LOCAL FLAVOUR: Going green for St. Patrick's Day

Angela Schwab serves up Guinness Irish Stew for St. Patrick's Day at the Great Bear Pub in Burnaby.

MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER

As a bishop who traveled around Ireland for nearly 30 years, using the shamrock to explain the Catholic doctrine of the Holy Trinity, Saint Patrick might be a little shocked at all the drinking and carousing that goes on in his name every March 17.

Born in the 4th century into a wealthy family in which his father and grandfather were deacons in the Catholic church, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish raiders when he was 16. They enslaved him until, guided by a dream that God told him to escape to the coast, he was able to flee to Britain, where he joined the church and studied to become a priest.

He returned to Ireland in 432, and became a champion of Irish Christianity, teaching and preaching around the country until he died on March 17, 461. His jawbone was reportedly preserved in a silver shrine and used to bring relief during childbirth and epileptic fits.

The Irish started celebrating St. Patrick's feast day in the ninth and tenth centuries, and it was formally recognized by the church as a religious holiday in the early 1600s. Shamrocks and green ribbons started to get associated with it in the 17th century, symbolizing Saint Patrick's teaching methods.

As poverty and famines sent the Irish people to new lands in search of a better life, they brought their love for their patron saint with them. St. Patrick's Day became as much a celebration of their heritage as religious feast. In fact, the first St. Patrick's Day parade in the world was held in Boston in 1737, when Irish immigrants marched to protest unemployment.

In 1903, an act of Parliament made St. Patrick's Day an official public holiday in Ireland. The first St. Patrick's Day parade in Ireland was held in Dublin in 1931. Ironically, for years the country's pubs were required by law to stay closed on March 17; that law was repealed in the 1970s.

Of course, that's never stopped pubs further afield from drawing green beer and putting on a party.

The Great Bear Pub on Kingsway will be featuring Irish entertainment all St. Patrick's Day beginning with fiddler Anne Guite at noon, the Irish Wakers from 1:30-4:30 p.m., James Adamick at 6 p.m., the Penk O'Donnell Irish Dancers at 8 p.m. and the Dublin Belles Irish fold rock troupe at 9 p.m. until closing. Guinness will be on tap, Irish stew, lamb and boxty will be on the menu, and every drink purchased earns a chance to win return airfare to Dublin.

For more information, go to www.greatbearpub.com.

Boxty

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound raw potato, grated
• 1/2 pound leftover, unseasoned mashed potatoes
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 pound flour
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• salt and pepper to taste
• milk
  
  Method

Mix the grated and mashed potatoes with the onion. Stir in the flour and egg. Preheat lightly greased griddle or frying pan. Add enough milk to potato mixture for a thin enough batter that will drop from a spoon. Use a 1/4 cup measurer to spoon out batter onto griddle. Grill for 3-4 minutes on each side.

Try serving these with tart apple sauce or as part of an Ulster Fry with bacon, fried sausage, fried eggs, black pudding and soda bread.