Celebrating..the Removal of Snakes? Green Beer?

Unlike the English, I know how to pull Guinness properly. You have to let it sit, you have to let it go black, and then you have to push it back so that not more gas goes into it. Five twelfths of an inch is the ideal head round the top. And if somebody paints a shamrock into it, you're allowed to stab them in the eye with a fork. I remember I worked in a pub in the town I grew up in, and it was a very tough pub, and they wouldn't take a Guinness off me until I'd been there for awhile.
--Dara O'Briain, on QI

I went to the St Patrick's Day Parade in Manhattan (because why not? I love parades, I love bagpipes, it seemed like a win-win.) And it was fun. The route goes along 5th Ave and is at least 6 hours long, but I only caught the last 1 1/2 or so. Conveniently, 5th Ave is also where a lot of museums are, so I just went into the Frick Collection for awhile, which is always worthwhile. (I would give some non-essential teeth or toes to work at the Frick. Go there and you will see why.) It is unnerving, however, to be inside a museum and hear banging, muffled music, and cheering from outside. The guards kept peering out the windows at the melee.

Anyway, since I've been lax on the pictures of late (my camera has lost it's tiny mind) I'm going to do a photo diary of sorts so you can experience the parade a bit yourselves. Oh, and it was 65 degrees, sunny, and gorgeous.
1. First people I saw, before even going into the museum. They were super sweet and chatty.

2. Pipe and Drum band, take 1. Unintended consequence: first time I've heard bagpipes since graduation. A little sad.

3. Pipe and Drum band, take 27. I like the swing-y kilt action. A lot of these bands had flasks (or indeed, bottles of Jameson) tucked into their socks.
4. Pipe and Drum Band, take 503. Not a great picture, but they are from BROOKLYN. Represent!

5. Pipe and Drum band, take 7006.

6. and 7. In which I am hungry, but the pretzel truck is behind a barricade on the other side of the street, and instead of eating I take a picture of my parade appropriate feet.

8. ALBANY's Christian Brothers Academy. Represent!


9. Good on you, James Connolly. This followed a lot of banners telling England to leave Ireland.

10. Now THESE were cool. There were different banners for the counties of Ireland, and people on the street who were from there would burst into their song, or cheer. And I just think the banners look neat--the parade is 249 years old, and they have kept it really traditional. The banners remind me of the ones used in suffragette parades.

11. The moment we've all been waiting for! Jamestown, yes, Jamestown High School, my alma mater, was in the NYC St Patrick'ss Day Parade. I actually have no recollection what they played, although I think it might have been Scottish.

Please note the atrociousness of the new uniforms (hello, school board, if you're reading this...are we Lancaster? Think again.) But they sounded good! And the kid getting water squirted in his mouth over on the right is hilarious.

I was near the end of the parade route (as was the JHS band) so it was pretty uncrowded, which was nice, especially considering that this was the last parade I went to, and there wasn't any room to walk around.

The verdict? Low key, some good debauchery on the sidelines, some funny spectators, some flask-passing, and general calmness--probably thanks to the huge number of police in attendance. If you're in the city next year, I would definitely recommend it!

Everybody Loves a Parade

The West Indian Labor Day Parade happens every year on Eastern Parkway, and as this is 6 blocks from our apartment, of course we went! (plus, I'm a sucker for all things parade-y.) And it is, no joke, 7 hours long. We got there early and walked a bit to check out the stalls lining the street, and the food and spices smelled fab. Crown Heights' biggest population is from the Caribbean, and there were flags from all over.

The first 2 hours were just politcal campaigns walking, which got old quick. But a lot of them had good Caribbean music playing, and there was running commentary from the crowd, so it was still fun. I came back a few hours later, when the real parade had started, and the costumes? WELL worth the wait.

As my cousin's Grenadian colleague Miss Charles put it, "Caribbean girls. Confidence through the ROOF." No body-image problems here, refreshingly enough. Also, what parade is complete without devil costumes?

I think the right word for this is goddess-y.

We got back from the movies around 9, and there were STILL people mingling, eating, and dancing, although the parade had been over for a few hours by this point. My cousin said her students (who are mostly West Indian) talk about this parade for the entire year, and I can see why! The only remnants the next day were scattered chicken bones and empty water bottles.

Maybe another year I'll have the guts to go to j'ouvert, which is the first parade of the day. It starts at 3 am, and ends around sunrise. One of the staples of j'ouvert is splattering powders, paint, and mud on each other, which I didn't realize until I saw some of the participants in the second parade who had dyed hand-prints all over their bodies.