Erin Go Bragh

Top O the mornin To ya. Today, we will be talking about St. Patrick’s Day. It is a little late, I know; but better late than never right? St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday that has always been acknowledged in my family. It is, in general, a minor holiday and therefore not really celebrated by everybody. There isn’t really much to do in order to celebrate it anyway. Mostly these days it is just a drinking holiday. It is an excuse for people to get hammered at the bar and act silly. The holiday itself is a religious one, though not many people are aware of that. I myself never really knew it. This year, however, St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Sunday. I was surprised to learn that the parade in NYC, the largest in the country, was not to be held on the 17^th. Due to the nature of the holiday, the parade is held on the 17^th no matter the day unless it falls on a Sunday. In that case, it is held the previous Saturday so as not to conflict with any religious observances. This is because, as I have recently learned and just mentioned, the holiday is a religious one. It is known as the Feast of Saint Patrick within the Catholic Church.

                Today, as I said, it is known as a drinking holiday.  

This came about because it is a day in which the restrictions of Lent are lifted. That meant, at its start, that the Catholics could eat whatever and drink alcohol on this day even though the rules of Lent forbid it. As the way these things do, this evolved into the current form of celebration. That is why on the weekend of March 17^th you will find specials in most every bar. They offer whiskies, Irish car bombs, Guinness and green beer to anybody willing to be Irish. For as I’m sure you have heard, everybody is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. Well, in my family we are actually Irish so it is a holiday of great celebration. As a child, we always went to the parades. Not only did we go watch the celebration of our heritage, we participated in the craziest of ways. It is normal for the kids to go a bit crazy with silly string, hair dye, and stickers. Yet in my family, my mother most of all, everybody got decked out for the parades. When I say decked out, I don’t just mean a green t-shirt and some cleverly placed stickers; I am talking dressed to the nines for this holiday. We had green shirts, green and/or shamrock pants, hair streaks, stickers, temporary tattoos, tattoo sleeves, painted nails, painted faces, green eye shadow, green gloves, green hats, green ties, pins/buttons, and so on. Everybody even stuck to Rolling Rock beer because it had a green bottle. And we would go and dance to the music of the parade and generally just celebrate being Irish. It was, and still is, a day of pride for my family; at least that side anyway since they are 100% Irish.

                These days, all the kids are older and we don’t really go to the parade together. The adults have calmed down and the kids are teens who can’t be bothered. But each member of my family makes corned beef and cabbage that day as a sort of tip of the cap to St. Patrick’s Day. I myself make it every year, even though corned beef isn’t Irish. In Ireland, they have a dish that is similar but it uses bacon instead of corned beef. The food of Ireland is rather rich and hearty. As Americans, people are often in the mindset of needing to eat lighter and so corned beef is a better choice than bacon. Though to be honest, it isn’t much better for you. It does, however taste good, so it is a meal I will not ever complain about. A delicious plate of corned beef, cabbage and potatoes or a nice corned beef sandwich on rye with a frothy pint of Guinness is just the thing to make you smile. While my Irish side of the family doesn’t really drink these days, and never really drank much Guinness, my father is a big Guinness fan. I have always thought it tasted bad but gave it another try recently since my palate has evolved. I must say, I do my Irish heritage proud because it is not as foul to me as it used to be. I enjoyed my pint and will probably have more in the future. So next year, I say go out at get some American St. Patrick’s Day food. Drink a pint or two of Guinness, dance like a leprechaun in the street at a parade. And have a merry time on St. Patrick’s Day with some four leaf clover luck. Stay tuned for more. Slainte.