Irish Festivities

Irish festivities are celebrated not only during St. Patrick's Day. There are different festivities all year round. When my family lived in New Jersey, we used to attend the annual Wildwood Irish Week, which is usually held towards the end on September. The entire town gets together and sets up booths along the major avenue. They sell Irish wares, food, and other items. There is always live entertainment and a parade that bag pipers lead from all over the tri-state area. If anyone is interested in learning more you can look up the link I have set up under my links column. I will be adding links there that pertain to most of my stories. If you are interested in other festivities that involve pipe bands, you can look up the Tampa Bay Pipes and Drum and see where they are playing next. If you sign up or email a band member they will put you on a list and send you information on where they are playing next. I also listed them in my links in case anyone wanted to check them out. My personal favorite festivities are the Irish Wakes.

Traditionally, Irish wakes refer to the time of mourning after a loved one passes. They would set up the coffin in a home or the local pub play the bag pipes and have a kind of farewell party to cheerfully send the spirit to the after life. You can see a modern version of this in the movie P.S. I Love You, at Jerry's Funeral in the beginning. It is customary to have a shot of Irish whiskey at the end of what we consider as the eulogy as a way of having one last drink with the loved one. Although, the traditional irish wake is a beautiful way of remembering, the irish wake that I love is more like a party. If you frequent an irish bar, they may have an irish wake from time to time. Usually there will be an empty coffin set in a corner, with live music, food, and dancing. In New Jersey, my father used to belong to the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh Pipes and Drums, and during one such irish wake they had a tradition, one of the barmaids would get into a bathing suit and climb into the coffin. Then the men from the band would put the coffin on the bar, play a tune and drum their hands on the coffin, open the coffin and dump beer and ice on the barmaid and play again. There was a good natured priest that would join the bar during these irish wakes and pretend to give a eulogy. However, he was caught off guard when one of the barmaids decided to go in topless. The poor unsuspecting priest got a little more then he barganed for when he first opened the coffin, but ended up taking it in stride and asked for another shot of whiskey.

Now that you have a good idea of what many irish festivities have, next time I will talk about specific customs that the irish do at weddings.