It’s time to shake the dust off your leprechaun headgear, order in the Guinness and Bushmills and prepare for some craic on St. Paddy’s Day.
There are only four million bona fide Irish citizens on the planet but many more will become honorary ones on Thursday, March 17 to celebrate a man who in the fifth century at the age of 16 was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Great Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland. Patrick escaped but later returned to Northern Ireland to become a missionary and cleric, rising to the rank of bishop. Within two centuries of his death, his reputation had soared to such an extent that he was widely known as the ”Apostle of Ireland.”
Many glasses will be raised to Ireland’s patron saint next week, but in all truthfulness the religious aspect of the celebration has all but vanished. (Some 90 percent of Irish citizens profess to being Catholic but less than 30 percent admit they ever go to church.)
Local events
Notwithstanding the large number of U.S. and Canadian expatriates in this region of Mexico, the native population has gradually embraced St. Paddy’s Day over the last decade (never waste an opportunity to party, as the Tapatio saying goes). Bars in metro-area Guadalajara will deck themselves out in shamrock green for the occasion in anticipation of larger-than-usual crowds. Some taprooms with an Irish “connection” will go further. Old Temple’s Bar on Lopez Cotilla will feature a live show from Irish Dancing de Mexico and special dishes on both March 17 and 18 (reservations at 33-3630-6336). The not-long opened McCarthy’s Bar in Plaza Galerias will be rocking with live music, promotions and prizes for costumes, bar staff say. This chain (also in Mexico City, Cancun, Merida, Ciudad Juarez, Puebla and other cities) offers a wide range of botanas and main dishes, plus beers from Belgium, England, Germany, the United States, Czech Republic, Cuba, Argentina and Mexico. Be brave and try the McCarthy’s Irish Clover (Guinness, Jameson and Bailey’s) for 140 pesos.
There are also various options to get out and wear the green at Lakeside (see item below).
Booze
Those who prefer to mark the occasion from the comfort of their homes can find the famous “black stuff” at most supermarkets (draught Guinness 440ml cans retail for 40 pesos at Walmart). Irish whiskey is available at Europea and La Playa stores in Guadalajara and Vinos America, La Playa and Licoreria La Paz in Ajijic. Bottles of Jameson and Tullamore Dew (750ml) triple distilled will set you back around 300 pesos. The more upmarket Bushmills Black Bush goes for 490 pesos. And if you can’t be bothered to create your own Irish coffee concoction, you can pick up a one-liter bottle of Bailey’s for around 335 pesos, or 700ml of Brogans Irish Cream for 198 pesos.
Food
For a meal fit to warm the cockles of anyone’s heart, get into the kitchen and rustle up an Irish stew (preferably with lamb, not beef), a dish of corned beef and cabbage or why not look up a recipe for boxty (a traditional Irish potato pancake). Raw corned beef is hard to find in Guadalajara but Tony’s Meat Market in Ajijic has a plentiful supply at 150 pesos a kilo. For chefs who don’t want the hassle of cooking corned beef, bacon with cabbage is a good – and arguably more authentic – substitute.
Music
Nostalgia usually predominates at St. Paddy’s Day shindigs, and musical inspiration is easy find at the click of a mouse. Get on YouTube to see The Dubliners versions of “The Irish Rover” and “Molly Mallone,” or those stalwart Irish crooners, Andy Williams, Bing Crosby and Johnny Cash, interpreting the classic “Danny Boy.” (For the sweetest voice you have ever heard, look up the version by the late Eva Cassidy.) And to really get into the spirit of the day, check out The Corrigan Brothers’ now-famous eulogy: “There’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama.”
History & Movies
Mexico’s friendly relationship with Ireland is often traced back to the middle of the 19th century and the formation of the Saint Patrick’s Battalion. During the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-48, some 170 Irish immigrant soldiers defected from the U.S. Army to fight on the side of the Mexico. Their sacrifice is consistently honored in Mexico with monuments and homages, although the episode is barely ever mentioned in military circles north of the border.
To get some idea of these historical events, Netflix subscribers can currently see the feature film “One Man’s Hero,” with Tom Beringer playing battalion leader John Riley. The movie, however, was given a thumbs down by critics (scores 6.2 on IMDB) but is still worth a viewing. For more rigorous historical context, pick up a copy of Guadalajara resident Michael Hogan’s excellent tome, “The Irish Soldiers of Mexico,” available at the Sandi Bookstore in the Chapalita neighborhood (check).
Netflix viewers keen for a stronger dose of Irish sentimentality might watch “Once,” a modern-day musical and love story about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week in Dublin, or “A Shine of Rainbows,” telling the story of a lonely orphan whose life is transformed by an extraordinary woman who teaches him to conquer grief. For laughs, Netflix also offers “Waking Ned Divine,” delightful romp about a lottery winner who dies of shock and a townsfolk’s attempt to claim the money, and “Life’s a Breeze,” the story of a family as they search for a lost fortune around the streets of Dublin. For grittier fare, consider the Irish thrillers “Perrier’s Bounty” and “The Tiger’s Tale,” or “In the Name of the Father,” the acclaimed drama about the false imprisonment of alleged IRA bombers starring Daniel Day Lewis.
If none of these flicks appeal, you can always resort to quintessential Irish actor Liam Neeson playing roles as … a German (“Schindler’s List”), a Frenchman (“Les Miserables”), an American (“Taken 1, 2 and 3,” and others), an oriental martial arts master (“Batman Begins”) and a jedi (“Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace”). On the other hand, if you want to hear Neeson’s real accent, try “Michael Collins,” a biopic about the famous Irish revolutionary.
Ireland Today
Americans and Canadians are sometimes accused of being obsessive about their Irish heritage (between 40 and 44 million Americans claim some Irish ancestry), It has been reported that around one-third of Irish Americans would like to retire in Ireland. Few actually do – many more probably settle in Mexico. And new rules introduced last year make moving to Ireland increasingly difficult, since each retiree must now prove an annual income of no less than US$55,138 (double this amount for a couple).
Anyone who does make it across the pond to Ireland, for whatever reason, may be disappointed to find a country that probably won’t live up to their storybook fantasy of a quaint nation still happily mired in the past. The following facts about modern-day Ireland reveal plenty.
- By 2030, 25 percent of residents of Ireland are expected to be non Irish-born.
- Eight times as many people speak Polish in Ireland than Gaelic.
- Forget Ciaran, Sean, Padraig, Caitlin, Sinead or Colleen. Lucy and James are the most common names being given to newborn Irish children.
- Housing prices in Ireland have risen more than 130 percent in the past ten years.
- Rural pubs are now closing at a rate of one every day due to a combination of high costs, the smoking ban and tougher laws against driving while intoxicated.
- Overdevelopment is causing serious pollution problems in some rural areas.
- Gang crime and drug dealing are now rampant in Ireland’s major cities.
Oh well. You can always stay home and dream of a people who still keep gold coins in a pot that can only be found at the end of a rainbow. Or just lie back and listen to Bing: “The pipes, the pipes are calling …”