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.jpg) St. Patrick's Day is being celebrated in Los Gatos over a period of days, so everyone will have an ample opportunity to wear the green and enjoy the fun! Below please find a list of fun places to visit to partake:
Sunday, March 16th: C.B. Hannegan's, located at 208 Bachman Avenue in downtown Los Gatos (close to N. Santa Cruz Avenue and the Bank of America). Hannegan's always overflows with patrons for this feast, so they are celebrating a day early to be able to use the B of A parking lot. Visit their website for information on their St. Patrick's Day celebration
The Los Gatos Brewing Company, found at 130-G N. Santa Cruz Avenue (near Wells Fargo Bank in downtown Los Gatos) is offering a special menu both 3/16 and 3/17. You can always count on them to celebrate all the holidays!
Monday, March 17th: The Boulevard Tavern, located at 15043 Los Gatos Boulevard (near Lark Avenue, between Lark and Highway 85), honors the patron saint of Ireland with green beer, free corned beef & cabbage (I've been to Ireland and just have to add that I've never met an Irish person who actually eats corned beef and cabbage), Irish music, and all around fun. No cover charge. They don't appear to have a website, but their phone number is 408 358-0774.
Number One Broadway, which is actually not ON Broadway but instead at 102 B. South Santa Cruz Ave. (near the intersection with Broadway) will be open with a DJ and dancing.
What's the Hulabaloo Over St. Patrick's Day This Year?
The celebration of St.Patrick's day, with all of its secular aspects, is rooted in the Roman Catholic tradition of honoring a saint on his or her feast day. St. Patrick, who was actually not Irish himself (that's a long story!), brought the Christian faith to the emerald isle and now is its patron saint. Because this holy man died on March 17th (year disputed), that's when he's honored in the church. (So the celebration doesn't normally move around as other feast days do which are dependent on a lunar or solar calendar.) In many cities today, Mass preceeds the parade - though not in all places where a parade is held.
Every once in awhile, there's a "liturgical conflict". That means that one religious observance basically steps on another - often because one thing is based on the fixed date and the other on a moving calendar. So, for instance, during the penitential season of Lent, Catholics abstain from meat on Fridays. Sometimes, though, St. Patrick's Day will fall on a Friday in Lent. The local bishop usually gives a dispensation (think of it like a free pass) and the feast day basically takes precedence.
Unfortunately, this year, St. Patrick's Day actually falls during Holy Week (the week which begins with Palm Sunday and goes through the triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday prior to Easter Sunday). This is a very solemn week for all Christians, Catholics included. The Pope and the Bishops feel that feasts are not appropriate for Holy Week.
So there's the dilemma: we have an important feast which, like Christmas, has both religious and secular aspects to it. In some places, the observance of the religious aspect was moved rather than dropped (in Savannah, they moved it to Friday the 14th).
Getting less press, but along the same lines is the Solemnity of St. Joseph. This is a huge feast day in Italy and I believe the tradition is still strong to have a feast in one's home and invite the homeless in - at least that's what friends of mine in Sicily tell me. St. Joseph is the Patron of this Diocese and, as Mary's husband, is very important in the Church. St. Patrick's Day pretty much got dropped from the calendar here in the Diocese of San Jose this year, but the Solemnity of Joseph got moved from March 19th (same problem - Holy Week) to today, March 15th.
There's been a lot of uproar over St Patrick's Day being dropped religiously all over the country. It hasn't stopped the secular celebrations, though. I wonder if there's an equal fuss being made over the patron of homes (and of real estate), St. Joseph?
Luckily we won't see this calendar problem again for 50 or more years. May all our problems be so small!
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Live in Los Gatos:
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