Spirited Adventures

No doubt you’ve already made St. Patrick’s Day plans. There are plenty to choose from, ranging from a street party at Caddy’s in Gulfport to dancing at a silent disco at 3 Daughters Brewing in St. Pete. Here’s my take.

Have you ever considered what Mardi Gras, Purim, and St. Patrick’s Day have in common? All involve revelry, drinking and debauchery, sometimes costumes and pretending you’re someone you’re not. These holidays take place in March, during spring when the earth is awakening from its cold winter slumber. People have always marveled at nature’s return to warmth and the miracle of food simply growing out of the ground.

Why are we so lucky to have food at our feet? We need to know why, and how, and who, something the ancients could not understand. Their answer: the gods. Among the immortals, fertility goddess Ishtar was believed to have the ability to coax the earth to provide the sustenance human beings require.

Ishtar was also associated with the planet Venus, which represents physical love, making Ishtar the protectress of prostitutes and the patroness of the alehouse. Giving us an excuse to drink, carouse, and maybe get lucky. Activities that occur on all three of these holidays.

This year you may have gotten your Mardi Gras beads on March 1, but on the 17th you can drink green beer for St. Patrick’s Day and, as the rabbis recommended for Purim, drink so much you can’t tell the difference between bad-guy Haman and hero Mordechai.

As long we’re tying this up in a bow, the woman at the center of the Purim story is Esther, whose name is mighty similar to Ishtar. Even more of a coincidence is the basketball fever that occurs concurrently – March Madness.

So go, have fun, and as Jimmy Buffet opines, there might be a woman to blame.

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