Erin Go Bragh - Everyone's Irish Today!
Are You Irish Today?
As I was responding to Erin's question about my heritage in her post, "IRISH I Had Some Croned Beef" today, I realized that I was writing too much, and that I was giving birth to another post.
Am I Irish today? Well of course....isn't everyone?
Who Am I the Rest of the Year?
My maiden name was Van Baale.(n) My paternal grandfather was a first generation American, and his last name was misspelled on his birth certificate. Someone left the "n" off his name.
I have a copy of the ship's manifest from my great-grandparents' immigration to the US from the Netherlands in the 1800s.
Both of my great-grandparents were married to someone else, and had families. They came to the US on the same ship. I'm not certain, but I believe that they were distant cousins and were acquainted with each other.
When both Jacob Van Baalen and Metta DeBryan were widowed, they were married. Each of them had a son named Willem. Guess what they named their first son...Willem! So my father had 3 Uncle Willems. I assume that they must have really loved that name, or else they couldn't agree on another one!
My mother's maiden name was Buckingham, and one would think that would mean that we are English on that side. But most of the family that I am aware of were primarily German! My ancestors on my mother's side immigrated from Germany to escape religious persecution. I'm not certain of the order, but I know that they were in England and Holland prior to coming to the US.
So, How Does An Annual Irishman Celebrate St. Patrick's Day?
I don't like beer, green or otherwise. I do, however, like corned beef and cabbage.
As a kid, if we didn't have anything green to wear to school, we cut shamrocks out of green construction paper to avoid being pinched.
I grew up very sheltered in a Dutch community, and did not know about all the partying that went on everywhere else in the world until I moved to St. Louis.
I was vaguely aware of a story about St. Patrick removing all the snakes from Ireland, but was certainly amazed to discover all the parades and enthusiastic celebrations that go with St. Patrick's Day around the world.
So To All You TRUE Irish As Well As Us Annual Celebrators, I Say:
Enjoy your day! Live it up, and have some green beer for me!
Carol
Recent Comments
44
I am Irish from both my mother's and father's sides of my family. Couldn't miss it when I was younger with my auburn streaked hair and all my freckles. Kids at school used to tease me about them. We always had corned beef and cabbage growing up but living in the country, I didn't know about the parades and parties until I was a little bit older.
The first big celebration that I went to was on the waterfront in Savanah, Georgia. They turned the river green for a day back then. When I moved here to the DC area, it seemed most of the celebrations were in bars and such. It wasn't until I moved to New Orleans that I really came across a real city-wide celebration.
In New Orleans, there are the St Patrick's Day parades and then, in the suburb of Metairie, LA, there are the Irish-Italian Day parades, usually the next day.
There are houses (all with large front porches) in the Irish section of New Orleans with food or bars, or bands out on them along and leading to the parade routes. They throw everything from beads to green women's underwear to be worn on the head if caught. They also throw cabbage and potatoes. In Metairie, they throw cabbage, potatoes, tomato sauce, pasta, carrots, and onions from the floats. Basically, you go home with the makings of dinner in hand both days.
Of course, besides dinner, there are the parties that go on afterward and if you don't care for beer, you can always get the daiquiris made with Irish Whiskey and Bailey's Irish Creme at the drive-thru daiquiri shops. (It's a New Orleans thing.)
I miss those days and I hope that one day I can take Eddie, who has a smidge of Irish in him from his mother and full Italian blood from his father, to the parades in NOLA. I know that he would really enjoy it.
Anita
Happy St. Patrick's Day a day late to one of several of the true Irish I've met on WA. Did you have corned beef and cabbage and green beer for supper last night?!
I had a great weekend. I got a migraine after the flight that knocked me on my butt til this afternoon, but I still had a great weekend.
Glad you got to fly! I flew, too, but it was on a crowded flight on an airline that did not even offer us a drink or snack. Instead we were asked if we would like to purchase anything. Didn't sit well with me! Glad it was only an hour flight. I won't be flying that airline anytime soon!
That is an interesting family history Carol! Thanks for sharing!
I love my Irish heritage. Happy St. Paddy's Day!
Thanks, Jessica. I don't blame you for being proud of your heritage. You're not as much of a mixture as I am, since you're Irish on both sides, and I'm a mutt! I really enjoyed reading about your trips to Ireland with hour grandmother to visit relatives still living there. Carol
THANKS, Carol! I love this! -- A true take off from your comment on my post! I would change the Croned Beef to Corned Beef though in my title.--haha! Lovely account of your heritage and very interesting to read! LOVE the photos!! I love owls, too!
Glad you enjoyed it, Erin. It was primarily written for you, as you could tell! It's so much fun finding images to go with our posts! I really like the new format. Have a great weekend. Carol
Gorgeous! My mother used to have one years ago, even though we're not Irish, she loved houseplants. Carol
Beef and Lettuce in a Bun is probably the closest I can get, its an establishment called MC Donald's! Lol
I can get the beery stuff, but not green!
I hope you are well!
Wayne
Wow, Wayne. I didn't know MickeyD's was in Malaysia. I'm doing OK. Was thinking of you the other day when a commercial was talking about ketoacidosis being a side effect of some medication they were advertising. How are you doing these days? Carol
Hey Carol
I hope all is good with you!
If there's an Irishman there's a celebration! I've lived in Countries that are alcohol free states and I've celebrated Paddy's day and still staggered home drunk as a skunk!
My health is not brilliant, so I may need to resort to seeing a doctor soon? I have a doctor in Malaysia.
More doctors seem to see the angle on making the dollar these days, only my experience. See how I feel tomorrow.
Just working on WA, finally getting my head into it, again.
Not want to make excuses, but there have been distractions.
Time to see if I can change some directions - again, go back into construction or just simply continue the leisurely life of travel. I'm opting for WA = TRAVEL = LEISURE.
Take care Carol! Talk soon.
Wayne
Hi, Wayne.
Are you one of the real Irish like Erin and Jessica, or are you like me, just Irish on March 17th!!
I am fortunate that my docs are ones I've had a long time and they really do spend time with me and at least APPEAR to care about what's going on with me.
I know about distractions...I've been working on my income taxes today. Yuck. Not satisfied with the results. They show me getting 400 something back from federal and owing 600 to state! Think I'll revisit things to be sure that is right. I've never had to pay state taxes before, and usually don't even have to file, but I inherited a bit when my mother died, which is changing things. Oh well, as they say, the only things that are certain in this life are death and taxes!
It's almost 4Am here, and I think I'd better turn in for a few hours, then attack the taxes again.
Take care of yourself.
Carol
See more comments
Thanks for the post and wishing you a wonderful St Patrick’s day
Thanks. Have a great weekend. Carol