Tuesday, February 22, 2022

It's An Irish Thing


       Chicago and its green river


         With St. Paddy’s Day fast approaching, I thought I’d do a little

research and share it with you.

According to historical accounts, St. Patrick was born around the end of the fourth century in Scotland or maybe Wales, no one knows for certain, to aristocratic Roman parents. He arrived in Ireland as a teen after being kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery. Eventually, he escaped to a monastery in France. He returned to Ireland in 432 A.D. after being called as a missionary where he converted thousands to Christianity, driving out the Pagans, or "snakes" as they were called. There are no real snakes in Ireland, depending on your definition of snakes. Then, he became a bishop and was named Ireland's Patron Saint.

Irish immigrants to the United States have inflated St. Paddy's Day celebrations as a way of connecting with their roots, doing outlandish things such as turning the rivers green-Chicago was first in 1962, drinking green beer, staging parades, and wearing green clothes in remembrance of the green Isle. McDonalds celebrates with a Shamrock Shake, a minty green concoction available now. Today, over 35 million people in the U.S. claim Irish ancestry. The first St. Paddy’s Day was held in Boston in 1737 on March 17th which is the traditional date of his death. He was buried in a secret grave because there was so much bickering among the Irish over his final resting place. This secret place is believed to be in County Down where there is a permanent memorial. Below is a photo of the purported site.

When I was in elementary school, if I didn't wear green on St. Paddy's Day, I could expect to be pinched by a leprechaun. I always wore green. It makes you invisible. We even exchanged St. Patrick's Day cards just like Valentine cards on Valentine’s Day. It was a big deal even though my roots go back to the English side. My husband was the Irish one in the family.

And then there is this luck thing that's associated with the green day. The three-leaf clover is a symbol of the trinity reputedly used by St. Patrick, but a four-leaf clover is supposed to bring good luck to the finder. In fact, it’s the national flower of Ireland. Of course, they have a fancy name for it, the shamrock. Your odds of finding one in the grass in your yard are 1 in 10,000. And kissing the Blarney Stone is supposed to make you lucky in love. Leprechauns, another Irish thing, were paid in golden coins by fairies for their work at mending the fairies' shoes.


 Once I had a little ceramic leprechaun in my garden to protect my plants from danger, a present from a dear friend. Sadly, it didn't work. I think you need a green thumb for that and mine is mostly brown, but he was cute and pretended to do his job. Over time, though, the wind and rain ate away some of his pointy parts, and he looked so sad that I gave him a proper funeral in the garden he was supposed to be protecting.

There's special food and drink on the green day, corned beef and cabbage and a good pint, usually Guiness is the most popular. Here in Gainesville we have several pubs that cater to the theme all  week, Durty Nelly's, Mother's, the Queen’s Arms and Beef O'Brady's to name a few. Mother’s even had a St. Practice Day this year on the 17th of February. Dang I missed it! If you have imposed food restrictions on yourself for Lent, the Irish give you permission to lift them for this one day, March 17th.

As I wrote above, my husband was Irish, but he wasn't much for celebrations although ham and cabbage with potatoes were always on our menu for March 17th. Leprechauns interested him, too, especially that pot of gold, and rainbows are beautiful whether there is gold at the end or not. Once, while traveling east on 23rd Boulevard, we saw the end of a rainbow…but there was no pot of gold, just a beautiful and unusual vision. Maybe that was the pot of gold, symbolically speaking.

All things considered, the Irish have given us a lot of things to think about, things we wouldn't know of without them. I was lucky in love without the Blarney Stone, but if it happened to be nearby, I'd have to give it a try. Of course, I’d probably fall and break my neck and that would be very unlucky! And another thing, St. Patrick was never canonized by a Pope, so his saintly status is questioned by some. Do you have anything special that you do for St. Paddy’s Day? I’ll bet you always wear green. Getting pinched is not fun.



Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Book Festival at the Oaks Mall on April 9th, 2022

 


I will be selling my children's book (The Dragonfly and the Ladybug) at the Sunshine State Book Festival in the Oaks Mall on April 9th, 2022. I hope you drop by and say "hi" and maybe buy an autographed copy.