We have a leprechaun that comes to our house on St. Patrick’s Day. No kidding. The visit is not lost on us as he turns out house on its ear. Chairs stacked to the ceiling willy nilly like the ‘redecorating’ scene in the movie Poltergeist. Our milk is always turned green, as is our toilet water. He even drew a face on a spaghetti squash one year.
Having Irish roots in our family, we always hail the holiday with some homemade corned beef, potatoes, Guinness and a watch of ‘The Commitments’ in a good year. I do not wear ‘Kiss Me I’m Irish’ t-shirts, shamrock sunglasses five times the size of my head or green underwear as an insurance policy lest someone felt inclined to give me a pinch.I learned years ago from Irish friends living in Ireland these madcap shenanigans and the drunken benders Americans go on in the name of the holiday is totally off the mark. These boys and girls will throw down a pint as nimbly as the next person but not on account of St. Patrick.
I always find holiday mutations in other countries fascinating and enlisted the help of an acclaimed Irish blogger in Dublin, Aoife (pronounced EE-fah) from The Daily Spud, to set the record straight. As you can tell from her blog title, she writes about, well, potatoes (among many other fabulous topics). She’s won many an award on the other side of the pond and has a blog that should not be missed. It truly is an honor to have some of her time, wit and wisdom as an ode to St. Patrick and in the effort to educate any tempted by green beer feeling they are toasting the Motherland.
Note: Aoife and I wrote our parts of this separately, without knowing what the other would be saying. When married together, I found ‘she schooled me’ and I’ll be rethinking my nostalgic celebratory menu (though we both agree ‘The Commitments’ is a good watch!)
Boxty Pancake with Bacon and Cabbage as served in Gallagher’s Boxty House in Dublin
It’s the day when everybody, no matter who they are or where they come from, is a little bit Irish. Perhaps you’ll mark your honorary Irishness by drinking green beer, or perhaps you’ll eat corned beef and cabbage – but what, you might wonder, is Paddy’s Day like if you’re in Ireland and 100% Irish to begin with?
The short answer, I have to tell you, is that St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland is not especially green beered or corned beefy. In fact – and I’ll try to break this to you gently – we don’t really go in for corned beef and cabbage at all. Sorry. That combination is much more Irish-American than Irish, while bacon and cabbage is closer to the native mark. On the beer front, Paddy’s Day here in Ireland may well involve drinking Guinness, and in great quantities by some, but, hey, for better or worse, that’s true for the other 364 days of the year too.
The occasion may also involve wearing real, actual shamrock. This came as a shock to my friend Tim, a Boulder native, on his first Paddy’s Day in Ireland. “They’re wearing weeds!” was his reaction when he saw some older Dubliners wearing clumps of freshly dug shamrock pinned to their lapels. Whilst the wearing of the shamrock is probably not as prevalent now as it once was, I distinctly recall, as a child, that the morning of St Patrick’s Day would involve a trip, before mass, out to the back field to locate and dig the requisite greenery.
And that wasn’t the only thing that might involve digging. St. Patrick’s Day was, in some quarters at least, the traditional day for getting your crop of spuds into the ground. So not only were you likely to eat spuds on Paddy’s Day (as you would on most other days of the year), you might well spend at least part of it planting them too.
A ‘lazy bed’, a traditional Irish method for planting potatoes
Nowadays, though, we don’t eat quite as many spuds as we used to and you’ll find a plethora of shamrock-shaped merchandise which you can don while watching your local parade go past. The biggest parade, of course, takes place in Dublin, but even though the Dublin parade has become quite a spectacle in recent years, it’s still nothing compared to the likes of the New York event. And that’s the thing. St. Patrick’s Day is a real focus for the Irish abroad and, in some ways, has always been a bigger event in Irish America than in Ireland. We have imported some of that celebratory glitz back here over time, but the fact remains that, when it comes to St. Patrick’s Day, the faraway Irish are often greener.
Aoife also shared this YouTube video on St. Patrick. As she said, it is ‘tremedously cute’. As I say, the only thing better than listening to an Irish accent, is listening to a child with an Irish accent! Give it a watch.
Daily Spud says
That was fun to do Toni! The two parts of the post make for quite the contrast 🙂
Belinda @zomppa says
How fun!! Have a great one!
Chef Dennis says
what a fun post, I particularly like the green toilet water! Nicely done with the daily spud and quite informative, I only have a very little Irish in me, so I have never been big on wearing green or celebrating but Philly will be going wild tonite, for them its a good excuse to drink!!!
hope you have a happy St. Patty's day!
