to Arthur!

the man himself, Arthur Guinness

What’s the most important holiday of the year in Ireland? Arthur’s Day! Okay not really, but it sure felt like it! Arthur’s Day commemorates the birthday of Arthur Guinness, the original brewer of (you guessed it) Guinness beer. Every September 22^nd, pubs, bars, and clubs all over Ireland throw huge parties and concerts to celebrate the day, with more advertising than I’ve ever seen for a holiday!

I first heard about Arthur’s Day the day I arrived in Dublin. After seeing bits of the city, our jet-lagged group collapsed in the lounge of our hotel where Arlene (one of the IFSA staff) was waiting for stragglers to arrive. She told us a number of places to go in Galway and Limerick, things to see, cities around Ireland we should visit, why Irish people complain about the weather in every conversation, etc. She was ASTOUNDED that none of us had ever heard of Arthur’s Day, and went on and on about how it’s the best holiday ever and Limerick was throwing a HUGE concert with amazing acts and it was going to be absolutely  great!

 When Arthur’s Day rolled around, the whole Limerick group purchased tickets for the event/concert taking place at Dolan’s Pub, one of the places Arlene had recommended.  As I’m sure you can imagine, the festivities stared early in the day, even for a Thursday. I have class until 3:00pm on Thursdays, and walking between every class I saw students carrying plastic cups of Guinness out from the campus bar! Guess Ireland doesn’t have much of an open container law?

 Arthur’s Day’s most important tradition is a toast at 17:59 (or 5:59pm, if you’re not used to military time) in honor of the first batch of Guinness being brewed in the year 1759, so we made sure we were downtown by about 5:30pm. We walked in the door of Dolan’s and were greeted by Arthur Guinness himself! He looked pretty good for being 252 years old, and once the bartenders told us we’d get a free pint of Guinness for “making yourselves known to Arthur,” we immediately took the photo op!  Who can turn down free Guinness, especially on Arthur’s Day?  

The rest of the night was a huge mix of toasts to Arthur – who was pretty well drunk by the time we left for the evening – and moving between the concert in the Dolan’s Warehouse and the traditional Irish music, or “trad” music, performance in the regular pub.  To get to the concert initially, we were told to walk around the block to an alternate entrance where they were taking tickets. I had just gotten my full pint of Guinness, and since the doormen usually guard the real glass pint glasses like the Crown Jewels, I was nervous about this whole idea. We walked up to the front door and the man said “the door’s just around the corner on your left, be sure to take your drink with you!” Strange, but Marion and I were ecstatic about getting real glasses out the door of a pub! BIG deal.  The concert wasn’t actually all that amazing and the girl singing was dressed like Harry Potter a bit, which was definitely weird, but everyone celebrating was really friendly and welcoming! I even capped off the evening at Dolan’s with a Jameson and Coke – a little pricey, but when better than Arthur’s Day in Ireland??