5. St. Patrick's Day
Source of Recipe
Bridget Haggerty/Content The Year In Ireland by Kevin Danaher and Chronicle of Celtic Folk Customs by Brian Day.
It hasn't been that many years since Ireland looked on while country after country throughout the world made March 17th an all-out celebration.
St. Patrick's Day is, perhaps, the only holiday that's celebrated all over the globe - proof-positive that Ireland wields a remarkable influence in far-flung lands many thousands of miles away.
Meanwhile, back on the Emerald Isle.
Green beer? Corned Beef and Cabbage? Huge parades? These symbols, now so readily associated with international St. Patrick's Day celebrations, were never a part of Irish festivities in the past. That doesn't mean the Irish weren't paying attention to the often baffling and bemusing goings-on in other places on St. Patrick's Day.
All over the world, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated with elaborate parades; families tuck into the traditional dinner of corned beef and cabbage; and, in the pubs, the green beer flows swifter than the River Shannon. It's odd to think that just a short time ago, none of the most popular customs we often take for granted even existed. In fact, today's celebrations are very different from the way they once were, in Ireland long ago.
While St. Patrick's Day is now a national holiday, as well as a religious feast day, a few hundred years ago, the emphasis was on spirituality and a much needed break from the austerities of Lent.
Whatever the weather, St. Patrick's Day was generally regarded as the middle day of spring. And, as the good saint had promised improved weather from March 17th onward, this was the time Ireland's farmers planted the main potato crop. Delaying this work long after the feast day would have been regarded by the neighbors as slovenly or lazy. That said, no-one expected any work to be done on the big day itself!
Until next time, Happy St. Patrick's Day and a toast to you and yours:
St. Patrick was a gentleman
Who through strategy and stealth
Drove all the snakes from Ireland,
Here's a toasting to his health;
But not too many toastings
Lest you lose yourself and then
Forget the good St. Patrick
And see all those snakes again!
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