Memories of St Patrick’s Day In and Out of Ireland
Before the pandemic, March was a popular time for travel to Ireland . . .
© Joyce McGreevy
How Real Was My Cultural Authenticity?
What could be more Irish than memories of St Patrick’s Day in Ireland? Picture it: County Limerick, March 17. Sunlight illuminates my boarding school overlooking the banks of the River Shannon. Such cultural authenticity! We’ve the day off from classes. Cue the festivities!
The Dripping of the Green
Ah, but this is 1970s Ireland. St Patrick’s Day is a holy day, not yet a holiday. To “celebrate,” we each pin a clump of sodden shamrocks to the front of our school uniform. At Mass, I watch in dismal fascination as brackish liquid oozes along the wool grain of my personal upholstery.
Not how I’d imagined “the wearing of the green.”
My classmate Eileen sighs, “If only we were in Dublin gawking at the Americans.”
“Why Americans?” I ask.
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