Today: Top o’ the Afternoon!

It’s March 17th and my Irish American eyes are smiling (Auntie Tyra calls it smizing).   St. Patrick’s Day is often misunderstood (cue the gaggle of green-clad men I saw lurking outside the Cornerstone at the top o’ the morning today).  We live in Southie, which seems to attract a lot of interesting characters come St. Patrick’s Day and parade time.

Are bars open at 7:30 AM?  Me thinks not.

Perhaps I should tell you a little bit about a man named Patrick.  That was his first name, the Saint part was added later… and since he lived between in the late 300’s-mid 400’s AD, I don’t think any of his contemporaries are around to remind us of his last name.

Two of his letters have survived, though, believe it or not.  That would be like if my pathetic blog survived, only to be encountered in 3527 AD by some unsuspecting martian, forced to read all about my Frenchie’s trips to the vet.  Kind of like that, at least.  Patrick’s letters were a touch more important and besides, they’re in Latin.

Anyway, Pat was captured and brought to Ireland as a slave.  He’d later escape, return to his family in Britain, enter the church and be ordained a Bishop and then travel back to Ireland, helping to shape the church in Ireland as we know it.

Legend holds that Patrick drove the snakes from the Emerald Isle, but superior knowledge (more commonly referred to as Wikipedia) alleges that there were no snakes in Ireland after the glaciers melted.  Weird, I know.  Perhaps the snake was symbolic.  Imagine if St. Patrick lived in the U.S. during the 20th century?  Maybe then we would’ve been spared from “Snakes on a Plane.”  Now that would be grounds for canonization.

Also legendary was St. Patrick’s use of the shamrock (the plain old ones have three leaves, not four) in teaching the Irish about the Holy Trinity.  Pretty clever.  Make note, C.C.D. teachers!  St. Patrick is said to have died on March 17th, which now marks his feast day (and a spike in faux leprechaun beard sales).

Okay, class.  History lesson over.  For extra credit, I’ll be donning my “I’m lucky, I’m an Eagle” tee shirt, my Ras na hEireann medal and attempt to talk my Irish/Portuguese-American boyfriend into watching Waking Ned Devine with our French dog.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osmPlQXzXXA&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1]

Here’s a traditional Irish blessing before you go (I wonder what the non-traditional ones are like.).  Or maybe you left already.

May the blessing of the rain be on you,

The soft sweet rain.

May it fall upon your spirit

So that all the little flowers may spring up,

And shed their sweetness on the air.

May the blessing of the great rains be on you,

May they beat upon your spirit and wash it fair and clean,

And leave there many a shining pool

Where the blue of heaven shines, and sometimes a star.

May the good earth be soft under you when you rest upon it,

And may it rest easy over you when,

At the last, you lay out under it,

And may it rest so lightly over you

That your soul may be out from under it quickly,

And up, and off, and be on its way to God.  Toodles.

I added the “toodles” part.  Thanks to my older brother for the pictures!

Also On Tap for Today:

• Pick up Clark from the vet.  He’s having paw surgery today.  And we are single-handedly keeping the animal hospital in the black.
• Make some corned beef and cabbage tomato soup.
• Talk deeply,be happy?

How are you celebrating St. Patrick’s Day?  Is there an Irish soda bread in your freezer?