St. Patrick’s Day was first celebrated in this country on March 17, 1601 in the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, a city of northeastern Florida now known for history, sunshine and hurricanes.
On March 17, 1762, Irish soldiers in New York City who were serving in the English military thought it a good idea to drown their sorrows, march (maybe to 44th and 5th), then celebrate those sorrows without admitting them. They chose the date of St. Patrick’s death, rather than his birthday, to have their parade.
NYC attracts 150,000 participants to its St. Patrick’s Day Parade, year after year. Well, it did before the you-know-what got loose and they had to cancel the 2020 and 2021 parades.
Almost 10 percent of the population in this country claims Irish ancestry, with Chicago in first place. In 1962, cop Tom Rowan noticed a plumber’s stained overalls were a striking shade of green due to a dye used to detect pipe leaks. “Eureka! I’ll turn the Chicago River green on St. Patrick’s Day!” He did and still does.
Things always change rapidly for the Irish because… money. Just a few decades after St. Augustine started celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, the English talked the Irish into exporting beef to Britain, but only if they put salt crystals the size of corn kernels on the meat to cure it. Ireland had more cattle than England and Ireland’s salt tax was next to nothing since they just wanted ol’ Bossy to provide milk for the wee ones.
The Irish started shipping meat to England, but they were still too poor to afford meat for themselves. When they had to sail to New York or Boston or Chicago because of the potato famine, they found they could buy inexpensive brisket from Jewish butchers.
Brisket is from the front of the cow, so the Irish tenderized it with chunky salt and slow cooking. Cabbage and potatoes are always cheap, so they were the side dishes. Corned beef and cabbage! Every year my neighbor invites me for corned beef and cabbage and I shudder to think what state the world would be in for her not to.
Speaking of confusing an ecclesiastical day with parades and green rivers, we noticed that Pope Francis approved of a Vatican message last week saying the Catholic Church could not bless same sex unions because they “can’t bless sin.”
Since when? Since they kept abusive priests on their active roster? What exactly qualifies as blessing a sin if not that? Isn’t making the sign of the cross blessing oneself?
St. Patrick, a slave turned bishop, was said to have stopped at an inn where a greedy innkeeper served him cup of whiskey that wasn’t full. He told the innkeeper that the devil resided in his cellar and the only way to banish the devil was to fill cups to overflowing. It worked, and the innkeeper became a happy man because those around him were happy.
There is no way to tightly explain corned beef, overdone green or why we have a football team called the Fighting Irish, but one consistent thing you can say about the Irish is they know that every day would be a lovely day to buy the Pope a Guinness and not be put out with him.
At least today would be.