The “I don’t understand what all the St Paddy’s fuss is about” paradox

I’m Irish – I was born in Ireland, I love Ireland, I’m very patriotic, Ireland is my spiritual home but……. Sometimes I feel St Patrick’s day has been hijacked but I can’t make my mind up whether that’s a good thing or not especially now I don’t live in Ireland?

St Patrick's Day is celebrated annually on March 17. The day honours the patron saint of Ireland, but celebrations are held around the world. When I was small, it was a very reverential day, it was like a Sunday, or as we called it, a Holy day of obligation, the obligation being scrubbed to within an inch of my life, dressed in my Sunday finest and then being whisked off to Mass. After Mass my dad, my uncles and their friends went to Curtin’s for a few glasses of the black stuff and my mum, at least one of her sisters, my grandma, my brother and sister and my cousins would traipse home, in the rain invariably, to prepare lunch which usually started at 2:30pm prompt and woe betide my dad and his brothers if they came home late and a little wobbly!

Lunch was a real celebration, sometimes we had turkey, sometimes we had proper Irish corned beef but always with flowery potatoes and cabbage, as a special touch, my mum and my aunts collaborated to make the most delicious apple pie ever. The rest of the day was dedicated to song and laughter, my grandfather usually starting us off to strains of the “Parting Glass”, he always got in first because this was the only song he knew by heart and wanted his solo spot in the limelight! Everyone had their favourite song though, my dad’s was “The town I loved so well”, which I always found a little strange as we had no family or friends north of Port Laoise! He did however sing it, as he still does, with passion and gusto, I have goose bumps and a little tear as I think of him singing it as I write 😊. A few more bottles of porter were imbibed, the odd whisky and the party went on until the wee small hours – and sometimes beyond!

So, it was a day of celebration, a day of contemplation, a day of family happiness and yes, a day of drinking perhaps a little too much! It was a real red letter day in our year.

Imagine my surprise then when we moved to the North of England when I was eight and nobody celebrated St Patrick’s day – the only real nod to it was the fact that my mum, as well as the rest of the ex-pat Irish mothers insisted we had the day off school to go to Mass, this was great in some respects but the flipside was it made us “different”, but that’s another story!

I have subsequently moved to London where over the last ten years Paddy’s day has got bigger and bigger to the point this year it’s HUGE, culminating with a parade of Irish dancing and leprechauns through the streets of the capital.

My Kerry accent has long since deserted me however, I’m still expected to celebrate Paddy’s day in the spirit in which it was intended, i.e. wear large silly green top hat, silly green glasses, mandatory green garments, drink too much, (not Guinness, unless it’s a black velvet and someone else is paying!) and lead the surrounded faithful in song.

So, the paradox is this – for me St Patrick’s day is still all about family, it’s not about going pub to pub in a big green hat however, I do really, really enjoy it and in reality, my friends are the closest thing to, probably even closer than a lot of family – Love you London family xxx

Oh – and my song…… if I’m feeling wistful or homesick, either “The Fields of Athenry” or “The Rare Old Times”, if I’m feeling a little more raucous and rebellious, “Sally MacLennane” or “The Irish Rover, in the style of the Pogues!!

So, what predictable green clothes am I wearing?

Head & Teeth - .LeLutka. Head.Simone 2.6

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