Green

When I was in sixteen, I traveled to Ireland with four other high school friends and our English teacher.  One of our English teachers (the one who "forced" us to memorize poems) was originally from Ireland and planned a trip there every summer.  Although she did not go on this trip, she still planned it for us, so we went to all of the best places.  I remember, very clearly, flying in, looking over the land and seeing nothing but green.  The plots of land were all neatly squared with rock walls separating them into different colors of green.  I quickly saw why it was called the "Emerald Isle."  It is no wonder then that the Irish have adopted the color of green to represent all that they hold near and dear to them.

I was absolutely thrilled to get the chance to spend St. Patrick's Day in Ireland with Cindy.  The city and the people there were all decked out in green - from the buildings lit up at night to the kids with shamrocks painted on their cheeks to the grown men walking around in funny green hats. It was totally and utterly green.

Signs of spring!

St. Stephen's Green

Molly Malone

I had sort of assumed that the city would be a huge drunken disaster, but in all honesty, what we saw most of the time was people out and about, enjoying the holiday and the promise of spring.  People were happy, enjoying themselves and certainly drinking their fair share of guinness, but I had assumed it would be much more like New Orleans.  It wasn't, or at least not the part I saw.  Everyone was lively, friendly and just as thrilled to be in Dublin as we were.  Most people in Dublin were tourists, as we heard more American accents than we heard Irish, but the locals were welcoming and glad we were there to celebrate.  Cindy likened it to DisneyLand, as where else in the world can you see adults walking up and down the streets, smiling and wearing funny outfits.

I've decided that I really do love the Irish, be it Northern Ireland or Ireland, there is something loveable about them.  I love the stories they tell, their superstitions, their hospitality, their traditions and their general cheerfulness and merry-making.  The Irish I came in touch with this weekend only enhanced my views of this lovely group of people from greenest part of the world.

Cindy, being an enthusiastic Kindergarten teacher, had done some research on things to do in Dublin and found the perfect place for two elementary teachers: the National Leprechaun Museum.  Saturday morning, after a delicious breakfast, we set off in search of the little people.  Our guide through the museum was young, energetic, friendly and enthusiastic.  There are lots of myths and legends from this great island, but most of them are dark and grim.  She told us that when the stories of the leprechauns first came out, they quickly became popular because there were some of the few stories that didn't end with "and then they all died."  The stories spread like wildfire through the pubs and around the fireplaces and were quickly a part of Ireland's history.

The original leprechauns, living underground, usually wore brown, but as the stories continued, the Irish felt the leprechauns would wear green, their national color.  Leprechauns are said to be very wealthy, but incredibly stingy.  They make their money by repairing shoes for the fairies, and as we all of course know, the fairies often dance the night away, so the leprechauns are kept quite busy.  They live under ground often in a hole or under a toadstool and of course they hide their pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

Being a leprechaun museum, you can only imagine how wonderfully corny it was!  We started by walking underneath the Giant's Causeway into the realm of the giants so that we could feel what it was like to be the size of leprechauns.  Chairs, tables and even a fireplace were three times too large for us, but it didn't take long for the group of adults we were with to climb on the chairs and reach for the tables.  We even got a chance to walk through a rainbow (cleverly done with rows of string matching the colors of the rainbow) to the pot of gold at the end.  We heard stories about the fairies, who as it turns out are not actually nice and often put evil curses on your home if you disturbed them.  Our lovely guide, Eleanor, finished her stories telling us that of course she knew these weren't real, but she, like the rest of the Irish would never cut down a fairy tree (often found in a field standing alone) just in case.  We made a wish in the wishing well and took silly pictures throughout.  It was great fun and a wonderful way to start our Irish day!

Herman fit right in!

Leprechauns! 

We walked the streets of Dublin, noticing all of the wonderful decorations and signs of festivities before stopping at the river to watch the first of many boat races that occurred that day as part of the celebrations.  We walked through the beautiful campus of Trinity College, dotted with daffodils and statues of famous Irish scholars.  There was a long "Q," as it was written, for something called the Book of Kells.  Cindy and I both sort of recognized it and decided with such a long queue, surely it was important.  The line moved quickly and we were soon able to see an illuminated manuscript of the Gospel from the 800s.  It was pretty remarkable to think of someone putting so much detail into such an incredible piece of work and how in tact it still was.  Cindy had also found a walking tour of the city based on St. Patrick, so we joined in to learn what we could about this famous man.

