by Carol Lynn Jackson
After the dead of winter, St. Patrick’s Day is a welcome sign of spring, a day for the wearing of the green for the Irish and non-Irish alike. It’s a celebration of the Emerald Isle’s patron saint, Patrick.

Back in the late 90s, I was very fortunate to live in Ireland, in County Maynooth. It was my first extended stay in Europe and I documented every day as to not forget a thing. Like the barbed Irish-accent to an English language I once knew. Or, how upon arrival, our banking system was not talking to the Irish banking system, so we didn’t have the cash flow we needed for nearly a week.

This gave our neighbors and complete strangers in the village opportunities to extend their quintessential Irish hospitality. “Come back when you can pay, we know you’re good for it,” or, “You must take our television, how can anyone go without a television?” or, “Bring the family to the pub and we will cover you until your Yank bank arrives.”

The pubs are family-centered and the Craic is mighty! The Irish keep talking about the word “craic” but have a hard time defining it. It means fun, gossip, wit, celebration, blarney.

Irish foods get better and better as the staples are pure and mighty as well. The salmon, the mussels, teas and shortbreads, currant scones, wild garlic, sea kelp and seaweed, and, of course, potatoes. To go with the ancient grain breads is the fresh Irish butter made from cows grazing on the greenest sea-air drenched grass in the world. Admittedly though, pints of Guinness made with brackish black water from the River Liffey in Dublin were often meal enough for me.

On March 17 stateside, we’ve taken Irish traditional foods and music, sayings and celebrations, to accept that everyone should feel a little bit Irish for a day. Many of Ireland’s food traditions are re-created here for the celebration. Potatoes served in their skins, mushrooms stuffed with fresh seafood, and of course the main dish, corned beef and cabbage. Rivers and rivers of beer are tinted green and Irish music and dancing abound. These are traditions bred here in America from some legend and some fact behind the patron saint of Ireland.

The story of St. Patrick’s Day goes back to 5^th century Britain where a 16-year-old boy, Maewyn Succat, was kidnapped by Irish Druids. He remained a shepherd slave in Ireland for six years before a vision directed him to escape. Back home in Britain he had a vision beckoning him to help the people of Ireland. So he took his vows as a priest, adopted the Christian name Patrick, and in 432 returned to Ireland on a mission.

In his autobiography, “The Confesso,” Patrick wrote about converting the Irish to Christianity while building schools and monasteries along Ireland’s north and west coast. One popular myth has Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. The truth is there were never snakes on the island.  This is probably a metaphor for Patrick cleansing the island of paganism.

So how did March 17 become a big day of food, drink and celebration in his name?

Supposedly March 17 is the day Patrick died in 461. Since then, Irish Christians have marked the anniversary as a holy day.  Beginning in the Middle Ages, Irish Catholics would take the day off work and attend church to honor the feast of St. Patrick and then it was time to celebrate.

But as the feast of St. Patrick also falls within the Lenten season of “giving up something fun or special until Easter arrives,” the one-day reprieve from said abstinences evolved into a much larger and secular celebration. The feast of St. Patrick became the day where Irishmen could down a pint or two of ale during Lent. This custom really took off.

During the 1840’s, when Ireland was starving from the potato famine, millions were forced to leave. The mass migration sent Irish to Canada, Australia and America.  As the Irish settled in their new countries, they brought along a few customs and invented some more. In the U.S., it became customary to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. The traditional Irish dish was boiled bacon and potatoes. But in America, immigrants could only find a cheap piece of beef, tenderize it with brine, and slow cook it with cabbage.

In our Foothills, in downtown Tryon, our own Irish pub, a private membership venue called McGourty’s, is open for St. Patrick’s Day with traditional Irish food and music. Come in on a “day pass” and enjoy good company for the celebration.