American Melting Pot
I’d have to sit down with graph paper to figure out how Irish I am. Mostly, I’m English and various German ethnicities. I’ve told my daughter it’s not so much a melting pot, as it is a stew because parts are recognizable. My dad, aka The Puritan, had a grandmother whose family came from Cork, Ireland. I think a couple of traits were passed down. He really enjoyed horseracing, and liked going to the track. Also, he had black hair and hazel eyes, which I consider “Black Irish” coloring (think of Enya) But when we went to church (rarely) it was always Protestant. On the other side, my grandmother, whose maiden name was Daugherty, preferred the Baptist church. Hmmm- she was also partly German- and there were lots of Baptist groups from Germany. My mom, the legendary cook, could whip up some fine corned beef and cabbage. But she was no red haired colleen. In fact, to me, she always looked like she could be Johnny Cash’s sister- dark, and partly Native American.
Speaking of corned beef- if you remember Jiggs and Maggie, you’re at least as old as me! I liked their comic strip. http://www.toonopedia.com/jiggs.htm The premise was he was an Irish American who’d come into money, and his newly rich wife didn’t like it when he’d sneak off to have corned beef and cabbage with his buddies. I’ve seen “Jiggs’ Dinners” advertised in the paper now and then. Wonder how many people understand the reference these days?
I think religious folks need to rename the holiday coming next Sunday. I think it should be listed on the calendar as “Resurrection Sunday” I’ll tell you why. Most of us know that Easter is the observance of the old Roman holiday for Spring. No problem with that. I love Spring. People all over the world have a Spring Festival. As it happens, Passover and The Passion of Jesus happened in the spring.
Some Christian people get concerned that the message of their faith is lost in the avalanche of baskets, bunnies and chicks. The thing I find personally disturbing is now and then in the candy department I see chocolate crosses. Ewwww. I don’t quite recall how I handled this when the Duchess was little. At school, everything was secular and Springy. Then we’d go to church, with Holy Week darkness and come Sunday sing parts of Handel’s Messiah.
I used to be the “flower coordinator” back in the days I still went to church regularly. (think of me as a lapsed “English/German/Irish/etc.” Presbyterian- but far as I know, not a bit Scottish!) I’d be responsible for getting all those lilies out of the church. 
I didn’t feel much like a helping servant doing it either. Oy! Hey, if you ever donate flowers or lilies at your church, take them home and enjoy them. It’s hard to convince a person in a nursing home that they’d enjoy a wilting lily three days after Easter!
But I digress. Pirate Mike and I listened to this group, “The High Kings” for the first time a few days ago. He enjoyed them; usually he doesn’t like Celtic music. They remind me of the Kingston Trio- nice!
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March 18th, 2008 at 8:32 am
I’m descended from Scottish atheists and Irish Protestants, so I appreciate your confusion. One of my uncles had black hair and violet eyes, which I always think of as ‘black Irish’ but you could be right. But mostly I wanted to tell you about a remark in one of Lewis Grassic Gibbons’ novels, probably Sunset Song, where one of the Protestant characters makes a jibe about the Catholic church being ‘all done up like a grocers’ calendar’. Love it. And I’m with you on chocolate crosses, eeeuw.