Inside St. Patrick's

St. Patrick was born in the late 300s and died in the mid 400s, so much that survives about him is legend.  He is said to have banished all of the snakes from Ireland (there are no snakes there), but it seems what he did more of was banishing the pagans.  St. Patrick was actually born to a Roman middle-class family in England.  He was captured and taken to Ireland where he became a slave, working as a shepherd.  He led this solitary life for 15-20 years, and it is thought that during this time when he had few to talk to besides the sheep, that he began praying to God.  He eventually went back to England, studied the ministry and then went to Ireland to convert the pagans.  It is believed that he first preached to the lords and nobles who forced their clans to then convert, so Christianity spread quickly.  St. Patrick used the shamrock to teach about the trinity, but the color associated with him is actually a light blue.  (At the boat race, I was quite confused when the announcer said something about the team wearing St. Patrick's blue.)

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Our tour led us around the city, through the area of Dublin Castle, to Christ Church and then on to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Dublin of course would have been very different 1700 years ago, so they don't know many places where he may have been, but outside the cathedral is a well where it is said he baptized people.

 After our tour, Cindy and I took advantage of some street performances, a street festival and some shopping for tacky Irish things - of which we each purchased lovely little hats!

Looking for dinner spots, we decided nothing but a true pub dinner would suit us on the eve of St. Patrick's Day!  Unfortunately, I don't like guinness, so I surpassed a guinness and enjoyed instead an Irish cider and a guinness and steak pie - the perfect Irish meal before setting off on our ghost tour!

We met another energetic and theatrical young story teller in our guide for the evening.  She took us to several spots around town and told us bits of history intertwined with stories of ghosts that now haunt the area.  I enjoyed the story telling bit without an ounce of fear in me until we went behind a locked gate...  On our walking tour earlier on in the day, we had passed the gate in the wall of the city dating back to the 1200s.  This gate was a big wrought-iron gate with a lock and chain on it, so I hadn't thought much of it, until our guide, in the dark and cold, led us behind the locked gate.  Personally, the eerie squeaking of the old iron was enough to send a chill up my spine.  The stories she told us of the ghosts that haunted these places felt incredibly real, but I'm not sure the shivers I felt were because of the ghosts or the sub-freezing temperatures.  She took us behind two more gates up into the church yard, and with each new gate, the stories seemed to grow darker and more real.

The gate by day!

Cindy and I had trouble feeling our toes, so it was evident that home and a warm bed were in our near future, but we couldn't help but walk by some of the beautiful buildings, including the cathedrals, that were all lit up in green lights for the celebrations.

Christ Church Cathedral

On St. Patrick's Day, Cindy and I again had a glorious breakfast before heading out to face the combination of snow and rain that was falling from the sky.  We got to the start of the parade route and when we found that there was no one yet in line for it, we decided a cup of hot chocolate and a "second breakfast" was just fine.  The place, as expected was very crowded, so we ended up sharing the table with two lovely young women who were marching in the parade that day.  A few years ago, they had won medals in the Special Olympics; they even let us see their medals!  How cool!  I enjoyed my green cupcake and we sipped our hot chocolate slowly before heading back out to face the cold.  

We were right at the starting line for the People's Parade.  The People's Parade is just that, it is a parade where groups of people may sign up to walk and participate.  There were no floats, just people dressed up celebrating the day and their own culture.  Many countries were represented, showing their Irish connections and there was even a large group of people wearing "Kiss Me, I'm a Texan" shirts.  People watching was incredible!  Most people were wearing green, but some went all out with some other creativity in order to stand out.

Unfortunately, when I booked our flight tickets, I had really only thought about the fact that I knew I'd have school work to do and I didn't want to get home too late, so we only got to see the very beginning of the real parade.  I was very upset with myself, but didn't want it to throw a damper on a great weekend.  We raced off to the airport and made it in time to sit at our gate for a bit where they had on a TV showing the parade.  I really had no idea how large the parade was.  It went on for at least two hours and rivaled Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade - without the large balloons.  There were floats, crazy figurines, kids dressed up and dancing, and even US marching bands.  I was shocked to look on the TV and see the UAB (my local university!) marching band marching through the streets of Dublin!  What a treat, but it only made me kick myself more!  Although being in the airport watching the parade, we did get to enjoy better views and those little joys in life like being able to feel your toes.

I had always wanted to be part of the celebration in Ireland, and I have no doubt that I will never forget being there to celebrate!  It was an incredible, green weekend!