Top O the Mornin’ To Ye!
May the luck of the Irish be with you this day. Oh, for the wearing of the green, for the Chicago River dyed green, and for green socks with shamrocks on them. For the green Shamrock Shakes from McDonald’s which are really in the category of junk food, but once a year will not do any damage.
One of the first associations of the color green with Ireland is from the 11th Century book Lebor Gabala Erenn…the Book of the Taking of Ireland. In its story of Goidel Glas, his name can be anglicized to the word Gaelic and Glas which is the Irish word for green.
The color green was associated with Ireland from the 1640s when the green harp flag was used by the Irish Catholic Confederation. Before the 1916 Easter Rising, James Connolly described this flag as representing “the sacred emblem of Ireland’s unconquered soul.”
Irish government ministers have travelled to America to celebrate and promote St. Patrick’s Day and promote Ireland. The Irish Taoiseach, prime minister, traditionally presents the U.S. president a Waterford Crystal bowl filled with shamrocks.
President Ronald Reagan met Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald in 1986. It was after president Bill Clinton met with Taoiseach Albert Reynolds in 1994 that the presenting of the Shamrock ceremony became an annual event for the leaders of both countries. The ceremony was canceled in 2020 due to COVID.
The feast day of St. Patrick was celebrated by the Irish in Europe in the ninth and 10th Centuries. Later, St. Patrick was seen as the patron saint of Ireland. In the 1600s the day became a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics in Ireland.
The wearing of the St. Patrick’s Day cross was a popular custom in Ireland until the early 20th Century. These were a Celtic Christian cross made of paper that was covered with silk or ribbon of different colors and a bunch or rosette of green silk in its center.
According to tradition, Patrick converted the pagan Irish to Christianity. His Declaration said that he spent many years evangelising in the northern half of Ireland and converted thousands. He used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to Irish pagans. It is told that St. Patrick died on the 17th of March and was buried at Downpatrick. Patrick is remembered in the Church of England with a festival March 17.
Some St. Patrick celebrations around the world have been bigger than among those that are celebrated in Ireland. Those celebrations involve public parades and festivals, Irish traditional music (ceilithe) and the wearing of green attire. Famous landmarks have been lighted in green. The Sydney Opera House and the Sky Tower in Auckland were the first landmarks to participate and since 2010 more than 300 landmarks in 50 countries have gone green March 17, and so does the Chicago River and its green dye each St. Patrick’s Day.
So whatever your plans to celebrate the Irish heritage, be sure to wear green and to toast the patron saint of Ireland. The saint is often depicted “with a cross in one hand and a sprig of shamrocks in the other.” If you enjoy baking, made some Irish soda bread. Slather butter on a piece along with your favorite beverage. My choice will be Ghirardelli hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows.
Erin go Braugh.