Ireland celebrates Arthur’s Day with one hell of a nationwide party – again

@jacersagain Nice story but i think it's a bit of a myth! Porter was invented in London and was being brewed even before Arthur Guinness was born!

Oh oh oh! I forgot to tell yez about seeing the container for incense that hangs in front of the main altar in the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. It’s huge, with long, thick ropes for holding it in place to be swung by strong men to-and-fro, like a really long pendulum during important religious ceremonies. It is centuries old and holds about 90lbs or 40 kgs of incense which is lit during ceremonies. Incense was one of the gifts of the Three Wise Men to the Baby in the Stable at Bet Lehem and has been used by the Christian Churches since then. In the Cathedral of Santiago, the story goes that they made the container so huge, that when lit and giving off its sweet burning smell, its purpose was to disperse the smell of the unwashed bodies of pilgrims in the Cathedral after their long journeys... just thought you might be interested to know that it acts as a deodorant. It wasn’t lit when I was there... and I so revelled in the smell of my own body’s and that of other pilgrims’ sweat. More natural, like ya know... possibly like what Jesus and His Apostles and disciples musta smelled like on arriving in villages after their long walks through Galilee. I don’t bother to think of what Arfur Guinness smelled like in company.

Even as a Dubliner and a Guinness drinker, I do not support the idea of an annual “Arfur’s Day” (I didn’t celebrate the 250th anniv in 2009) and would encourage everyone not to – it should be enough for the Guinness Company, on its own in its own corporate quarters, without dragging immature potential alcoholic customers in, to celebrate it every 50 yrs for the next 8750 yrs, after which the lease of the lands at St. James’ Gate will run out. I wonder how much renewing the lease will be then? Or what Apostle St. James would think of an alcoholic product produced in the area of an old Gate into old Dublin City named after him? Did you know that Irish pilgrims setting off to Spain on the Camino de Santiago (trans: the Way of St. James) start their journey at St. James’ Gate, next to the Storehouse? After a pint of the ‘black stuff’ and a bit o’ craic, they walk to Dublin Docks, board a ship to La Coruna in Nth Spain and, over 2 or 3 days, walk from there (about 35 miles) to Santiago de Compostela, where the Apostle’s remains lie in the Cathedral there. (The Irish pilgrims have it lucky at 35 miles; most pilgrims walk hundreds or even thousands of miles from other parts of Europe, e.g from Latvia and Russia, over many months). On arrival at the Cathedral, they join the queue of other pilgrims who’ve walked from countries all over Europe to do two things – 1) hug a bejewelled silver statue of the head & shoulders of St. James, a masterpiece of artistic creation, a thing of beauty in its own right, and 2) visit the crypt where the casket containing the bones of Apostle James is on display. When Arfur’s lease runs out in the year 10,759AD, the tradition of pilgrims travelling the Caminos to Santiago will be older and still ongoing, while Arfur’s Guinness Company will, sadly, hafta look for a new home, away from St. James Gate in Dublin. (Google santiago de compostela (dot) net, for more info on the Caminos).

@ citizen69 - People forget that Arthur Guinness, back in the 1700’s, was a butler to the Lord and Lady of Lucan (or were they of Leix?). Back in those days, it was the butler’s job to make beer for the grand events in their castle by the River Liffey in Leixlip. Arfur (for that was how Arthur was pronounced back in those days) made a mistake making the beer one time – he burned the hops. It turned the beer very dark (Guinness is actually a dark ruby colour) but there wasn’t enough time to make a fresh brew for the ‘do’ and the dark brew was served up. The guests were so delighted with the new taste that Arfur was instructed to make beer like that again and again. He was eventually allowed by Lord Lucan (or Leix?) to use a local Leixlip brewery to make the dark beer. He actually sold his first home brew of the black stuff at the back gate of the castle grounds to the public for a half-penny a gallon. (You can see that gate still in the town of Leixlip, Co. Kildare). It was such a hit with the public that Arfur, helped by being a beneficiary of his Godfather’s will (the then COI Bishop of Cashel), became a businessman in his own right and went on, in 1759, to lease the now-famous brewery near the Guinness Storehouse in St. James’ Gate Dublin to commercially produce the stout/porter, as it became known, under his name. So, citizen69, while Guinness porter/stout is definitely called an Irish ‘invention’ - though it was caused by a mistake by Butler Arfur, copied by many breweries since - you may be right in saying that it is not Irish – because Arfur was part of the Protestant British Establishment in the 1700s. Arfur was an Irish Unionist.

McDonald's Hamburgers~U.S.A.At least when you buy a Guinness you get porter and Ireland is the only place who can make it properly.McDonald's give you beef when you ask for a hamburger.Ham = animal that goes Oink! Oink!Beef = animal that goes Mooooo!! Mooooo!!.

It just a big racket for huge amounts of free publicity for a commercial product from an non-irish company. What other country in the world is so closely associated with a private brand? Porter/Stout isn't even an Irish invention.

Wonder how much it costs Diageo to arrange 'infomercials' in various online and print media.

Did everyone forget about what happened in Templebar, Dublin last year when they celebrated Arthurs Day??? Google that...NSFW