St. Patrick’s Day is widely known as a day to get drunk, wear a “kiss me, I’m Irish” shirt even if you’re not Irish, and put green food dye into literally anything you can find.
The traditional elementary school “green eggs and ham” celebrations are usually followed by reveling in the surprisingly delicious green shamrock cookies from Stop & Shop.
As an Irish girl myself, I obviously follow the latter trends, but St. Patrick’s Day means a little bit more to me.
With the last name Dunnigan, and cousins sporting the surname Crighton, O’Callaghan and O’Connor, my Irish heritage implies that I love St. Patrick’s Day. Although this is true, I am not a fan just because of my Irish background, which was actually surprisingly low, according to the ancestry.com test I took.
St. Patrick’s Day in my house means a series of exciting events, where I get to mingle with family and friends as my dad and I obnoxiously pretend we have Irish accents. The celebrations usually begin a few days earlier when my sister and I start playing “Irish pub” and “St. Patrick’s Day” radio on Pandora. We’ll probably throw in some odd leg movements and jumps in an attempt to Irish step dance, which I did for about two weeks when I was younger until I quit after I was told I needed to wear a dress and a wig. (The huge tomboy I was at the time was not a fan.)
When I think of St. Patrick’s Day, the Hibernian Hall (Hibs) in Lynn and the Friendly Knights of St. Patrick come to mind. Bill McDonald, president of The Friendly Knights of St. Patrick, hosts an annual dinner to raise money for scholarships for Lynn students, which is an event that my father looks forward to and has never missed.
The Hibs also host an annual St. Patrick’s dinner where they honor the Irishman of the Year with a traditional corned beef and cabbage meal followed by a performance from Irish step dancers — don’t worry it’s not my sister and me; these ones are actually good.
And then there is of course the annual Hibernian 5k recovery run on the Sunday after St. Patrick’s Day, which if we’re being honest, I never actually run in. This is one of those events where I sign up to participate in every year but sleep in and show up after the race to drink and eat, but I do get a shirt so it’s not a total loss.
These are some events that I automatically associate with St. Patrick’s Day and that make this green and orange, bagpipe-filled day a little more special.
This year’s celebrations, however, will look very different. It has saddened me seeing what the world has gone through in the last year, and although many may think that sacrificing big events like St. Patrick’s Day celebrations to err on the side of caution aren’t that big of a deal, it means a great deal to a lot of people.
The scholarships for Lynn kids rely on these events and dinners to raise more money, while attendees look forward to celebrations like this to catch up and highlight all of the greatness that the residents of Lynn bring to the table. Times like these are when the city comes together and people realize how much they look forward to these few hours each year.
This year’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration will be more lowkey, restricting myself to my home where my mom will make some Irish stew while we listen to Irish jigs and I will, of course, indulge in some $5 Guinness while I pretend I am in Dublin for the day.
For those of you who are on Tréa’s side and dread this Gaelic celebration, I challenge you to listen to Irish folk music for a couple of minutes and try not to sing along while you dance in your chair.
If it is safe to do so, next year’s celebrations will be some of the best, as people yearn to return to socialization and some type of normalcy. Heck, I might even go all out and win that 5k and dedicate it to all the St. Patrick’s Day haters.
As I write this, with Celtic women playing in the back, I wish you all good health and luck on this St. Patrick’s Day, and hope to see you with a pint in your hand at the Hibs next year.
Allysha Dunnigan can be reached at [email protected].
