May the Road Rise to Meet You: St. Patrick’s Day and Irish-American Heritage Month
Sláinte! Cheers to St. Patrick and to Irish-American Heritage Month!
Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit! Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you! St. Patrick’s Day is an important holiday in Ireland (both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland), but it has historically been a solemn occasion - the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. St. Patrick was a 5th century missionary who is credited with spreading Christianity throughout the previously pagan Ireland. Since its establishment by the Catholic Church in 1631, St. Patrick’s Day activities included morning Mass and a family meal. No parties, no corned beef and cabbage, no parades, and most definitely no green beer. How did it evolve into the raucous, secular, green celebration that it is today? Let’s look at the potato…
Though the potato was not native to Ireland (it is native to the Peruvian highlands), once it arrived in Ireland in the 16th century, it was quickly adopted across the country as a cheap, hardy, nutritious food source. It became the staple food of Irish peasants, who made up the majority of the Irish population. Potatoes mashed with a small amount of buttermilk commonly comprised an entire day’s food. Irish peasants consumed between eight and fourteen pounds of potatoes per day, with potatoes accounting for nearly eighty percent of their caloric intake! This total reliance on the potato meant that the Irish diet was highly vulnerable to agricultural threats, and indeed, in 1845, a fungal infection led to three years of failed potato crops. This was the Great Famine, and the Irish people suffered immensely - between 1845 and 1852, over one million people died of starvation and illness, and an additional 2.1 million emigrated. This poignant exodus built one of the biggest diasporas in the world; today, there are more people of Irish ancestry living abroad than there are in Ireland. Almost 1 in 10 Americans (31.5 million) claim Irish ancestry (per the 2020 census). The millions of Irish immigrants who arrived in America over the last 200 years brought their traditions and sensibilities with them, often combined with a longing for their homeland. They settled in Irish enclaves in big cities, and celebrated their heritage. They were often discriminated against, and found a defiant solidarity in their underdog status. Eventually, discrimination was directed at new immigrant groups, but Irish Americans continued to cultivate and celebrate all things Irish. Thus were born the parades, feasts, and parties of St. Patrick’s Day. Even corned beef and cabbage - that quintessential St. Paddy’s dish - was born out of necessity as 19th century Irish American immigrants looked to cook with the cheapest meat they could find (which was salted beef from trade ships). Today, Irish Americans many generations removed still find great solidarity and pride in their Irish heritage (Like me! Three generations removed, but raised with big Irish American pride! My great grandfather immigrated to western Ohio, where he was an undertaker known to all as Black Mike. The lore around the family knows no bounds, and it frequently ties back to ancestors in Ireland.).
Today, Ireland hosts an enormous St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Dublin, and the celebration includes some of these distinctly Irish American traditions like corned beef and all things green (blue was originally the color associated with St. Patrick’s feast day!).
Irish immigrants came to southeast Michigan in the early 1800s - many of them settled in Detroit, and many settled around southeast Michigan (including in Ypsilanti), finding work in the lumberyards, the mines, the paper mills, and in agriculture. The Irish Hills region to the southwest was so named because of the Irish immigrants who settled there between 1830 and 1850.
This St. Patrick’s Day, see if you can track down some traditional Irish music (there is definitely some playing in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor!); try some corned beef and cabbage, or Irish stew, or shepherd’s pie; raise a pint of Guinness or Harp’s Lager (or a cup of tea if that’s your… cup of tea). Sláinte! As the traditional blessing goes: May the road rise beneath you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, may the rains fall soft upon your fields, and until we one day meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.
We have cooking classes here at The Newton of Ypsilanti - Chef Allison would love to teach you how to bake the most delicious Irish soda bread, mash up the silkiest colcannon, roast the most tender corned beef, and bake the heartiest shepherd’s pie! Stay for the weekend and alternate a cooking class with some gorgeous chef-made meals! We can’t wait to meet you :)
Check out the White House’s 2023 Proclamation of Irish-American Heritage Month
