St. Patrick’s Day observes of the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. The holiday has evolved into a celebration of Irish culture with parades, special foods, music, dancing, drinking and a whole lot of green.
I'm not Irish but I do have many friends of Irish heritage. One dear friend, Bob O'Connor, grew up in Hell's Kitchen back in the days when it was a tough neighborhood. His dad was a butcher, had his own shop, and the family of seven lived above the butcher shop. Bob loved New York City and he knew how much I loved NYC. At times when we visited the city, he would take time to give us the personal O'Connor tour. Other times he sent itineraries of places to go. He was proud of his Irish heritage and one of the many suggestions he gave us was to visit the Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in the Nolita (North of Little Italy) neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. One year we were in NYC on St. Patrick's Day so we started out the day watching the St. Patrick's Day parade, found the footprint of the Five Points neighborhood (the Gangs of New York movie was based on this area), went to the old St. Patrick's, the Irish Hunger Memorial, and to the Dead Rabbit Pub for the best Irish coffee in NYC. (The Dead Rabbits were one of the gangs in Gangs of New York). Today is not the anniversary of Bobby O's death but we today celebrate the joy of friendship with him.
 |
| A perpetual shamrock in an alley in Columbus, OH |
 |
| May yor blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go. ~ Irish Blessing |
 |
| Speak, share and spread your truth. St. Patrick did. |
 |
| IYKYK (If you know, you know) |
No comments:
Post a Comment