Happy St. Patrick's Day
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| Irish dancers in a St. Patrick's Day parade in Washington, D. C. several years ago. Look carefully in the background, and you will see the Washington Monument. |
Did you ever notice that this time of year, everyone seems to be part Irish? I claim the same thing, though I have some data to back it up. According to Ancestry, I'm about 40% Irish. Also, I know that at least one set of great-grandparents was born in Ireland. I think those two things qualify me to drink green beer and Shamrock shakes. Too bad that I don't like either one of those.
When I was a kid, St. Patrick's Day was "celebrated" by pinching kids who weren't wearing green. It wasn't until I was an adult that I wondered about this painful tradition. Supposedly, wearing green makes you invisible to leprechauns who may pinch you for fun. Or something like that.
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| More dancers from the parade. |
And it wasn't until fairly recently that I learned that some wear orange on St. Patrick's Day, especially in Northern Ireland. Protestants wear orange in honor of William of Orange, who defeated the Catholic King James II in the 1600s. Wearing orange is often used to make a religious or political statement. A former coworker said that her Irish in-law family was quite adamant that Orange was the color for St. Patrick's Day.
And BTW, who was St. Patrick anyway? Not being Catholic, I never studied saints and have never been quite sure. But my trusty computer says that he lived in the 5th century and is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. That's a little different from what I had heard previously, that St. Patrick rid Ireland of snakes. Apparently, there have never been snakes in Ireland, and snake banishing is some kind of metaphor.
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| And what St. Patrick's Day Parade would be complete without Irish wolfhounds? |
And how am I spending this St. Patrick's Day? This morning, I got my hair cut, and this afternoon was spent at the DMV. However, I did wear a green shirt to both of those outings. :)
Did you do anything to celebrate St. Patrick's Day?
Until next time...
TheHub is out of town, so I asked My Beloved Sister to come have dinner with me. Though it is not traditionally Irish it is our tradition to have corned beef and cabbage. After the meal, the St. Pats decor will come down and Easter will go up.
ReplyDeleteI don't really like corned beef that much, so I forgot all about fixing it today. We are going out of town if a few days, so we're trying to eat down the fridge before we go, so I probably wouldn't have fixed some anyway.
DeleteI don't have much Easter décor, but I did go to the basement and bring that up today.
It's not a holiday I think too much about as an adult. As a kid, it was a very big deal, wearing green to school and usually having projects or readings or something related to the day. But at home, my parents ignored it, being Norwegian, Welsh and German/French.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't celebrate anything at home, either, for St. Patrick's Day. We didn't distinguish many days except Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays. Oh, Halloween, too, when we went trick-or-treating. It seems today there's a lot bigger industry around the holidays and products to celebrate them.
DeleteWe had corned beef and cabbage on Saturday, when our family was home. I love corned beef. Other than that, no real celebrations.
ReplyDeleteThere's a song by the Irish Rovers about green and orange. I don't know the name of the song offhand, but some of the lyrics are: "Oh it is the biggest mixup that you have ever seen. Me father, he was orange, and me mother, she was green. " It's a fun, rollicking tune.
I have a tiny bit of Irish heritage from my mom. You have more than I do!
I listened to the Mixup song. A fun Irish tune. Now, I feel like I've had a proper St. Patrick's Day. :)
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