightlights in the world of paddywhackery. When even under the golden arches green-tinged milkshakes are served.

And we all know who Patrick was, don't we? The man who put the fear of God into Ireland's snakes ...

Actually any historian worth his salt (and not yet past caring after a few pints of Guinness) will tell you that we do not know a lot about the man behind the myth. And myth it is - the vast majority of stories about his life and deeds were written well after his death and be well-meaning followers. Mixing reality with imagination, the improbable and the outright impossible.

Take everybody's favorite story about "Paddy", how he came, saw and drove the snakes out of Ireland. Great stuff indeed, I wish the man would pop over and do something about those mice in the garage as well. Only ... while my co-habiting rodents are a definite reality, there never were snakes in Ireland. Zoologically speaking. Metaphorically speaking those snakes could have been pagen beliefs. Which definitely were at the receiving end of Patrick's spiritual boots.

So ... what do we actually know about the man? Not a lot, and easily condensed in one short article on the historical Patrick.

Photo © 2009 Bernd Biege licensed to About.com, Inc.