St. Patty's Impaired
Posted at 5:04 AM on March 17, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(36 Comments)
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I admit to being a descendant of a clan apart, the not-overly-merry Irish, so I tend to avoid crowds on March 17th and cannot recall ever drinking a green beer. For quite a few years early in my St. Paul career, the city's St. Pat's Day Parade ended in the lobby that MPR shared with a bar in Lowertown, so my enduring impression is that this is the northern plains version of Brazil's Carnaval.
Minus the nudity (in a good year).
And yet I know a great many good people circle the date and look forward to it.
So what right have I to cast a cloud over the celebration?
What is your fondest St. Patrick's memory or tradition?
Is there any hope for the 'Erin Go Bragh' Grinch?
Comments (36)
Dale -- you're not alone. I also have a strain of the Irish a few generations back, but grew up in a family where we didn't go out of our way to make a big deal about any of our various heritages. So it's never been a special day for me either. However, I'll probably wear something green today just so I don't have to listen to "Why didn't you wear something green?" all day. Although I do have to say, I'm enjoying the music this morning. Thanks for the Roches especially!
well, i grew up near Green Isle, MN - where green beer and Irish cheer were plentiful on St. Pat's. my Mother and her friends from work (the school lunch ladies) were known to drink a green beer (or two) over there when the opportunity presented itself. one such occasion, Mom had dough raising for bread and the girls wanted to celebrate so she took the dough along. would have a green beer, go out to the car and punch the dough down and go in and have another. that night Dad said Mom didn't cook supper because she had "the flu" but somehow the bread turned out great!
Thanks Sherilee,
Smart move on the green accent idea.
I completely forgot my obligations and wore a red shirt today. I'll let you know how often I'm asked "why didn't you wear anything green?"
Good morning RH,
Today in first grade we'll honor our favorite General Mills leprechaun, Lucky Charm. We'll sample his signature breakfast food, use the marbits (novices call them marshmallow shapes) in a sorting and graphing exercise, and recite his most enduring poem:
Hears, stars and horseshoes!
Clovers and blue moons!
Pots of gold and rainbows!
And me red balloons!
My advice to Dale - quick, cut yourself out a shamrock of green construction paper and tape it somewhere!
Barb - I would have liked to have known your mom.
today was always fun for us, the st paul parade, green beer at mazelack's (don't know if i spelled that correctly) in northeast mpls, more recently beer at the irish pub on nicollet
but 5 yrs ago my husband died and it's just never been the same since - he was an irishman and he liked his beer and whiskey too much, so now it's a sad day
but i love all the wonderful irish music you've been playing, hope to hear more today
perfect song, Dale - thanks so much
I am neither Irish nor a beer drinker, so will have to compensate with having boiled dinner (corned beef and cabbage) and maybe an Irish coffee or two...hmmm...memories of landing in Shannon at 6 in the morning and being treated to an Irish Coffee with that marvelous thick Irish cream at 10 am.
The closest I come to being Irish is perhaps my viking ancestry that looted and pillaged. But two weeks in Ireland with poet Robert Bly reading Yeats and storyteller Gioia Timpanelli telling Celtic legends made me a devotee. Ah....sweet memories.
Thanks for Mary Black.
Thankfully, there are ways of celebrating holidays that don't require situating oneself amidst a sea of people. You could read Yeats, Joyce, Swift, or Beckett, or you can just continue play the Irish music I know you must have planned for today.
I'd like to hear one of the tracks from the John Prine In Spite of Ourselves album on which Dolores Keane sings. What a way to honor the influences that traditional Irish music has had on some American genres of music!
Good Morning Heartlanders and Top O' The Morning to You!
Actually, I am of German descent (origially from Wisconsin), so I personally never understood or got into the whole St. Patrick's Day thing. The kids wore their green today to school, but when I was working in an office, I avoided wearing green on St. Patrick's Day. My silent protest of such a big deal over a minor holiday ....
I have a brother-in-law who's very Irish, and he and some of my sisters, friends, etc., would usually go out and celebrate with copious amounts of beer. Once again, I just don't enjoy alcohol. I'm really not that much of a party pooper, but like many on this board, I don't enjoy crowds. It's just another day ... Guess I'm not in the best of moods today either ...
I'm not much of a green beer drinker, but give me a Shamrock Shake....A fascinating experience has been to explain The wearing of the green to some of my Hmong colleagues. They knew about the beer but had never learned about the Irish as new immigrants who were discriminated against (Think no Irish need apply). They were fascinated by the struggles the Irish had faced in this country. It gave the corned beef and cabbage a new sparkle.
