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The Luck of the Irish
March 17th is St. Patrick’s Day which observes the death date of the patron saint of Ireland. In the United States we see a lot of green as the day is observed with green beer, green clothing, and the green color added to the Chicago River.
Irish blessings and expressions have been added to the American culture, thanks to all those Irish immigrants that fled their homeland to escape famine. We all understand the meaning of words like shillelagh, begorrah, leprechauns, banshee, hooligan, hoolie, shamrocks and the Emerald Isles.
The luck of the Irish is another common expression. Actually, this can be understood in two ways. It can be understood as extreme good fortune, or, on the other hand an ironic phrase referring to the opposite as the Irish people endured great hardships and many left Ireland rather than starve during the potato famine. Still the Irish remained optimistic as they searched for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or tried to avoid the tricks of the leprechaun and his bag of gold. A distraction that leads to taking one’s eyes away from the gold and poof, it was gone.
On St. Patrick’s Day we are all a little Irish. We wear something green to avoid being pinched and some may enjoy a little Irish dancing and jigs to the sound of Irish music.
I wish you all the “luck of the Irish” for the best of luck, and that everyone can avoid the ironic bad luck or no luck at all.
Bring out the fiddle, harp, tin whistle, bodhran, bagpipes and flutes, wear some green and begorry, and may the wind be always at your back.
– MG
Contributed by Marilyn Goodwin
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