Here's wishing everyone an Happy St. Paddy's Day.
History has taught us this Welshman drove the snakes from Ireland, no small task, but in reality, Ireland never had snakes so perhaps, the task was easier than first thought. ;-) It is also said that he taught the masses the concept of the Trinity by using the three leaf clover as his model. In Ireland of the recent past, the celebration of the Patron Saint of Ireland required fasting and going to Mass, then home to eat or the nearest pub depending on your fancy. The Irish immigrants to the Americas changed it eventually into what we know of the celebrations here with parades, drunkenness, turning the Chicago river green with food die that actually lasts a few days, and the food staple attributed to the Irish; Corned beef and Cabbage. In reality, the Irish lifted this food from Jewish immigrants who would prepare this meal in the New York urban tenements which were home for many different groups of people adjusting to their new home. One can imagine all the different culinary smells wafting from these buildings. What was part of the staples of the Jewish immigrant's home became the same for the Irish immigrants as well. Eventually, this meal became recognized as Irish. Traditional Irish cooking would have involved lamb or pig or some sort of a root stew if one were from an humble upbringing.
I made the "traditional" Corned-beef and Cabbage stew for us and will suffer the consequences of "the vapors" as a byproduct of its goodness.
Here's lifting a glass to your health and wealth in the coming year!
( Tonight, will be a "pub-crawl" with the other Irish musicians where I live. I'm not as young as I used to be and I may be calling it an evening at a proper hour rather than howl at the moon with my younger friends. ;-)
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Agus beannacht Lá Fhéile Pádraig agat a Bhutch. I'm just about to go cook my celebratory salmon, and was delighted to learn over at the Corridor that you've joined the blogging ranks... I can't tell you what a surprise and a delight blogging has proven to be for me... hope the same proves true for you as well. I look forward to reading your thoughts.
I hope tonight is a fun-filled ceilidh of an occasion, though I'm with you on needing it to be an early night these days.
Patraic: Many thanks for your best wishes and comments. I've been watching on the blogs in the shadows for awhile and then decided to start making comments on the Corridor and slowly I've been branching out to many of the friends who gather there. It was Cooper's suggestion that I give it a go and I think I'm going to enjoy the interaction and I imagine I will continue as long as I have something to say and readers to read it. ;-)
Tonight should be fun. I'm playing Irish music with some people of which I haven't had the pleasure of playing yet. I may be good for one or two pub stops but, then, it's home for me. I'll leave the wailing and howling to those with a wee bit more stamina. ( I've certainly done my share in my day, time to pass the torch.)
Thanks for the visit.
Butch
the snakes of ireland were the pagans of ireland. so though there were no snakes to drive out there were plenty of pagans.
so i guess whether or not today is a happy one depends entirely upon one's p.o.v.
dykewife: Welcome and thanks for your commentary. I suppose using snakes as a metaphor for pagans could work. Most religions did their part in trying to "stomp out" one another throughout the British Isles and Ireland. One can check out the Penal Laws of Ireland for a good example Along with the Potato Famine where there were Work Houses for the poor and huge culdrons of soup for those unfortunate Catholics who were poor dispossessed of their land and hungry enough to change their religion for a bowl of soup. Those who did convert were called "Soupers" by the Catholics who would rather starve than change their religion for soup offered by the Protestants of the time. As with all attempts at eliminating, Irish culture, religion, music, poetry and other ways the bards passed down history, the invading armies and people could never get rid of it entirely. Thank goodness we still have bits and pieces of the history and one can still see that pagans are back and doing fine. My memory fails me at remembering which historical site in Ireland it is where more modern Catholics placed a statue of St. Patrick over top of an older and sacred site ( could have been Tara ) and it outraged people enough that the statue was removed and placed near by. ) Goes to show one that those who invaded Ireland eventually assimilated into the Irish culture which is unlike many other cultures that dominated their newly won subjects. Interesting, and your last comment holds a bit of truth. Thanks for your input.
It strikes me that one's inclination to howl depends so much on the quality of the moon. I've seen one or two whose memory evokes a howl to this day.
Happy Pub Crawlin Day, Butch.
Joe: Indeed! I've been known not to differentiate too harshly between the quality of one beautiful full moon to the mooning of another. I know, I have howled at both. ( for those too timid, there is the "covered-wagon" which is another story.)
( I hope I haven't hopelessly lost everyone trying to figure out my puerile but noble attempts at humour and double entendre. )
The Blogification Of Butch. Gawpo like. Gawpo like a LAWGHT.
F.Y.I. Butch, I did partake of the Jewish meat and cabbage. Didn't know it until coming here, though, that my mother's ancestry had something to do with that culinary tradition.
Vapor on, Bruther!
Gawpo: "Vapor on, Bruther!"
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I'm much better today, thank you!;)
I have always been amazed on how the Irish can take things from other cultures and fool with it a little and make it their own. The Greek bouzouki is one such instrument. The Irish took the gourd body and made it like the guitar, added another course or two of strings, changed the tuning and now it is the Irish bouzouki. Brilliant, if you ask me. The corned beef & a cabbage is another example. ( though they really didn't change much with this dish.
I had to pan fry a couple of steaks for us today to get away from a corned beef and cabbage reprise, but you'll never guess what will be on the menu for tomorrow. Yep! You guessed it, corned beef and cabbage. Oh well, it's almost time for opening all the windows in the house and let in the Spring air. I did say almost... We'll need to after this wonderful meal. ;-)
I believe all great, lasting cultures are multicultural, and cross-germinate. It's the insulated, intolerant ones that perish. The Greeks were multiculutral and we not only still talk about them, we still talk about the things they talked about.
Joe: Definitely, a good point. My mentor in undergraduate school said that if the English didn't start letting more immigrants into the country, the language would become dead in 100 or so years. The English language in North America is in constant change with new words popping up yearly. He mentioned that we would not be able to understand English spoken by the English if they didn't open the language as well as the people to different cultures. ( Of course, with the Pakistani's and other cultures living in the British Isles, the language will not become like Latin. Unfortunately, our own country is trying to stop the flow of certain immigrants with the hyperbole and fear bating of being overrun by those "durn foreigners." (sigh...)
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