Irish Dancing Memories


Although I can claim no Irish lineage, I was properly enculturated into all things Irish when I attended an Irish-Catholic grade school while growing up. We were not your typical uniformed-clad Catholic-grade school; this Catholic school was home to several Sisters of Mercy from Meath, Ireland. Sister Rosario Delaney arrived in the United States for her American-teaching assignment in 1964. By 1979 (the year I was in the 3rd grade) she was promoted to Principal. Sister Rosairo is STILL principal today, although rumor has it that she is eagerly anticipating retirement and return to her beloved Ireland.

If you can picture this, in addition to our studies, the nuns schooled us in Irish dancing. Yes, the nuns would actually demonstrate (in full habit) how to properly kick up our legs when doing an Irish jig. Although I can no longer remember the names of the different dance steps and routines that we performed, I can recall dancing on-stage (in our homemade costumes) during the annual St. Patrick's Day festival like it was yesterday. As patrons dined on corned beef and cabbage served in the basement cafeteria, the girls would perform their dance routines while the boys sang Irish tunes. I can still hear the boys singing, "When Irish Eyes are Smiling."

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, today, my little ones started off the day with some sugar-coated cereal...Lucky Charms. This was followed-up with a lunch of scrambled green eggs and ham. For dinner tonight we are having homemade baked potato soup! Yum! Here are a couple pictures of my own two lucky charms. Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!


Ben was a huge fan of the green eggs and ham...Mary not so much.


Even on St. Patrick's Day, my "sunflower" kid sports ruby slippers!


Trouble!


So Sweet.

Comments

  1. I can see in my mind how the nunns must have looked doing an Irish jig :-):-)
    Happy St Patriks day!
    Christer.

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  2. Cute pictures. Glad you posted the story about the nuns and the Irish dancing.

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  3. Good Evening, Valerie.
    Thank you for sharing your day with us! What a wonderful and fun day for the kids! They are just too cute! Precious as can be! I loved hearing about your Irish dancing! What a wonderful memory!

    Thank you so very much for your reply today! It means a lot! I can't imagine seeing more than I know in abuse! It angers me greatly!

    Have a wonderful night!
    Hugs and Blessings,

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  4. Wow, you really do have some authentic St. Patrick's Day history! :) How fun for the nunns to jig! Your kids are darling and i love the fun green food you made. Maybe next year we'll do the green eggs. And the soup sounds delicious!

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  5. this was a little "feast" in my late afternoon!!!

    thanks for such Sweeeeeet comments...and don't you just adore parisienne farmgirl?????
    tehe, cuz I'm the Mom!

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  6. Thank you so much for all your sweet comments. You are just too kind. I did make Lil E's dress, funny thing is, I made it 3 years ago for a friends daughter, and of course Lil E one. I had passed Lil E's dress on, and then this past fall, my friend passed the dresses that I had made her daughter back to us for Lil E. Hope yall are having a great week!
    Hugs and Blessings,

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  7. What a great post. I'm looking through your blog and lovin it too. I can see you are a person with a big heart ♥

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Your kind words are appreciated! As Mother Teresa said, "Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love."

Valerie

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