Festival Days – March 1st

 

March 1^st  is often regarded as the first day of Spring and to celebrate this it has some interesting (Mad March) festival days.

In Wales it is St David’s Day and mostly everyone wanders around with a daffodil in their lapel. Apparently it used to be a leek and in Henry V, Shakespeare had his Welsh soldier Fluellen wearing one in his cap to celebrate the day.  I suspect the daffodil has replaced the leek because it is a lot more attractive and smells a whole lot better too!

In the USA March 1st is National Pig Day. I’ll say it again in case you don’t believe me – National Pig Day.

“The purpose of National Pig Day is allegedly “to accord the pig a rightful, though generally unrecognized, place as one of man’s most intellectual and domesticated animals”.  The question of whether the holiday is a time to honour pigs by ‘giving them a break’ or to appreciate their offerings (spare ribs, bacon and ham) is an open question.” (Wiki)

I can’t help thinking that this is a bit insensitive towards the feelings of 3.3 million Muslims who live in the U.S.A.

“And the pig, because it has a split hoof, but does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You shall neither eat of their flesh nor touch their carcass.” Deuteronomy 14:8*

My favourite 1st March Festival Day however just has to be National Beer Day in Iceland…

Read the full story Here…

Iceland, National Beer Day – 1st March

“Drink is a sort of anaesthetic, it diminishes the pain…and I did quite enjoy the days when one went for a beer at one’s local in Paris and woke up in Corsica.” – Peter O’Toole

In Iceland March 1st is National Beer Day and a sadly missed blogging pal Richard explained why…

“Before I talk about beers and bars, here’s a bit of history that might surprise you. Prohibition was introduced in Iceland in 1915, and although spirits and wine were later allowed, beer was still outlawed until 1989. The beer ban was finally lifted on 1st March that year, a day celebrated annually by the nation as Beer Day. Beer festivals, pub-crawls and drunken debauchery allegedly ensue. I’d loved to have experienced Beer Day in the bars of Reykjavik, but unfortunately got there four days too late!”

I imagine Richard found Reykjavik a little quiet as it recovered from a collective hangover!  I would like to but here is a word of caution, if like me,  you are tempted to join Icelanders to celebrate 1^st March then be sure to take a lot of cash because beer (and everything else as it happens) is very expensive.  Here is a top tip – if you are travelling to Iceland and you want some spirits, beer or wine then be sure to visit the airport duty free shop after you land because here alcohol can be bought for almost sensible prices.

But Iceland isn’t the only place to celebrate a National Beer Day.

National Beer Day is celebrated in the United States every year on 7^th April, marking the day that the Cullen–Harrison Act which repealed prohibition became law.  After being signed off by President Franklin D. Roosevelt it is alleged that he said “I think this would be a good time for a beer.” 

Everyone seemed to agree with him because it is said that on the day that the Act was passed into law people across the country consumed one and a half million barrels of beer to celebrate.  This raises a question mark for me – during prohibition who brewed one and a half million barrels of beer and why?

Not satisfied with National Beer Day, the USA has a second day of celebration on 27^th October which is celebrated as National American Beer Day.  There are more than two thousand breweries that manufacture beer in the United States and I suspect that they all taste the same.

In 1990 I first visited World Disney World in Florida and spent an hour or so at EPCOT World Showcase.  After a whirlwind tour of the World we came eventually to the United Kingdom, designed to look like a typical British village with shops, thatched cottages and gardens. The shops sold British goods, such as tea, toys, clothing, and Beatles merchandise. I was fed up with it all by now and bypassed Hampton Court and the Cotswold village and aimed for The Rose & Crown Pub which at least served English beer.

I ordered a pint and so did an American guest but he took one sip and his face distorted in agony at the taste (English beer has flavour whereas American beers do not), he said ‘What the hell is that?” and slammed it down on the bar and left.  I was tempted to take it but the bar staff, obviously used to this reaction, swiftly took it away and poured it down the sink.

And another day to mark in the diary in the USA is 24th January which is Beer Can Appreciation Day which celebrates the day in 1935 when beer was first sold in cans.

