ERIN GO BRAGH IS NOT GAELIC FOR GREEN BEER
Kiss me, I’m Irish today! Green donuts. Green beer. Green bagels. (Oy vey!)
Maybe a chorus of “Danny Boy.”
For a lot of Americans, that’s a typical Saint Patrick’s Day.
Whether you’re Irish – for the day – or not, it’s mostly a celebration of how we think of the Irish: a poetic and musical people who like the color green and know how to party.
Which…yeah.
But Americans have been observing Saint Patrick’s Day since before they were Americans. There are rumblings in Irish-American historical circles about a Royal Governor of New York in the 1600s who was Irish and Catholic and must have done something to mark the day.
If he did, he was smart enough to keep it quiet. Even before the Great Hunger, the Irish were second-class citizens at best, and Irish ancestry – and especially Catholic faith – were not things to celebrate.
Still, the Irish are not known for keeping their lights under a bushel, and in the early 1700s, there were modest and dignified celebrations in Boston that spread to other cities. By the 1800s, there were plenty of parades, usually fairly quiet and restrained events, again with the emphasis on pride and dignity, in no small part because of growing nativist prejudice.
It’s hard to imagine in our current multicultural world, but at one point, the Anglo-Saxon Protestant aristocracy in Britain and the U.S. didn’t even consider the Irish human, never mind white people like them. You don’t let people starve in the road if you think they’re anything like you.
But the Irish are a resilient bunch. They’ve had to be.
By the late 19th century, they’d beaten back a lot of the prejudice just by showing up and working hard, and celebrations of Irish heritage continued and grew. Not without incident – a melee after dueling New York parades in 1867 led to a renewed emphasis on decorum. It apparently worked – the City’s famous parade moved to almost its current spot on Fifth Avenue in 1891, and became a key place for the Irish political machine to show its power…and for New York’s Irish community to show its pride.
Ella Shane and her cousin Tommy Hurley would be two of those proud Irish folks; Ella honors both her Irish father and Jewish mother whenever she can. As tenement kids made good as a singer and boxing champ, our heroes would be careful to celebrate in a restrained and proper fashion. But celebrate they would!
If they’re in town and not on tour, Ella and Tommy would start the day like all good Irish Catholics, with Mass, though Tommy’s best friend Father Michael Riley leads a more festive service than usual at Holy Innocents. Then off to Fifth Avenue to watch the parade…and home for dinner. Not corned beef and cabbage, though – for them, it’s still poverty food.
Not for me, though!
My grandfather was proudly Scotch-Irish (we were never entirely sure he didn’t add the “Scotch” part to please Grandma’s Scottish immigrant father!) but he sure liked to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day like a regular Irishman. Which meant a big pot of corned beef and cabbage. My very Scots grandmother made it for him each year, grumbling all the way.
Dessert? Grandpa’s favorite lemon meringue pie. Maybe key lime meringue if Grandma was moved go with the green theme. Irish coffee for the grownups, too.
You’ll note there was no green beer.
And speaking of things that should not be green, I can assure you that the hamantaschen will be their natural color when the Professor, the Imp and I mark both St. Pat’s and Purim today!
Got a Throwback Thursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
Maybe a chorus of “Danny Boy.”
For a lot of Americans, that’s a typical Saint Patrick’s Day.
Whether you’re Irish – for the day – or not, it’s mostly a celebration of how we think of the Irish: a poetic and musical people who like the color green and know how to party.
Which…yeah.
But Americans have been observing Saint Patrick’s Day since before they were Americans. There are rumblings in Irish-American historical circles about a Royal Governor of New York in the 1600s who was Irish and Catholic and must have done something to mark the day.
If he did, he was smart enough to keep it quiet. Even before the Great Hunger, the Irish were second-class citizens at best, and Irish ancestry – and especially Catholic faith – were not things to celebrate.
Still, the Irish are not known for keeping their lights under a bushel, and in the early 1700s, there were modest and dignified celebrations in Boston that spread to other cities. By the 1800s, there were plenty of parades, usually fairly quiet and restrained events, again with the emphasis on pride and dignity, in no small part because of growing nativist prejudice.
It’s hard to imagine in our current multicultural world, but at one point, the Anglo-Saxon Protestant aristocracy in Britain and the U.S. didn’t even consider the Irish human, never mind white people like them. You don’t let people starve in the road if you think they’re anything like you.
But the Irish are a resilient bunch. They’ve had to be.
By the late 19th century, they’d beaten back a lot of the prejudice just by showing up and working hard, and celebrations of Irish heritage continued and grew. Not without incident – a melee after dueling New York parades in 1867 led to a renewed emphasis on decorum. It apparently worked – the City’s famous parade moved to almost its current spot on Fifth Avenue in 1891, and became a key place for the Irish political machine to show its power…and for New York’s Irish community to show its pride.
Ella Shane and her cousin Tommy Hurley would be two of those proud Irish folks; Ella honors both her Irish father and Jewish mother whenever she can. As tenement kids made good as a singer and boxing champ, our heroes would be careful to celebrate in a restrained and proper fashion. But celebrate they would!
If they’re in town and not on tour, Ella and Tommy would start the day like all good Irish Catholics, with Mass, though Tommy’s best friend Father Michael Riley leads a more festive service than usual at Holy Innocents. Then off to Fifth Avenue to watch the parade…and home for dinner. Not corned beef and cabbage, though – for them, it’s still poverty food.
Not for me, though!
My grandfather was proudly Scotch-Irish (we were never entirely sure he didn’t add the “Scotch” part to please Grandma’s Scottish immigrant father!) but he sure liked to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day like a regular Irishman. Which meant a big pot of corned beef and cabbage. My very Scots grandmother made it for him each year, grumbling all the way.
Dessert? Grandpa’s favorite lemon meringue pie. Maybe key lime meringue if Grandma was moved go with the green theme. Irish coffee for the grownups, too.
You’ll note there was no green beer.
And speaking of things that should not be green, I can assure you that the hamantaschen will be their natural color when the Professor, the Imp and I mark both St. Pat’s and Purim today!
Got a Throwback Thursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
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May the story of Esther remind us of the courage & determination of the Jewish people in the face of oppression & religious persecution, an example that remains especially relevant today.
Scots is most often used to refer to the dialect of English found in Scotland (although, once again, some feel that it instead is a Germanic language which is related to, but distinct from, English).
Scotch is generally used in compounds (such as Scotch pine or Scotch whisky), and set phrases.
Scottish is the preferred adjective; in cases where you are referring to the literature, character, or ancestry of the people of Scotland, it is generally correct to describe them as Scottish.
Wishing you and yours a Happy St. Patrick's Day and Happy Purim, chag Purim sameach, א פרייליכן פורים