Erin Go Bragh
We may celebrate in many different ways. With that in mind, how about playing a hymn sung to that fine irish tune "Slane". "Be Thou My Vision" and "Lord Of All Hopefulness, Lord Of All Joy".
Thanks,
John
Speaking of Yeats, do you have time for "Sally Gardens"??? I hope, I hope.
Elinor, if I started reading Ulysses today do you think I might get finished by Bloom's Day?
I could begin today and find out...
I'll try to be more positive now and enjoy the Irish music and other fun stuff on RH. I like elinor's idea of reading Irish authors and find the joy where I can. I may not celebrate St. Pat's Day, but I honor all those that do.
Top o' the mornin' and all that Blarney!
I am about 1/4 Irish (duking it out with the German stock in me - sometimes an interesting fight). My grandfather was blessed with the gift of Blarney (I swear his lips were touchin' the stone when he was born), and I miss him greatly. I observe the holiday to honor him.
However, green beer is such a hideous idea to me (and since I enjoy Guiness greatly, it would require most likely toxic amounts of food coloring to make it appear green). And all I can think of is the effect when the overindulgent feel the need to quickly get rid of the green beer they have consumed! Yikes!
My even more diluted daughter (her only Irish claim is through me - my husband has no trace of the green in his gene pool) is celebrating wisely with her friends - safe at one of their houses with the pact to all crash there to avoid the drunken Irish and pseudo-Irish populating our streets tonight.
Be safe in your celebrations, and whether Irish or otherwise, celebrate the fact that green will be appearing on our lawns very soon!
The Temporarily Kelly Green Wench!
Went on a trip to Chicago with a friend on a whim one weekend. Driving through downtown we wondered why the river was that awful greenish color - could it really be that polluted? Um....no. We had forgotten it was St. Patrick's Day and the river had been tinted green for the occasion. Eew.
Dale & Mike - great to hear some Clannad - there's a number of their albums in my vinyl collection, as well as CD. They're an under-appreciated group here in the states. If you have time for something else from them in hour 3, there's lots to choose from.
Enya is a sister to Clannad's lead singer Maire' Brennan, btw.
I think I did drink green beer once on St Patrick's day, but only once. I don't know what kind of food coloring they used, but I don't really want food coloring added to my beer.
St Patrick's day is special for me because my son-in-law, Zack Kline, is a talented violinist who some times plays in celtic bands. He will be accompanying Katie McMahon tonight at Carnagie Crossings in Zumbrota. He can also be heard on a recording by the celtic band, Pipper's Crow, a band which he played in for a number of years.
However, Zack does not like to play celtic music all the time, just like you are not playing Irish music continuously on the show this morning. The band Zack formed, The Orange Mighty Trio, is not a Celtic band, but does include orginal music that is partly based in folk music.
Hi Heartlanders! My Dad always got a kick out of St. Patty's Day. Our heritage is a mixed bag, but I swear the Irish part came to the top everytime this day rolls around. He would had loved listening this morning as I do to the beautiful Irish music. For all who do decide to imbibe on this day with alcohol-- be safe, drink responsibly. As a kid, if we did not wear something green we would get pinched. Now, I still try to remember to wear green.
My favorite St. Patrick’s Day memories are celebrating with a simple meal of corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread, and maybe some non-green beer, with friends and family.
My last name is Murtaugh, we regularly celebrated with friends by the name of Sullivan until they moved several years ago. One St. Patrick’s Day I will always remember is with a cousin and his wife who live in Colorado now. I was in Denver for business and happened to be there March. They invited me to dinner, and I was pleasantly surprised with a meal of, yes, corned beef and cabbage. Sadly, my cousin is now afflicted by Alzheimer’s Disease and being robbed of sharing his memories.
Oh yes, we had our first daughter, Erin, baptized on St. Patrick’s Day, which happened to be a Sunday that year.
My wife will be preparing the obligatory meal tonight. And yes, I’m wearing green.
Top O' the Morning!
While I do enjoy beer, I have avoided green beer and it's worked out fine for me. Like many on the list, I prefer these digital crowds to the elbow bumping, sloshing beer on your shoes crowds.
My first experience with St. Patrick's Day in St. Paul was seeing a man barely able to walk get into his car parked on the street and proceed to ram the cars ahead and behind to allow him to get out of his parking spot. Several folks observed but we were all too shocked to get the license number though we did leave notes on the smashed cars describing him and the car. Let's hope for a safe day today.
This memory did not occur on St. Patrick's Day proper, but I wanted to share anyway. When I was a kid I saw a button that I begged my parents to buy for me. They relented and it wasn't until I was older that I realized what it meant: Irish whiskey makes me frisky!
