I really like St. Patrick's Day, and not because there's any Irish on my family tree. It has always just been a really nice day for some fun, as we leave winter and move to the first day of spring later this week. We buy some Guiness beer, I simmer a corned beef with one of the bottles, bake Irish soda bread and sometimes brew an Irish coffee and serve it in one of the glasses we bought at the Buena Vista cafe in San Francisco, purportedly home to said drink. Home or not, I know we have hoisted a few there looking out at the Golden Gate Bridge.
I like reading about the parades, the green rivers in some cities back east, all of that jazz. And I know that it's really an American, not Irish, holiday in the ways that we celebrate it here, but it does proudly celebrate part of our immigrant experience. The O'Battins are an equal opportunity culinary cultural family (now looking ahead to Cinco de Mayo).
Being in education, my colleagues and I do not head out to the local bars to start our day with a beer or an Irish coffee; driving to work this morning I heard over the radio that some of the more famous Irish pubs had opened their doors at 6 am, but this is not our style (ok, fine, we're also too old for that nonsense). Yesterday, my vice principal told our students that in honor of her Irish heritage they could have "free dress" today, so this morning our halls are a sea of green tee shirts and jeans. My students have no Irish, they are a beautiful group of Latinas, Koreans, a smattering of African-Americans, but they're happy to celebrate today.
Our campus minister sent us via e-mail a collection of some Irish blessings that could used for classroom prayer today; I'm going to share a few with you. They are from a book called Irish Blessings, collected by Ashley Shannon, Running Press 1999.
May God grant you always . . .
A sunbeam to warm you,
A moonbeam to charm you,
A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you.
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May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm
upon your face, The rains fall soft upon your fields and, Unitl we
meet again, May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
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May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart may desire.
Comments (5)
When teaching at Our Lady of Victory, (or OLGuilt, as the faculty called it...), I used to
LOVE free dress days! It meant we teachers could wear nice jeans! When I moved from teaching 4th to 8th grade, we had free dress every Friday. The kids called it "Jeans Day".
Posted by Palma | March 17, 2009 9:35 AM
Posted on March 17, 2009 09:35
Nice post,Marcia. I also like St Patrick's Day,even though I am not a beer drinker.
Posted by candi | March 17, 2009 1:04 PM
Posted on March 17, 2009 13:04
:( We never had "free dress" days at the Catholic school I attended.
Posted by María I. | March 17, 2009 1:33 PM
Posted on March 17, 2009 13:33
Marcia, Our japanese family always celebrated St. Paddy's day by wearing green, decorations abounding with shamrocks and greenery and we made lots of green food plus the corned beef and cabbage. I had pins that the kids wore to school each year which said, "Irish for a Day". It's been a special holiday in our home though only one sister-in-law of mine is truly Irish. I love this day too. Must wear green! Happy St. Paddys day Marcia.
Posted by Barb Cabot | March 17, 2009 4:26 PM
Posted on March 17, 2009 16:26
Funny, there are probably less than 5% of the population at our school if that who are Irish but just about everyone wore green today :) It is a fun holiday. I loved reading the Irish Blessings.
Posted by girasoli | March 18, 2009 12:27 AM
Posted on March 18, 2009 00:27