Americans love to decorate for the holidays and even people who have no ties to Ireland at all will often decorate their house for St. Patrick's Day. Our friends however, are of Irish descent so we were not surprised to find the house well and truly decorated. Many Americans don't realize that St Patrick's Day has long been a much bigger deal in the US than in Ireland itself. It was only in the 1990's that it began to be celebrated in Ireland the way it is here with parades and so on because the Irish realized it was a great tourist attraction. St Patrick's Day was of course originally a religious holiday and up until the 1970s, Irish laws mandated that pubs be closed on March 17th!
At our friends' house, there was a holiday wreath of leprechauns on the front door, and an Irish flag on the front of the house:
As we entered the house, everyone was given a "Kiss me, I'm Irish" necklace to wear:
I realized I had probably committed a major social faux-pas as I had neglected to wear anything green. Our host was wearing an Ireland rugby shirt - very appropriate as Ireland won on Saturday - and his children had really dressed for the occasion:
There were shamrocks and leprechauns all over the place:
There were even holiday-themed craft projects for the children to complete. There were green beads and safety pins to make brooches, and stickers to decorate these shamrock shapes. It might be difficult to see in this photo, but that's a pot of gold at the end of each rainbow.
The beer menu included Guinness and Harp, and there was Jamieson's Irish Whisky on hand too. Just about every stereotypically 'Irish' item you could think of for St Patrick's Day - with the exception (thankfully) of green beer! I'm looking forward to celebrating St Patrick's Day again next year!
8 comments:
Oh my! I forget about all this living in the UK. I used to really love celebrating things most months, all the decorations, the festivities, the new products in the shops... now Ive become very boring and cynical about it. Yet, I can still see the fun in it when I see things like this. Why not?!
Wow, these people certainly went all out! My goodness. My husband and I saw these two ladies on the Central line the other day (Sunday) all dressed up for St. Patrick's Day. They even had little headthings on.
Matthew was convinced that it was St. Patrick's Day. I told him that it was on the 17th, but he was adamant that he was right. Bless him.
Great pics! Happy St Patrick's Day! :o)
My three all went into school this morning (umprompted) wearing green t-shirts. I had on my pink and black running gear and was immediately told off. Half of the kids at their school are Jewish, yet they're all there in their green, wishing each other a Happy St. Patty's Day. Some of them didn't even know it was really "Patrick" let alone that it was, in my day, a Holy Day of Obligation. Tsk. Tsk.
Looks like a fun party -- they really get in to it don't they? So, what are you planning for St. George's Day?
Our tribute to St Patrick's Day involved Sophie Grigson's Guinness, beef and mushroom stew served with Colcannon mash- absolutely delicious!!!!!!
Looks like a fun time for the wearing of the green. I've been enjoying reading your posts, I will have to stop back.
I love how Americans decorate for holidays. I don't think I saw one shamrock here in Paris.
Post a Comment