Tonight an Irish themed vegetarian meal with Guiness.
Well, I'm not Irish, but my hubby's part Scottish... I'm also not into beer, green or otherwise, or crowds. I have to go to a re-scheduled meeting tonight that was cxld due to snow only last week, so I may make an Irish stew and I think the guys will watch The Secret of Roan Innish without me (what a great film!) or maybe Waking Ned Devine while I sit and listen to a meeting and hope not to get hit by green beer drunks on my way home...
I'm with you, Dale. I am of English descent. If I imagined myself in Ireland, it would probably be in the north and I'd be marching with the Orangemen. (That does not mean I don't believe in leprechauns.)
I wore purple yesterday, with a grasshopper pin to celebrate St. Urho's Day. My late husband was of Finnish ancestry and we chose to celebrate that. "Wearin' of the purple" doesn't rhyme with anything, which might explain the dearth of St. Urho's Day songs.
Despite being in large part Irish, I, like Dale, tend to avoid the St. Patrick's day "celebrations", green beer, and all the rest. When asked why I'm not wearing green, I generally reply: "All of you can pretend to be Irish for this one day. I have the other 364."
But a few years ago, without thinking, I grabbed my orange fleece jacket. Bad move. Especially when I ran into a very Irish friend from the St. Paul police force.
I am 1/4 Welsh/English, but one St. Pat's years ago I decided that was close enough: I took the afternoon off from work and drove all the way over to the Landmark Center's celebration. I was NOT disappointed -- the food, the dancing, the music, etc. I highly recommend it.
Off topic: I love all the bird songs played and entries made yesterday, and knowing there are bird people out there. The robins have returned here, I'm waiting for the white-throated sparrow to travel through, and this morning about 8:00 I heard a song like a yodel, can't place this bird. Any ideas?
I have immersed myself in Irish music and culture for many years. I'm somewhere above 12% Irish, but that's purely coincidental. I play whistle and flute, and prefer stout beer, but the one day of the year I always stay home is St. Patrick's Day.
Sorry, but St. Patrick's Day has nothing to do with Irish culture, at least in America. It is nothing but an excuse to drink copious amounts of beer and whiskey, sing adulterated versions of Danny Boy (which is so NOT Irish), wear green, and parade around with ridiculous leprechaun hats.
I wonder what would happen if there was an America day elsewhere in the world, where everyone dressed up in garish cowboy outfits, tried to fake a John Wayne accent, and shot off pop guns in the air while wooping and hollering. That's what American culture is, right?
Humpf
Barbara - is it Cynthia's Red-winged Blackbird? but my English Starlings do a good imitation of most anything.....
i find that, the first few songs i hear in spring are confusing to me. i forget from year to year. except for the WTSparrow, which is unforgettable. i know Cynthia is waiting to hear her first WTS this spring and the first ones should arrive pretty soon, right?.
Barbara - is it Cynthia's Red-winged Blackbird? but my English Starlings do a good imitation of most anything.....
i find that, the first few songs i hear in spring are confusing to me. i forget from year to year. except for the WTSparrow, which is unforgettable. i know Cynthia is waiting to hear her first WTS this spring and the first ones should arrive pretty soon, right?.
sorry for two posts - think we have a tiny leprechaun in the computer and he left marbits everywhere to gum up the keyboard!
and i'll say it again, Donna - i wish my grade school teachers were as cool as you!
I feel like I learn something everyday from this community. So glad to add "marbits" to my store of knowledge rattling around in my brain. Even though it's gotten cloudy here in the Twin Cities, hope everyone has a great rest of the day!
How nice of you Barb. Between the lucky charms and green frosted cupcakes someone brought for snack, I'm ready to hang myself. The excess of sugar was a bad move!
Thanks, Barb in Blackhoof. (Thanks, Barb in Blackhoof. :) I think it was actually my blue jay who's been here all winter, doing his Qweedle call. Found this tidbit in my Backyard Birdsong Book, complete with the birdsongs. (What they can't do these days!)
Barbara in Robbinsdale...the yodel sound could very well be *my* RWBB...and, YES, I am eagerly awaiting the WTS...such an exquisite sound. I love the spring sounds...frogs, too.
Cynthia and Barbara (and y'all, of course) another "yodel" i''ve heard lately is Black-capped Chickadee - they make that little sound in some social situations.... but i bet it was your Blue Jay.
my major bird (the one i bought the farm for - ha, ha) is the Bobolink. what jubilance! (is that a word?)
and Donna, please refrain from hanging yourself!
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