I am a giant leprechaun!

I almost forgot to post about St. Patrick's Day!  So here I am, albeit a few days late.

I'm a European mutt, but the majority of my ethnic heritage is Celtic - mostly Irish, but also Scottish, English, and French (the French, plus much of my German heritage, is from Alsace-Lorraine).

Funny story about my heritage, actually.  My last name is considered a tribe from Northern Ireland, but it's actually Scottish in origin (or possibly Saxon English - the origin is disputed).  The clan originally live in Britain, where they were "Reivers," a raiding clan along the Scottish/English border.  They were later ceded land in northern Ireland by the king.

Many pagans choose not to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, or they choose to mourn/honor the "snakes" (Irish pagans) that were "driven out" (probably killed) by St. Patrick's crusade to Christianize Ireland.  There's a good breakdown of the issues with St. Patrick's Day over at the Domestic Pagan and PaganCentric.  I've never been much for the ridiculous trend of making all sorts of unnaturally green food and adorning everything with leprechauns and shamrocks. 

Seriously, green beer should be outlawed.  It's a crime against hard-working real beer everywhere.

When I was growing up, my mom would make roast pork butt (it's the butt of the shoulder, for those wondering why I would eat a pig's ass) with cabbage and potatoes.  I also made potatoes colcannon a few years ago.  I wanted to make it again this year but did not have the time to go to the store to buy the needed ingredients. 

My ancestors/heritage are really important to me on both a personal and a spiritual level, and I've found it problematic to ignore a day that celebrates my heritage.  So this year, I decided that from now on I would honor both my Irish heritage and my pagan heritage on St. Paddy's Day.  So Friday night I wore my shamrock earrings for my Irish ancestors, a snake armband for my pagan community, and had a couple of (real) beers for both.  Okay, and some green pie too.  But it's lime pie, so it's supposed to be green, so it's okay.  And so tasty.

I hope everyone had a wonderful St. Paddy's Day, whether you celebrated it or not.  Now go have a good Irish beer, and if you like, raise a toast to your ancestors.  Slainte!

Now that's more like it.  Best beer in the world!