Erin Go Bragh!
It means “Ireland Forever,” but it’s also a salutation for anyone on St. Patrick’s Day, the day we all embrace our Irish heritage, real or imagined.
I’ve always loved being Irish, but if you were to ask me why, exactly, I’m not sure I’d know what to tell you. I loved family gatherings when my dad's cousin, Father John Rossiter from Topeka, would fill us all in on his latest parish trek to Ireland to meet with family, or when he’d bring family members to the reunions and we’d all get to meet them. I loved growing up in a house that celebrated St. Patrick’s Day like a true holiday – corned beef stewing on the stove, my mother waiting for just the right minute to put the cabbage in and my fathers atrocious green-and-white-plaid polyester slacks that he just had to wear (they eventually got “lost” in one of our moves).
Maybe it has something to do with my father’s family and their love of being Irish – it was always something that was in the forefront of any reunion or gathering. The trips to Ireland, the genealogy of the family. Growing up I learned the words to many Clancy Brothers songs in the same way my own children learned the words to the music I now listen to: “Shellicky, shellicky boo-key, put out all of your horns, all of the ladies are comin’ to see-ee ya.”
It’s sung in a real low bass and is really kind of mournful. I always loved that children’s “song” (it’s the same verse repeated) – until I learned later in life that a “shellicky bookey” is a snail. Huh?
So sometimes we’re a quirky bunch.
Which is why, I think, I love being Irish, and why, just one day each year, everyone wants to be Irish. It could be for the drinking, possibly for the corned beef, but more than likely it's because it's just plain fun.
Look for Carly here next week when she asks, "What are signs of spring fever?"