Guest Column

0
732

 

St Patrick’s Day

by Susan Jacob
by Susan Jacob

 

 

A leprechaun always visited our house on St. Patrick’s Day. This holiday is celebrated by the Irish, honoring Saint Patrick for running all the snakes out of Ireland, an island that had no snakes to begin with. One might say the Irish may experience a bit of “March madness.”

I explained to my children that the visit of leprechauns was likely due to the fact that we were a wee bit Irish. My great grandmother, Nellie Doyle, immigrated to America from Ireland and likely was accompanied by one or more of those mischievous little fellows.

The wee leprechaun has been known to sneak around and perform a variety of tricks. Their favorite is to turn all manner of things green, scrambled eggs, bagels and even bubble bath turned kelly green. The pots of gold we have found have always been made up of gold foil covered chocolates, very much golden in our family.

In later years my daughters rolled their eyes accusing me of being the leprechaun. It is true that I am short, prefer wearing green and may be mischievous. Later this theory was disproved when the wee leprechauns made their way to my daughter’s homes, baffling my grandsons.

My eldest grandson, also interested in all things green, and is himself mischievous, became obsessed each St Patrick’s Day with capturing a leprechaun. Each year he lays out increasingly elebratote traps to outwit the wee trickster. Thus far he has been able to capture a tiny green hat, a boot and always, of course, a pot of small gold chocolate coins.

Mother described her grandmother, Nellie, as having unusual habits; my tiny red headed great grandmother strode about in high button shoes, long flowing green coats and often wore extraordinary flowered hats. She insisted that food was best enjoyed if you did not partake of any for a few days prior to the meal. This may have been a perception developed as a result of the Irish potato famine and of course my mother was a girl during the Great Depression. Nonetheless, it is true.

Great Grandmother Nellie along with her husband was a wildlife conservationist. They are reported to have snatched hats from ladies riding the St. Louis trolley cars. Women of her time often sported dead birds as hat decorations, a style that decreased the bird population by thousands.

On one occasion when mother was a little girl, her Grandmother Nellie came to tea accompanied by a duck. She and the duck stayed for tea and then the two of them departed without a word of introduction or explanation of who her friend might be or why he visited. I am sure he was glad to not be on her hat.

When I was fortunate enough to visit Ireland, a place where the folks looked a great deal like me, I asked if it might be known where the Doyle clan once resided.

“Oh well, my dear, your family the Doyles’ are known to come from the town of Blarney in County Cork. Don’t you know? That very spot has a famous castle, you must have heard, it contains the Blarney Stone. ”

I felt compelled to visit Blarney and kiss that famous stone. I hoped to meet some leprechauns so I might assure them they would be welcome for generations to come. I am not quite sure to this day if Nellie brought leprechauns or bred them.

 

 

Share this:

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here