On Wednesday, March 17, a very green holiday will be celebrated, and that is St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday that may have been overshadowed last year because of the sudden lockdowns from the pandemic. This year, even though we are still in the purple tier, we have gained some knowledge on how to celebrate holidays at home, safely. 

St. Patrick’s Day is usually seen as the holiday to wear green, go to parades, and go out to the bars and celebrate with friends. Many people within our community are sharing how they celebrate their traditions without needing to go out. 

Traditional meals and meals with a green twist
Jennifer Smith, a member of the community, shares the meals her family has on that day. 

“When the kids were growing up on St. Patty’s Day, we’d use green food dye. We would make green eggs and ham for breakfast and sometimes green pancakes as well.” 

She continued on to discuss their dinner, “We make corned beef, usually from the bag since it comes with the pickled spices. We then would add on additional seasoning and usually onion, whether it was diced, powder, or rings on top of it. Then we would have potatoes, carrots, and cabbage on the side.”

Smith made sure to note that the corned beef would take about 8 to 10 hours so that it would come out tender and juicy. Smith is not the only one who has corned beef on this day. 

Dahlia Hood, an Art History alumni shares, “For St. Patrick’s Day my grandma usually made us corned beef and cabbage with mashed potatoes and we just had dinner together.” She then continued, “Since she’s not here anymore my parents took over the tradition and are going to make it.”

While corned beef is a traditional Irish-American meal, Renae Hayden, my mother, changed up the tradition a bit. 

“We always talked about making an Irish stew, but we’ve made pigs in a blanket. Which is meat with rice wrapped up in green cabbage.”

The meal Hayden talked about is essentially corned beef stuffed cabbage rolls without carrots added to the cabbage.

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with a drink!

The pubs are usually filled every year on this holiday, so why not stay at home and safely have drinks with family and friends?

Hayden explains, “We just have fun together as a family. As we’ve gotten older and the kids have been able to drink, my husband decided to make a taste off with five different Irish whiskeys.”

She explained that they put different brands of Irish whiskey into clear plastic shot glasses that all had the same color. The game was to see if you could guess the whiskey correctly and gave out small gift cards or money as a reward for the winner. 

Another festive twist is changing your beverage’s color.

Smith states, “You can definitely pick up some beers and dye it green. If you aren’t a big beer person, you could also dye a white wine. If you have kids, you can dye 7up or milk.”

Of course, for those who do not celebrate it extensively, it can be a simple day as well. Hood is one of the individuals that will be taking it easy this year. 

“I’ll probably buy some alcohol and drink it at home with [my significant other] Noey. We’ll also probably sit and watch movies too.”

For the little ones
St. Patrick’s day can also be fun for the little ones. 
Hayden states, “We would make a little box, like a little treasure chest. It had gold trim, and green satin. Then we grabbed sticks from outside and sprinkled it with gold glitter as a way to lure in leprechauns.”

Smith and Hayden both stated that it would be treated like any other holiday celebration with board games, movies, and even pinching each other if they forgot to wear green. 

This Wednesday is St. Patrick’s Day. Don’t forget to don your green clothing to stay safe from the leprechauns!