National Beer Day in the United Kingdom is celebrated on 15^th June which is a happy coincidence for me because that also happens to be the day of my birth.  15^th June was chosen as the day of celebration not in recognition of my birthday however but rather because it happens to be the day in 1215 when Magna Carta was signed by King John and the Barons at Runneymede and article 35 of the Charter stated “Let there be throughout our Kingdom a single measure for wine and a single measure for ale…”

During research I have been surprised to find no mention of a National Beer Day in Australia but someone suggested to me that is probably because every day is Beer Day in Australia.

If they ever did have a National Beer Day I would suggest April 30^th to celebrate a gargantuan beer drinking achievement.  The Australian cricketer David Boon (who had a moustache so huge it had to be taken out twice a day for a walk) famously drank fifty-two cans of beer on a flight from Sydney to London before the 1989 Ashes tour, breaking a record of forty-four set by Doug Walters and Rod Marsh on an earlier flight.

Boon himself played down the achievement by pointing out that they were only small airline sized cans.

Festival Days – 1st March

March 1^st  is often regarded as the first day of Spring and to celebrate this it has some interesting (Mad March) festival days.

In Wales it is St David’s Day and mostly everyone wanders around with a daffodil in their lapel. Apparently it used to be a leek and in Henry V, Shakespeare had his Welsh soldier Fluellen wearing one in his cap to celebrate the day.  I suspect the daffodil has replaced the leek because it is a lot more attractive and smells a whole lot better too!

In Iceland it is National Beer Day and my blogging pal Richard (https://abitofculture.net/) explains why…

“Before I talk about beers and bars, here’s a bit of history that might surprise you. Prohibition was introduced in Iceland in 1915, and although spirits and wine were later allowed, beer was still outlawed until 1989. The beer ban was finally lifted on 1st March that year, a day celebrated annually by the nation as Beer Day. Beer festivals, pub-crawls and drunken debauchery allegedly ensue. I’d loved to have experienced Beer Day in the bars of Reykjavik, but unfortunately got there four days too late!”

Like Richard I have visited Iceland but never on National Beer Day.

My favourite however has to come from the U.S.A. – National Pig Day. I’ll say it again in case you don’t believe me – National Pig Day.

“The purpose of National Pig Day is allegedly “to accord the pig a rightful, though generally unrecognized, place as one of man’s most intellectual and domesticated animals”.  The question of whether the holiday is a time to honour pigs by ‘giving them a break’ or to appreciate their offerings (spare ribs, bacon and ham) is an open question.” (Wiki)

I can’t help thinking that this is a bit insensitive towards the feelings of 3.3 million Muslims who live in the U.S.A.

“And the pig, because it has a split hoof, but does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You shall neither eat of their flesh nor touch their carcass.” Deuteronomy 14:8*

Reading this now that seems very clear to me but I used to go to Church every week and never in any Sunday School lesson or sermon do I remember the Vicar making reference to this and I doubt if it was ever read out in a Bible lesson either.  Christians you see enjoy their bacon sandwiches!

In 2014 I visited Turkey which, despite being a Muslim country, seems rather relaxed about this law as well because throughout the town the restaurants were all offering English breakfasts with bacon and sausage, in a shop I spotted some Peppa Pig towels for sale and Turkish waiters were openly flirting with English girls and some of them were real porkers I can tell you!

I doubt however if Turkey marks a date in its calendar to celebrate International Bacon Day which falls sometime in August or September depending on which day the U.S. Labor Day falls (like Easter it is moveable).

In the U.S.A. of course they don’t know how to spell labour and as I understand it they don’t know how to cook bacon either.  They slice it thin, crisp it up and cook the life out of it instead of the British way of leaving it thick and juicy with just a hint of complimentary fat.

This liberalism didn’t extend very far beyond breakfasts however and the man at the meat stand in the street seemed a little surprised when Kim asked if there was a possibility of a pork kebab which confirmed to me that she hadn’t been listening to a single word I had been saying.  As usual.

Later that night after evening meal and back on the balcony of the apartment and probably in blatantly open defiance of the Islamic pork rules we had a couple of secretive games of Pass The Pigs!

* This isn’t the only bit of nonsense in Deuteronomy that has had an influence on history, consider this at 22.5…

“The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth to a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God”.

It was this instruction from the Bible that condemned Joan of Arc to a bonfire because it would seem that that God through Moses was much less than tolerant than we are now on the issue of cross-dressing!