Raise your hand if you think that the sole purpose of St. Patrick’s Day is to officially commemorate the patron saint of hops and barley? Hmmm, that’s kind of what I thought. While a patron saint is definitely at the heart of this yearly holiday, the fifth-century British-born Patrick had nothing to do with the creation or quaffing of brewsky. Known well for his efforts to convert countless Irish pagans to Christianity, March 17th is actually the occasion of St. Patrick’s death (back in 492) and has long been a religious event that the Irish government marked by closing pubs once yearly for 24 long hours at a time. Knowing how fond people in that culture are of their spirits, the imposed dry spell was apparently far too much to bear because the law was revoked and today, Irish revelers are encouraged to raise many a glass (as well as many a plate of food) to Patrick for a life well lived.
As far as the wearing of the green is concerned, there’s a perfectly good reason involving nothing more than a simple shamrock plant (which happens to be the Irish government’s registered trademark). While addressing pre-Christian Irish citizens, Patrick was able to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity to them by drawing a parallel to the three-leafed plant, and the rest as they say is history. The term “wearing of the green” is also the title of a 1798 Irish street ballad of repression penned by Dion Boucicault during a time when people were beginning to embrace the concept of independence and rebellion. By daring to wear green, which was deemed by the British to be an act of separatism, Irish citizens were risking life and limb (and potential hanging) by announcing their loyalty to their homeland.
Our modern day appreciation of St. Patrick has certainly strayed quite far from its original intent – in fact, nothing speaks more about how far we’ve become derailed than our current consumerist nature. With each passing year, the selection of cheap, throwaway trinkets available to purchase continues to expand. We gamely clutter our lives with all things green, including blow-up lawn ornaments (!), infinite cutesy plastic novelty items and more landfill-bound junk than you can shake a shamrock at. While everyone should be allowed to have fun and make the day stand out, there’s always a better way to achieve an equally festive effect with far less of an out-of-pocket investment. Perhaps the very best way to embrace the green spirit of St. Patrick’s Day is to use your creativity before you use your wallet by trying out one or many of these ideas:
1. Cook At Home Instead Of Eating Your Irish Feast At a Restaurant.
Here are 25 different St. Patrick’s Day-themed recipes that should get you in the mood, many of which call for very affordable ingredients. If you’re not the most skilled cook in the kitchen, then pull out your crock pot for a dump-and-go process that will yield a homey, tasty and surprisingly low-energy feast. For the most impact with the least personal time/financial investment, you might just want to assemble your friends together for a potluck dinner, which will be fun, festive, and the best part of all is that the heat will be taken off the host since guests will be expected to chip in their own edible contributions.
Incorporating organic ingredients into your recipes will also step up the green level of your celebration, but if your budget prevents you from doing so, at least earmark a little bit of ka-ching toward organic meat that you can find in the clearance section or via coupons coupled with special sales. Another sound step is to thoroughly rinse off any conventional produce you may purchase using this simple yet effective recipe: Pour 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of baking soda and 1 cup of water into a spray bottle and shake briskly until thoroughly incorporated. Spray the mixture on produce, allowing it to sit for several minutes, and then scrub with a brush (or rub with your hand), finally rinsing with fresh water. An equally effective recipe is just mixing ½ cup of white vinegar and ½ cup of water in a spray bottle and then applying it to produce, scrubbing it into the vegetable peels with a brush (or rubbing it with your hand) and then rinsing with fresh water.
2. Get Resourceful With Your Decorations.
You don’t have to set foot in a store at ALL this season in order to green up your halls – just think about how to temporarily repurpose what you already own instead or incorporate a few fresh touches that you may not have considered before with very minimal expense. Remember those LED lights that you used during the holiday season? Pull out your white strands and anchor them around the perimeter of your dining room table – yay, you’ve created an instant “party vibe”! If you want them to cast a green glow and/or be more of the focal point of a room, give them a DIY fairy light makeover courtesy of this simple tutorial. Got any green plastic detergent bottles sitting in your recycling bin? Trace and cut shamrock patterns out of them for instant décor possibilities, or do the same thing with green-colored cereal/cookie boxes (Girl Scout Cookies, anyone?). Another cool idea is to transform a few old green t-shirts into a reusable fabric garland that you can customize to your heart’s content. If you’d like a living (edible) centerpiece, germinate micro green seeds (which are basically just assorted mustard, cress, radish and other nutrient-dense sprouts) in a shallow rectangular pot indoors and then leave a pair of kitchen shears next to the pot so that guests can harvest exactly what they want for their St. Patrick’s Day meal.
3. Imbibe Wisely.
While it may be tempting to enjoy Irish spirits such as Harp or Guinness Draught in honor of this occasion, they have some serious traveling miles attached to them (which kind of defeats the purpose of trying to green your celebration in the first place). The far more eco-friendly choice would be to purchase a keg of your favorite imported brew (less packaging overall) or if you have a large crowd joining you, at least try to source your suds as locally as possible, preferably straight from the tap. Of course, that’s not ideal when the party’s happening at your place, so think about micro crafted brews instead or make sure you support brands such as Brooklyn Brewery, Sierra Nevada, New Belgium Brewing Company and Cascade Green, all of which power their brewing efforts via a combination of solar and wind-generated electricity. No matter how blotto you end up getting, make sure that prior to your inebriated state, you take the time to set out a huge container for your guests that is clearly marked “deposit your empties right here” for the greenest impact possible.
4. Tint Your Brewsky With Natural Dye!
Did you realize that well over 90% of artificial food colorings are derived from coal tar? If you like the idea of bumping up the festive factor of your party by tinting guests’ libations green, seriously consider steering clear of petrochemical and hydrocarbon-derived artificial food coloring (like Green #3) because it’s believed to trigger migraine headaches and anxiety as well as far more serious health complications such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and cancerous bladder tumors. There are natural alternatives available at select retailers, whether via Chefmaster Natural Coloring, India Tree, Nature’s Flavors or Seelect Tea. If you’re really ambitious, you can always opt to brew your own St. Patrick’s Day-inspired “beer tint” by using one of the following basic ingredients: spinach, matcha green tea powder, pandan leaves, liquid chlorophyll, chlorella or spirulina (derived from algae), most of which can be purchased quite readily at a local health food store. Just remember that whatever green base you use, it can impart quite an interesting range of colors within the green spectrum, so be prepared to embrace your inner leprechaun! Hey, you might even end up boosting the nutritional factor of your brew!
Linda Lucille
said on March 11, 2010