Related: Celebrating Thanksgiving & Halloween
Part of being abroad, no matter where you are is holding onto your traditions. It wasn’t until last weekend that I realized how much I love St. Paddy’s Day, reflecting on what I would be doing and how I would be dressing if I were back home. How excited I get about it and all the memories through the years of celebrating it with family. It’s up there with Christmas, Thanksgiving (Which I will also have to reinvent in Sweden), and Easter. Things like traditions and holidays are different in different countries and while I have celebrated three Christmas’ and one (going on two) Easters, this was the most different.
Saint Paddy’s Day has always been one of those traditions that I cherish. Not for the pub crawls or the partying, but for the flood of green, the unique sound of bagpipes, strings of necklace shamrocks, and pinching those who weren’t in the spirit! Eating corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and soda bread with my dad. I’ve always been a sucker for soda bread. I get to brag about being half Irish and people who aren’t Irish pretend to be. Introducing my hubby to the hysteria of St. Paddy’s day in NYC last year is something I won’t forget. It was the first time I’ve been to the parade, even if I am dressed for the occasion every year with green from head to toe.
This year there was no parade (For us. There is one in Stockholm I believe). When we went to the stores to buy our drinks and food I didn’t notice anything special in the air or more green on the street. I didn’t even pack my green pants, whats a girl to do!? (or my green eye shadow, nail polish, hat, socks…) I still represented with whatever green I could find. We drank Irish whiskey and bought Irish beer. I made soda bread (For the first time ever) and I cooked the traditional Irish meal of corned beef and cabbage. Sort of. Corned beef isn’t so easy to find in Sweden, but my wonderful husband found the canned substitute that tasted close enough if you ignored the texture. It all came together and we celebrated the best we could.
Lets compare.
Some photos from last year:
This year:
Mostly I wanted to show off my soda bread.
I went from always Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day to Creating it. I’m pretty happy with that, it will get better each year!
Happy Spring!!