Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone. Are you wearing something green? You must, you know, or you’ll likely get pinched.
That’s what I’ve heard all my life. But I don’t recall ever questioning the tradition. Today, while searching for a header image, I came across this:
According to folklore, wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day is a way to ward off leprechauns, who supposedly can’t see this color. If a leprechaun spots you without any green on, it’s said that they will pinch you, which is how the modern tradition of pinching those not wearing green began.
Of course, my not remembering this explanation doesn’t necessarily mean I never heard it before. These days I’m forgetting things faster than I can learn new ones.
I chose the header because it reminds me of my childhood. Back then there was a house up the street that had a big patch of clover growing in its backyard around a full-sized playground merry-go-round. If I searched carefully and patiently through that clover, I could usually find a few four-leaf outliers. I never went home without one.
Just a mention of Ireland conjures up a flood of emotion in me, probably because I’m half Irish on my mother’s side (Murphy). But the Irish-American story is also one of the world’s gratest stories of economic injustice and successful emigration. The lyrics of “Isle of Hope” say it well:
“On the first day of January, eighteen ninety-two,
They opened Ellis Island and they let the people through.
And the first to cross the threshold of that isle of hope and tears,
Was Annie Moore from Ireland who was all of fifteen years.
CHORUS:
Isle of hope, isle of tears,
Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
But it’s not the isle you left behind.
That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
Isle you’ll never see again,
But the isle of home is always on your mind.”
I asked Google to play the song for me and the singer was Mary Duff. Redhead. Looked Irish even if not. Lovely song, full of both sadness and hope. You have a lot of history behind you. My mom often spoke of her Irish heritage but it may have been wishful thinking. I don’t really know.
You ever been to Ireland? In my mind’s eye it is spectacularly beautiful. And somehow those immigrants brought that beauty with them. America is so much richer for its immigrants and the infusion of their strength, hope, and determination.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Jim!
No, I visited many places in the world because of being in the Navy, but Ireland is not a common port for the USN. Thanks, Susan, and Irish luck be yours as well!
Never heard the leprechaun story before. Thanks for sharing it.
It was new to me, too. I’d always thought it was another person who might pinch you. Certainly that’s how it worked when my siblings and I were little!
love the lore and the history too
i still can’t get over the pinching thing. Can you imagine four young siblings looking for a chance to pinch each other!?
johnthecook…when the Irish immigrants left Ireland W-A-Y_ back in the 1800’s they came here legally and did not try to turn their good fortune into an attempt to turn America into a country the just left!
You talk about immigrants wanting to turn America into the country they chose to leave behind. That makes no sense to me. Can you cite a source or two?
If ever there were a country that was multicultural, the USA is it. New York City, famously, is the same and successfully so. Division over this aspect is responsible for much of the political grief and violence we have seen. It doesn’t have to be.