Erin Go Bragh
"Ireland Forever''
By Ruth Hall
Saint Patrick’s Day will soon be here with the the wearing of the green, shamrocks and “pot of gold” leprechauns.The biggest celebration of that day is in Ireland of course where it all began. Did you know that Saint Patrick was actually born in Wales about 385 AD? He was captured by Irish marauders and taken to Ireland as a slave. He considered himself a pagan till he was 16. After escaping he studied at a monastery and it was there he was given a vision to return to Ireland and convert the Druid’s to Christianity. He was said to have explained the Holy Trinity –Father, Son and Holy Ghost to the people there using the three leaves of the shamrock. This way he proved that like the shamrock has three leaves existing as a whole ;the Holy Trinity could be three parts of one whole God.
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A friend of mine, Richard, spent a summer in Ireland studying Irish history with a tour group lead by a local historian. I ask him about Irish food was it any different than what he was used to. He said Irish food was very much like American food. Where he stayed at different American Youth Hostels, they did their own cooking - one group would cook and one would clean up then they would switch. For breakfast they would have porridge, which is similar to oatmeal, and toast. The Irish Hostess, Hanna, made them a traditional Irish breakfast of salmon and eggs on their last day there.
“In Ireland history,” he said “the unique thing about Ireland is not the food but the lack of food during the Potato Famine.” The historian described the Irish before the famine as living mostly on a diet of potatoes. The Irish farmer’s lived in thatched huts-12x18 feet-with straw on the dirt floor and a cow for milk chained in one corner. They relied entirely on the potatoes they grew and when the blight hit the population starved. These” lazy beds”(as they were later called) of the blighted potato farmer can still be seen in some rural places of Ireland today. Over 34 million American’s are of Irish decent. That’s almost nine times the population of Ireland. The majority of immigration was due to the Potato famine two hundred years ago.
It was on this trip Richard said that he first got introduced to Guinness Draught beer. Every night the tour group would stop in a pub at the local village and have a pint while they discussed the happenings of the day. On the last day the tour group went to St James’s Gate brewery in Dublin. This production site has been home to the “Black Stuff” since 1759. The Storehouse, a former fermentation plant, has now been remodeled into a visitor center dedicated to the history of Guinness. It is considered by many as Ireland’s number one attraction. It unfolds its tale across seven floors shaped around a giant pint glass.
Richard said the highlight of the tour was the Gravity Bar, symbolically the “head of the pint.” He said he could sip his last brew in Ireland and enjoy 360 degree views of Dublin. His return flight left for the United States later that day.
Works Cited
Wilson,Jerry,et al.”Saint Patrick’s Day – Customs,Traditions and History-Irish Folklore.” 2005 Web. 8 Feb. 2011witstar.com/holidays/patrickhlm
Guiness Factory Tour,Dublin,Ireland youtube.com
Crockpot Corned Beef and Cabbage. This is an American version of an Irish dish,the original would have probably used some bacon in place of the beef.
