Happy St. Patrick's Day!
 

I was just telling this story at work, and I realized it might behoove me to start a wearin'-o-the-green thread for purposes of telling it here.

So. I got Irish for Christmas.

We'd been trying to get ahold of our family tree from my paternal grandparents. But unpleasant as they've generally always been, they wouldn't let us touch it or make a copy or anything.

My brother--so sneaky!--made friends with our grandfather's sister. She gave him the kit and caboodle.

And it turns out that, a few generations back, about the time that being Irish in this country was a sentence to drudgery work and struggle, the long-since-immigrated Irish part of the family covered up their heritage!

This means that tomorrow is my very first "Kiss me, I'm actually Irish" St. Patrick's Day!

Anyway, this thread could certainly go (at least) two ways. Blueerica and I discussed the concepts of hiding, discovering, and "owning" one's heritage, as related to World War II and the current war, hoping that the sunni/shi'ite/kurds who feel as though they have to hide or squash their cultures can rediscover and be proud of it these days.

Of course, there's also the whole "green beer!" way this discussion could go. And in light of that...

Irish people don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Only non-Irish people who want to get drunk.

Or so said my Irish coworker today, sick of people asking him what he was doing tomorrow.

I'm having an Irish breakfast tomorrow. Just an excuse to eat black pudding. Yum.

That's really interesting, H. My great grandparents changed their last name from Becker to Baker so it would sound more American when they came over from Germany in the early 1900's.

I'm French and French Kanuck- not a speck o' Irish, but I love Irish lit, folk tales and whiskey. If ever I get to Europe, it's to see the UK. I've a mild interest in Italy and Germany, but the french have been so damned obnoxious over the years that I have no desire whatsoever to visit their country. No wonder my ancestors left.

Oh yeah...I'm celebrating by going to work for 8 hours. Bleh.

(At the very least though, I'm decked out in green.)

Now you've got me craving soda bread. I wonder if I have time to go buy the ingredients and make some.

I'm celebrating by....

Going to lumber liquidators and picking up 1100 sq feet of laminate flooring and all associated trim and padding...

Cleaning out the fridge to move it to the garage in preparation for the delivery of the new one this afternoon....

Moving files from my work at home computer to the new work at home computer (being delivered courtesy of my on-the-side client)....

Ripping out carpet in preparation of the tile guy coming Thursday to install it....

Ripping out carpet so I can put down the laminate flooring I am picking up today....

Pruning three ficus trees damaged in the hard freeze of 6 weeks ago....

Fertilizing the lawn....

Ripping out two bouganvilla plants killed by the hard freeze of six weeks ago....

I can't wait until Monday so I can go to work and get some rest.

I bought some Dubliner cheese to eat.

I think my mother's side is English, although there's no detailed genealogy done as far as I know. My father's side is German. He reconnected with them back in the 80s and I've visited my distant cousins a few times. Our most recent trip was very interesting as there was a very long family tree that allowed us to trace just how far back we go to the common relative.

I have a bit 'o the Irish in me, too! One-quarter, to be exact!

While most Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day by getting blitzed out of their mind, I've always seen the day as a celebration of heritage - given what the Irish have gone through. And boo hoo to your humbug co-worker, Alex - you should let him know that they celebrate it in Ireland with festivals, and the like - he can google it, or just follow this super easy to find link about a festival. It seems at a first glance they celebrate with parades and feasting with a bit 'o beer.

I should add, my favorite St. Patty's Day tradition: Corned beef and cabbage. Who's gonna make me some?