“May you always find three welcomes in life: in a garden during summer, at hearth during winter, and in the hearts of friends throughout all your years.”
Today may be chilly, cloudy and grey but the sun always shines on St.Patrick’s Day, even proverbially.
I am wearing my shamrock earrings and my deep green Ryan sweatshirt. We played Irish music on our ukes this morning. I sang along. I was loud and festive and off key. Neither Henry nor Jack cared.
My relationship with St. Patrick started when I was a kid in the first grade. I attended St. Patrick’s Elementary School and would for eight years. We always had St. Patrick’s Day off from school. Boston’s official commemoration for today is not St. Patrick’s Day but rather Evacuation Day which celebrates the evacuation of the British from Boston during the Revolution but don’t be fooled. It is St. Patrick’s Day. Ask anyone.
For years I marched with a drill team called St. Patrick’s Shamrocks. We even had a woven shamrock in the centers of our uniform tops. We wore green and white. I remember marching in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in South Boston. It was usually cold. Sometimes a few of the parade watchers offered to march with us. Usually a bit of drink prompted the offer. We’d politely refuse and keep on marching.
My mother made corn beef and cabbage for today. Her giant pot was filled with meat and vegetables including turnips. I always think of turnips as an Irish vegetable. The Irish used to carve turnips with scary faces to ward away jack-o’-lantern who nightly wandered the earth because he was not allowed into Heaven or Hell. It always seemed a bit odd to me as turnips are so darn difficult to peel. I have scars from peeling attempts.
I am celebrating today with Irish music and corned beef and cabbage with all the fixings including Irish soda bread. I have a green shamrock plant sitting here on the table with my St. Patrick’s Day cards. Henry is sporting his green collar. I’ll share a bit of dinner with Henry and Jack, but only a bit.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!
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March 17, 2021 at 12:56 pm
Hi Kat,
HAPPY ST. PATRICK DAY! Isn’t today the day when everyone is Irish? When I was a kid in school you got pinched if you didn’t wear green on this day. I got pinched a lot because I didn’t like green anything.
As a kid I remember the big St. Patrick Day parade down 5th Avenue in New York. The city would paint the stripe down the center of the avenue green. Eventually, every other ethnic group wanted the city to paint the line with their own ethnic color when they would have their ethnic parade. The city finally got tired of repainting the stripe and made 5th Avenue a one way street. 🙂 In Chicago, they dump toms of green dye into the Chicago River.
Corned beef and cabbage is not a dish that’s native to Ireland. They didn’t have much beef in Ireland and when the immigrants arrived on the East Coast they adopted the dish. The Irish immigrants discovered corned beef from their Jewish neighbors and Jewish and added to cabbage. It’s amazing to me how mich of our American culture is adopted from immigrants arriving and mixing over the past couple hundred years. The previous administration and their fellow travelers are dead set on preventing any further immigrants except those who are from Northern Europe and are white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants. 🙁
Also, today is the anniversary of my father’s passing 19 years ago. Unfortunately, time flies when you’re having fun because it only seems like yesterday that I was arguing with him about something. -:)
March 17, 2021 at 3:23 pm
Hi Bob,
We always wore green on St. Patrick’s Day. When I was in college, my friends and I went to the big parade in South Boston a couple of years. Without green, you’d be in a bit of trouble!
I saw the green river in Chicago for this year. No parade for them or for us either. That’s two years in a row for Southie. It makes perfect sense not to paint the line every holiday for every group.
Corned beef was eaten in Ireland. At one time, Irish corned beef was considered the best in the world, but the Irish couldn’t afford to buy it in their own country as cows were for dairy and were slaughtered for meat only when they were well passed their prime. Only the rich could afford good corned beef. After the great famine, the Irish who immigrated made enough money for meat, for corned beef, not their usual bacon. That’s when Kosher butchers became prominent. Bacon and cabbage became corn beef and cabbage.
My father passed away March 14th, 28 years ago.
March 17, 2021 at 4:16 pm
Regardless how corned beef and cabbage became the St. Patrick Day staple, it tastes terrific. A line of thunderstorms swept across the area in the middle of the night and today the sky is partly cloudy and 65° with a strong west wind. By the way what goes around comes around. My son now argues with me about anything and everything. 🙂
March 17, 2021 at 4:30 pm
It is terrific!! I love corned beef. Cabbage I eat all year except maybe summer.
It has been dry for a week or so around here. On the weather last night, it was mentioned that the western part of the state is nearing drought conditions.
March 17, 2021 at 1:31 pm
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Have a great home party 🙂
Unfortunately no celebrations here I think, pubs are still closed and it was only celebrated in Irish pubs anyway. Too bad I didn’t buy Irish beer…
March 17, 2021 at 3:25 pm
Thanks, Birgit
St. Patrick’s Day is big here, particularly in Boston which has a huge Irish-American population. Chicago turns its river green. I do miss all the parades.
Things are opening more here so bars are open for a certain amount of patrons. The Guinness will flow.
March 17, 2021 at 2:21 pm
No St. Patricks day over here.
We’ve had really nice weather though and that is always something to celebrate 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
March 17, 2021 at 3:27 pm
Christer,
You can start your own celebration. Just throw the meat in with potatoes, carrots, some turnips and whatever else you want. It is a hearty meal against the cold.
Enjoy your evening!