Cheers
Dennis
stella says
Fun meeting you last night on the tweet up! I'm so glad to have discovered your blog. St. Patrick's Day in your house looks pretty fun!
Lea Ann says
Great post and thanks to Toni for bringing us Daily Spud. Love that first photo. I'll have to look for an ornery little leprechan and pull this on the hubby next year.
Becky says
Very informative post and love thee little leprechaun. My husband is half Irish and would love to go to Ireland, It's on our list. We do eat corned beef and cabbage and we're going to an Irish Pub. Thanks for the great guest post!
Biren @ Roti n Rice says
This is a wonderful post and I enjoyed the video 🙂 I always wondered how Aoife's name is pronounced. Thanks Toni and Aoife for sharing. Happy St. Patricks Day!
Rosemary says
I'm headed for the first time to a new local retaurant, McGinnis Irish Pub, on Sunday — not today — so I'll see what their authentic Irish is. Graet post!
Pegasuslegend says
What a fun post Happy St Paddys Day!
Lynn says
Fun post. Happy St. Patrick's day! The bacon and cabbage looks delicious!
Katrina says
What a great post!! You are very brave to post a pic of your toilet! Had me cracking up!!!! ♥- Katrina
Kim @ Coffee Pot Chronicles says
What a great and informative post! While perhaps some traditions and true aspects of the holiday have continued here in the States, the fact is we Americans tend to stretch things out of proportion. It would be nice to honor the holiday as its meant to be honored but hey, like the Irish we do tend to like an excuse to knock back a pint or five. Haha.
As for that leprechaun and the green toilet water? Brilliant! Can that be described as leprechaun pee?
Peggy says
Loved this post! Informational and cute! =)
veggietestkitchen says
thanks for this informative post. i find it so neat that the Irish in Ireland pin freshly pulled shamrock on their lapels 😉 what about dessert? what do they have for dessert (most important meal of the day!!)?
Nancy and Vijay says
Wonderful post..thank you both and Happy St Patrick's Day!!
Parsley Sage says
Awesome post! I love the video 🙂
Toby says
When I saw the post thumbnail…I though – what an odd punch bowl….
Growing up Quasi-Irish has left our family knee-deep in bastardized traditions as well. (I still go in for the corned beef)
Enjoyed the dual post!
Tim says
Hey Locavore, loved reading about your Patrick's day traditions growing up — in our house the leprechauns turned the toilet paper and napkins green… kinda cool to know it wasn't just our house 🙂 There was, of course, the corned beef & cabbage and the Irish soda bread too. None of which I've come across here in Ireland, but that's fine too. You kinda learn to appreciate your own American-Irish traditions and the Irish ones separately… though the American-Irish ones can be good for making people here cringe… like rattling off any of the songs from my Dad's Bing Crosby Irish album (Two Shileligh O'Sullivan, Who threw the Overalls in Mrs Murphys Chowder, etc)
This post was a great occasion to finally watch one of the 'Give Up Yer Aul Sins' videos — I've heard a lot about them but never actually sought them out. As wonderful as anticipated!
Well done to the both of you!
Barbara | VinoLuciStyle says
I read both of your posts…not at all surprised that we have managed to bastardize this holiday, I mean…well, seems that's a 'wee' bit normal that we do that!
I've got some thyme coming up…think that will do? I'm sure if I put it on my sweatshirt my neighbors would think nothing of it. I've had many a dirt clod on my clothes this time of year!
mangiabella says
visiting from Chef D's site, can't wait to check out more, I'm just a little bit south of you in New Mexico, and spent 10 years living in Taos….LOVE BOULDER (go Buffs!) – have a glorious day sweet bella
Jill Colonna says
Your first photo had me laughing out loud. Really fun post. Hope you had a great St Patrick's Day and just seen your guest post over at Chef Dennis. Fabulous dessert! Enjoy the weekend.
ping says
Ooo…green toilet water! … What a fun time, St Patty. Pity it's not too big here. I'd enjoyed it while abroad sometime ago.
highplainsdrifters says
The Beer Advocate did a piece a few years back (not available on line, pity) on how both St Paddy's Day and Cinco de Mayo have been co-opted by American beer companies. Not much authentic in the way they are celebrated in the US. Erin Go Bud and Cinco de Millers, basically.
Susie Bee on Maui says
So great to see you over on Chef's site-congrats. Too funny so see a little green man next to a big “bowl” of green liquid…brave soul to post a photo of your toilet BTW!
Nice to read from a blogger across the pond.
Julia @ DimpleArts says
I love the photo of the leprichan on the toilet seat!