Zombies and St. Patricks Day

Zombie mashups are the order of the day.

The father of the Little Women beomes a werewolf in one mashup.  Jane Austin wrote about them in another.  Not only was Abraham Lincoln a vampire hunter, but St. Patrick was really trying to rid the Emerald Isle of....zombies.

Yes.  St. Patrick's Day (tomorrow) is a zombie holiday, which may come as a surprise to the good residents of Ireland, and certain American cities such as Savannah, GA.  But I digress.)

Here's the true story of St. Patrick, as revealed by author Dan DeWitt.

Note that in a lot of modern zombie literature, zombies are not quite the traditional Voudon zombies.  Rather, they originate  from some type of virus (natural or man made by terrorists or others).  The first victims get the virus, die and reanimate as mindless, vicious creatures who have an insatiable hunger for living human flesh.  So their first act once reanimated is to attack the nearest living humans.  Once bitten, the next human victim gets the virus, dies, reanimates.  Repeat the process, many times. 

The plague spreads rapidly, with the government unable to fight it, usually ending up in a total destruction of civilization.  Of course, civilization doesn't fall until  there are many thrilling battles, explosions and so forth, with the zombies always winning.  These are a totally different enemy and can only be...er, killed...(re-killed?) in one particular way.  Of course it takes a while to figure it out and by the time the remaining humans do, it's too late.

The destruction of civilization? That is generally known as the "Zombie Apocalypse".

Zombies show up a lot nowadays in video games and popular literature and movies.  I especially love a local cable commercial, where Ricky Gervais refuses a Facebook friending invitation, and is suddenly plunged into a zombie apocalypse.  As he's running down the street being chased by zombies, soldiers and a helicopter, he is trying to accept the friend invite, saying he was "only kidding".

It really looks good in HD.  Although, just so you know, Time-Warner, it's starting to get a wee bit stale.

But St Patrick's Day and zombies?

Sure enough,..

Here are zombies in a St. Patrick's Day parade.

And you can even purchase a Celtic Zombie Pride greeting card.

I find zombies fascinating.  At least until the real zombie apocalypse hits. (and if it does, Ace has the products you need.).  You'll never think of St. Patrick's Day in the same way after a zombie apocalypse.  No one appreciated the job he did on the Emerald Isle, and now the zombies have regrouped.  And soon, they will be after our green beer.

Which brings the question, how did a holiday celebrating a saint evolve (or devolve?) into a secular holiday featuring shamrocks, corned beef and cabbage (we are having ours tonight) and green beer (no)?

In the meantime, remember to accept all Facebook "friend" invitations.  Especially tomorrow, on St Patrick's Day.