Mar 17 2024 -Lucky Green

 

We're at one of those celebrations that started with a religious event/person that doesn't seem to be related to any religious event anymore.St. Patrick's Day.  It has had more than 1000 years to evolve.  And then it got imported to the U.S. by Irish immigrants and it went viral as a celebration of Irish culture.   What is Irish culture? It says parades, special food, music, dancing, drinking and a whole lot of green. Food and green are part of this day: this is a green in every food dish day.  I like the green popcorn pictures.  But this is an American enjoyment.  Supposedly the Irish have a long historical memory and green food relates to the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s when mass starvation occurred.  "People were so deprived of food that they resorted to eating grass," Kinealy tells The Salt. "In Irish folk memory, they talk about people's mouths being green as they died." Let's find something more more innocent and fun.  Wearing green. As the tradition goes, wearing green on St. Patrick's Day is supposed to make you invisible to leprechauns. They will pinch you as soon as you come upon their radar if you don't wear green! In the dark history of Ireland, Green represents the Catholics who rebelled against protestant England.  There was the green flag with a harp in the early 17th century.  There was a Society of United Irishmen who wore green in the 1790s trying to bring republican ideas to Ireland having been inspired by the American and French revolutions.  So wearing green has its dark history. And  the "lucky" part?  Supposedly the "luck of the Irish" was an expression about the  Irish having bad luck.  It was originally an ironic expression.  Dark abounds in Irish history.. And then our North American pot of Shamrocks is actually Oxalis.  Very cute, very green.

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Mar 17 2020 - St. Patrick's Day Green

I wonder how St. Patrick's Day is unfolding on the Emerald Isle.  Livestreaming is the offer of the day. The Dropkick Murphys are in the headlines for scheduling a livestream of their concert in the evening of St. Patrick's Day.  There will be lots of livestreaming during the next few weeks. There are websites that still have all the St. Patrick's Day events listed and they seem eerie and even creepy now.  This is an interesting time for online announcements - things not updated at all versus things updated by the minute - especially those twitter feeds - you can see the #coronavirusoutbreak posts here if you want to see just how diverse the posts can be. As I looked about for the response to St. Patrick's Day without its celebrations, I came upon a picture of Niagara Falls lit up for St. Patrick's Day.  What website was this on?  On the rte.ie website - that's in Ireland. So I checked out the official illumination schedule.  It shows tonight's as starting at 7:30 and going until 1:00am with the St. Patrick's Day Global Greening - colour green - every hour for 15 minutes.  The detailed schedule is at infoniagara.com There are many countries - 48 last year - that have illuminations for St. Patrick's Day - the emerald London Eye is famous. Will Disneyland still have its illumination despite being closed? The famous green beer will have to flow at home.  One hopes there is some green food dye left over after making the crystal egg geodes yesterday or purchased in preparation of making the crystal egg geodes.  I expect there is lots of dye in the grocery store.  The shelves are a compelling insight into our fears and responses.  No toilet paper, no frozen vegetables, and no pasta or rice.  Lots of Atlantic Salmon and other meat, lots of vegetables such as broccoli.  Surprise. Every holiday has its plant, and the shamrock is represented by the showy hybridized Oxalis. It is the first picture in the collage.

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Does the Dollar Store still has green things for St. Patrick's Day?  I noticed last year and this year there is a lot of hats and head bands that bring out the silliness of celebrating green.   The  shade of green that represents St. Patrick's Day is 'spring green'.  The actual saint, St. Patrick, was represented by the colour blue.  Green became the official colour of Ireland, so St. Patrick's Day followed.  The official colour is Pantone's green PMS 347.  Green is the largest of the colour families and has the most varieties that are discernible to the human eye. Here are some of St. Patrick's Day jokes: What do you get when you cross poison ivy with a four-leaf clover? A rash of good luck What do you get when you do the Irish jig at McDonalds? A Shamrock Shake Why can't you borrow money from a leprechaun? Because they're always a little short Why don't you iron 4-Leaf clovers? Because you don't want to press your luck I went out drinking on St Patricks Day, so I took a bus home... That may not be a big deal to you, but I've never driven a bus before source: Jokes4us.com

This is the Day That Shamrocks are Drowned

The Day That Shamrocks are Drowned

Shamrocks are…drowned   The news today says that landmark buildings across Ireland have been floodlit green in celebration of St. Patrick's Day.  Hundreds of thousands of Dubliners and tourists are at the Dublin parade. What is a shamrock?  In North America, we buy oxalis (above) as our representation of the shamrock.  It has four leaves so symbolizes luck as well. But the real shamrock is 'a young sprig of clover'.  It has 3 leaves and was used as a metaphor for the Christian Trinity. The word shamrock is the diminutive of the Irish word for clover. Wikipedia tells me the species is Trifolium dubium or Trifolium repens, known as white clover. There has been controversy on this topic.  Wood Sorrel - Oxalis acetosella was a 'pretender' in the 1800's. This is a serious topic in Ireland and botanical surveys were carried out over time, culminating in 1988. The results were that Trifolium dubium (lesser clover) is considered to be the shamrock by half of Irish people. Ireland celebrates this remarkable tradition today with various activities.  "The drowning of the shamrock" expression comes from taking the shamrock at the end of the day and putting it into the final glass of grog or tumbler of punch; when the health has been drunk or the toast honoured, the shamrock should be picked from the bottom of the glass and thrown over the left shoulder."

Celebrating the Emerald Isle with Green

Hi everyone,
It's a sunny spring day here in Grimsby and also St. Patrick's Day!  Today's post combines the Emerald Isle Green and Niagara's spring flowers.  The lovely little yellow flowers below are Winter Aconites, and this image was taken last weekend in the beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake.  That town gets prettier with every day that goes by. 

Enjoy your Sunday and celebrate St. Patrick's Day in style!

Parasols in Dreamy Glades

Leaves in Flames

This is a Fine Spring Morning

Marilyn