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Celebrating Green and St Patrick’s Day

March 17, 2010 By 1 Comment
While you may or may not want to be “wearing of the green” on St. Patrick’s Day, you may still bring the best of luck to you and yours with any type of celebration to welcome and open the door to Spring, which is part of the St. Pat’s Day festivities. It is just so enjoyable to go from the lackluster bland colors of Winter to the vibrant and enticing shades of green and Spring.

One of the staples of a St. Patrick’s Day dinner is Irish Soda Bread. There are so many different recipes available on the ‘net that you can pick and choose to your heart’s delight. This bread is so named because “baking soda” is the leavening agent and the “X” cut into the top of the loaf is a sure fire way to ward off any evil spirits that may be lurking around. Watching the St. Patrick’s Day parade from New York City is a relaxing way for family and friends to get into the “green” mode. Sipping cool and refreshing coolers or ice cream treats, or if you prefer a hot beverage, such as green tea with mint, Irish coffee for the adults, or even minty hot chocolate with whipped cream that has some “green mint” candies crushed into it just adds to the day. The “cockles of your heart” will be warmed and ready to have thoughts of corned beef and cabbage, and all the trimmings.

The first St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated in 1737. If you are into authenticity, then going to “Dublin” is easier than you think. You don’t have to cross an ocean, just go cross country. There is Dublin, CA., Dublin, OH., Dublin, N.H., Dublin, GA., and even Dublin, VA.

Hallmark proclaims that it sells over 12 million St. Patrick’s Day cards and greetings that are sent each year. Opening up an envelope with a wish, such as “May your neighbors respect you, troubles neglect you, angels protect you, and heaven accept you” makes for a great day indeed.

I grew up watching the Chicago river turn green each St. Patrick’s Day; okay, a nicer shade of green then the norm for that river. Using tons of vegetable dye, the ‘ol Chicago River becomes a “green” flowing river for a few days, which is a truly beautiful sight from the windows of some of the tall Chicago Loop buildings. It makes you want to turn to the person standing next to you and offering, “May the best day of your past, be the worse day of your future.” Kind of nice!!!

Kissing the Blarney Stone is a legend in Cork, Ireland. A good way to re-enact this tradition is to kiss the cook that makes home-made blarney stones for dessert. Using your favorite cupcake recipe, just follow the directions and bake. Cool the cupcakes and then frost with any snowy white frosting and cover the entire top with green tinted coconut. Just add 1 tbs. water to green food coloring till the green is the shade that suits you. Put the coconut in a jar, add the colored water, place a tight-fitting lid on top and start to shake that jar to some really hot Irish jigs. When the coconut is tinted evenly, dry on paper towels and then add to the top of your very own Blarney Stones.

Shamrocks and gold coins cut from shiny colored paper is a great decorating tip for tabletops. You can even place initials of your guests on the underside of the coins, and before setting the table with goodies, give everyone one minute to try and pick up as many of the coins with their initials on it. Then they can buy dessert items that they choose, that are just sitting on a side table waiting to be snatched up for the right price.

Corned beef and cabbage is a mainstay but with a bit of “green” imagination, any side dishes can be made that carry out the theme of the day. At the end of any meal, pass around a green bowler hat that you can make from construction paper and fill it with well wishes and blessings that are sure to please. Your family and friends will enjoy opening up their special notes with sayings such as, “May God bring good health to your enemies’ enemies” or “May you live to be a hundred years with one extra year to repent.” So toast St. Patrick’s Day and Slainte’ to you (pronounced Slan-cha and means “Health”).

Wishing everyone the opportunity to celebrate St. Pat’s Day inexpensively and in fun ways. Remember – If you ever wonder what God thinks of money, just look at who he gives it to.”

Enjoy.
©March, 2010
Arleen M. Kaptur

Arleen Kaptur has written extensively for newspapers and periodicals.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Arleen_Kaptur

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

March 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

By Dan O’Donnell of WTMJ-TV and JSOnline.com -

We may all be a little bit Irish today, but how many of us know how St. Patrick’s Day began? How many of us know who the real St. Patrick really was?

“Well he was not a leprechaun who drank green beer or had a blarney stone or a pot of gold,” explains historian William Federer, who wrote St. Patrick: The Real History of His Life, From Tragedy to Triumph. “He was actually a missionary and he converted 120,000 druids from paganism to Christianity.”

In fact, Federer contends that in the fifth century A.D., Patrick did more than perhaps anyone in history to spread this new religion through Europe.

“He started over 300 churches and used the three-leafed clover to teach the [Holy] Trinity,” Federer says, noting that this teaching tool is now the symbol of St. Patrick’s Day and Ireland itself.

Patrick himself, though, was actually born in nearby Wales.

“Different Viking tribes began attacking and carrying away slaves, and Patrick was one of those carried away as a slave to Ireland,” says Federer. “He was there from 16 years old to 22 years old, when he had a dream in which he heard the Lord tell him to escape. So he did.”

“He went to the shore and, sure enough, there was a boat. He hopped aboard and hitchhiked his way across Europe and made his way back to Britain. His life was pretty uneventful until he was 40 years old, when he had another dream. That’s when things started to get interesting.”

That was when Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary.

“His style was evangelism was to walk right into the smoky dens of these chieftans. The druids knew that this new religion was going to displace them, and so they tried killing him at least a dozen times. Once he was held for two weeks, and [the druid ruler] was holding him to kill him.”

But the chieftan instead spared Patrick and even gave him money to build his first church. For the rest of his life, Patrick preached about Jesus Christ, spread Christianity across the British Isles, and spoke out against slavery. Some historians even call him the world’s first abolitionist!

The Roman Catholic Church made him a saint in 664 A.D.

“It wasn’t until 1846, when there was a potato famine in Ireland, and millions of Irish Catholics came to America,” Federer says. “The Irish population went from two percent to 20 percent in just a decade. Half of New York City was now Roman Catholic Irish! The same thing happened in Boston, and there was an anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-Irish backlash.”

“When they had their first parade, it was more of a political statement. In Ireland, it didn’t matter how many of them there were, they didn’t have a voice in Parliament. But in America, when they had their first parade and 15,000 of them showed up, politicians in New York City said, ‘wait a minute, they haven’t decided who to vote for yet,’ so they decided to march with them.”

From those early parades, St. Patrick’s Day gained popularity as the Irish immigrants who celebrated it gained acceptance until finally both became the indispensible parts of American culture that they are today.

The original article can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29730222/#storyContinued

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