Erin go Braugh - Ireland Forever

Last year I was fortunate enough to be in Dublin on St. Paddy’s day at the biggest St.Patrick Day celebration ever. It was awesome and it was frightening. I have never seen so many people in one place at one time trying to watch a parade. I learned a lot about the day while I was in Ireland and thought I would share it with you today. BTW you better wear something green today or you could get pinched! Why is it so important to wear green? Well, while in Ireland last year I researched this and found a great historical poem about it called, “The Wearing of the Green.” by Dion Boucicault (1820-1890) It goes like this:

O Paddy dear, and did you hear the news that going round?
The shamrock is forbid by law to grow on Irish ground;
St. Patrick's Day no more we'll keep, his colours can't be seen,
For there's a bloody law against the wearing of the green.
I met with Napper Tandy and he took me by the hand,
And he said, "How's poor old Ireland, and how does she stand?"
She's the most distressful counterie that ever yet was seen,
And they're hanging men and women for the wearing of the green.
Then since the colour we must wear is England's cruel red,
Sure Ireland's sons will ne'er forget the blood that they have shed.
You may take a shamrock from your hat and cast it on the sod,
It will take root and flourish there though underfoot it's trod.
When law can stop the blades of grass from growing as they grow,
And when the leaves in summer-time their verdure dare not show,
Then will I change the colour that I wear in my caubeen
But 'till that day, please God, I'll stick to wearing of the green.
But if at last our colour should be torn from Ireland's heart,
Our sons with shame and sorrow from this dear old isle will part;
I've heard a whisper of a land that lies beyond the sea
Where rich and poor stand equal in the light of freedom's day.
O Erin, must we leave you driven by a tyrant's hand?
Must we ask a mother's blessing from a strange and distant land?
Where the cruel cross of England shall nevermore be seen,
And where, please God, we'll live and die still wearing of the green!

The great thing about this holiday is that you do not even have to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Personally....I am of Irish heritage and have always been very proud of that fact. But...St. Patrick himself wasn’t even Irish. It turns out he was actually a Welsh slave brought to the Emerald Isle by a British lord in the fifth century. Because of his tireless efforts to convert people to Christianity, Ireland named him their patron saint. According to legend, Saint Patrick used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish people. So in honor of St. Patrick’s special day I want to leave you this blessing:
“May you always have these blessings A soft breeze when summer comes- A warm fireside in winter- And always- the warm, soft smile of a friend.”
Go mbeannai Dia duit
(May God Bless You)