Happy St. Patrick’s Day everybody! I hope the day brings all of you lots of luck. We love St. Patrick’s Day here at our house. I know that St. Patrick’s Day is not a very popular holiday with most African-American and Asian children, but here in our house, it is.

All nine of my kids got up this morning and put on some green (and were excitedly chatting about who at school would get “pinched” for not wearing green). Mercy got green hair barrettes on her braids and she was even toting around a “Blarney stone” that she made in school. And of course, I didn’t send any of them out the door without a piece of Irish Soda Bread in their bellies.

Ok, so ethnically, our family’s percentage of Irish is pretty dang small. My ethnic makeup of about 50% or so of Irish and what I passed on of that to our three biological sons is the sum of it. But that doesn’t stop it from being a family celebration.

St. Patrick’s Day is a fun way to just celebrate culture. We celebrate a lot of Asian holidays and African-American traditions and holidays and focus a lot on the kids’ culture in our home. Learning about St. Patrick and Ireland is a fun way for our family to celebrate part of my culture, and for our kids to learn about another culture and country.

So, I start early each March 17 making loaves of Irish Soda Bread. We all eat our share (and then some) and share with friends and neighbors. Josh cooks a big corned beef, cabbage and mashed potato feast. We all wear green (and lots of it!) with pride. And if we happen to be in a bigger town than the one we live in, we stop at a McDonald’s and enjoy a “Shamrock Shake”. Some years we buy Lucky Charms, and in NY we always got green bagels. There is lots of talk about rainbows with gold at the end, shamrocks, leprechauns and that good old Blarney Stone. And perhaps everyone’s favorite part is the dancing and singing to some good old Irish music. It’s just a whole lot of fun.

Do you know why St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated or who he was? St. Patrick was born Maewyn Succat in Britain somewhere around the end of the fourth century, and after being captured and brought to Ireland as a slave, he escaped and became a priest, changing his name to Patrick. He traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries and setting up schools and churches to aid in converting the Irish country to Christianity and was extremely popular among the people of Ireland. Legend has it that Saint Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland and that they all went into the sea and drowned.

Patrick's mission in Ireland lasted for thirty years. He then retired to County Down and died on March 17 in 461 AD. That day has been commemorated as St. Patrick's Day ever since. The first year St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in this country was 1737 in Boston, Massachusetts. As the saying goes, on this day "everybody is Irish!" Over 100 U.S. cities now hold Saint Patrick's Day parades.

If you live somewhere like we do now where there is no parade, it is really easy to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with your family. Put on some green clothes, eat some new food and make some construction paper shamrocks. For us it has been a great way to create some family traditions and memories for the whole family.

Here is my favorite Irish Soda Bread recipe. It is quick and easy to make and I promise your kids will like it. (Some of mine pick out the raisins but they love the bread). Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Irish Soda Bread

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup of white sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups of buttermilk

1/2 cup of raisins
caraway seeds if you like them (we skip them)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix the four dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Beat the eggs and buttermilk together.
Combine all ingredients, stir until blended.
Add raisins. It will be very sticky. Form into one large ball in the bowl and “drop” dough ball into a lightly greased spring form or round pan. Sprinkle caraway seeds on top if you desire.
Bake at 350 for one hour (approximate). When it is done, the top will be golden brown and when you tap the bottom it will sound hollow.
It is delicious served warm with butter.
Enjoy!