Sunday, April 4, 2010

Easter in Eire

Happy Easter to all of my 5 followers and random readers out there.

As I sit here nibbling on my Easter chocolate I can't help but feel fat. Well, fat and homesick. While Easter isn't the biggest holiday gathering in the Gustafson household, there is in fact a gathering. And, once again, I shall be absent for it. No Easter dinner for moi. I had a burger and chips from the local chipper for my Easter dinner. I miss my mom's cheesy gratin potatoes and the wine flowing plentifully at dad's. But alas, this is the compromise of international, independent living.

Enough woe is me talk and time get down to more interesting things. Today's topic, Good Friday and Easter in Ireland.

There's not too much to say about Easter in Ireland. I mean, it's the same religious focus throughout the world mixed in with bunnies, chicks and baby lambs. Families go to church, children have Easter egg hunts, and chocolate flows from neighborhood grocery stores like the Nile. The Monday following Easter Sunday is a bank holiday and most of us have the day off, there's one important difference, but other than that, Easter is Easter.

Good Friday however is an entirely different story. Good Friday in Ireland is essentially the one day alcohol Apocalypse and that's exactly how the Irish treat it. Being the infrequent church goer that I am (let's save the religion discussion for another day), Good Friday to me is the one day of the year when I'm not supposed to eat meat. Apparently, my parents did not raise a good Catholic, nor did I pay enough attention in Sunday school. I had chicken on Good Friday this year and felt guilty about it. But I know God loves me and won't mind a little chicken in my belly. If I'm worried about what God thinks of me eating chicken on a holy day, then I better start watching my back for the other 364 days of the year.

Moving forward...

Good Friday in Ireland is alcohol free. That's right, one day when the pubs shut their doors and the stores don' t sell booze to the inebriated inhabitants of this fine nation. It's a huge ordeal and there really is a sense of panic in the air. I was in the store on Thursday evening and as I was going in others were coming out with cases upon cases of lager in their arms stocking up as if the world was ending (come on, don't tell me you wouldn't want to have copious amounts of alcohol when the world ends). Just out of curiosity I approached the alcohol aisle to survey the damage. The vodka section was cleared out of merchandise, the beer section left only with a few lonely cans of Dutch Gold, and the wine section was barren.

Pretty crazy I must say. One day, that's all people needed to get through. One day of not being able to buy alcohol. Granted, there was one small difference this year in Ireland. There was a big rugby match on in Limerick this year. Quite the scandal to be honest. Pub owners in Limerick protested the liquor selling laws on Good Friday. After all, they would lose out on loads of business had they been required to shut their doors on Good Friday. And besides that, where would all the thirsty folks after the match congregate? So the powers that be decided to bend the laws slightly this year and allowed pubs in Limerick only to be open for a few hours for the match on Good Friday. This only meant one thing, half the population of Ireland would descend on Limerick city on April 2nd. Craziness would ensue, taps would run a plenty, as thirsty individuals stormed the streets of alcohol mecca.

I'm not sure if that's the way it went down. On Friday I was in bed by 12am watching a terrible moving starring John Travolta (if he's not in tight pants from a movie made in the 70's, I don't want to see it). But what I do know is, mayhem ensued in the booze aisle in Tesco on Thursday night and I survived it.

Now, back to this hollow, chocolate egg...

No comments:

Post a Comment