St. Patrick’s Day- one of my favorite holidays! My husband and I have always loved St. Patrick’s Day, even more so after traveling three times to the Emerald Isle. Most of our celebrations revolve around food since I love to cook, so breakfast, lunch and dinner will all be Irish themed. My husband loves to bake, so he will make his amazing Irish soda bread (gluten-free for me!) and we will have that along with the usual Irish breakfast fare that we had in all of the Bed and Breakfasts on our trips there. A vegetarian version of a Ploughman's lunch platter will be a lighter lunch before digging into a fish and chips with Irish cole slaw on the menu for dinner. We also burn a little bit of peat, dress in green and play Irish music, too, to lend a festive air to the day.
Saint Patrick, believed to have been born Maewyn Succat, was a British Roman citizen in the 4th century. He was captured as a slave and taken to Ireland at the age of 16. After either escaping or being released, he became a priest and changed his name to Patricius. He returned to Ireland with the goal to convert the then Druid culture to one of Christianity. Legend says he was uncommonly lucky, banished snakes from Ireland, and explained the Trinity using a shamrock when converting the Irish.
St. Patrick’s Day falls on March 17th, the day of his death. One of only three feast days during Lent, St Patrick’s day was a reprieve from the season of abstinence for the Christian Community and was first celebrated in the 1oth century in Ireland. The festivities of the day changed greatly over time and much of what we come to think of as St. Patrick’s Day traditions are relatively recent. Early celebrations included morning church and meals with corned beef and cabbage in the evening. Although the first St. Patrick’s Day parade on record took place in St Augustine, Florida in 1601 (then part of a spanish colony), the popularity of St. Patrick’s Day parades grew in cities with larger Irish immigrant populations beginning in the mid 1700s in Boston and New York, with Irish soldiers serving the British marching alongside their colonial counterparts prior to the American Revolution. Although blue was the color originally associated with St. Patrick, in 1798 it was changed to green during the Irish Rebellion, and is now firmly associated with the holiday. Until the late 1980s, drinking was not an integral part of the celebrations. In fact, you can thank a Budweiser advertising campaign in the 1980s for linking beer with St. Patrick’s day and the repeal of the Irish law which kept businesses closed, including pubs, in observance. The happiest of St. Patrick's Day to you and yours Gach beannacht, Erin |
