We give horseshoes for marriage, oranges form part of the Christingle celebration, usually with candles and ribbon. 21st birthdays are sometimes symbolized with the giving of a decorative key.

I asked Nicola about Christingle, because we don’t celebrate it here in the States. She wrote:

It’s part of the pre-Christmas celebrations. It’s mainly for school children, it’s usually an orange with a ribbon wrapped round the circumference, a candle stuck in the top and cinnamon seeds stuck into the orange round the outsides.

Here is a photo I found of a Christingle:

Nicole wrote about Easter traditions in the UK:

We also give Easter eggs. The Easter eggs are usually chocolate and vary in size, incidentally my boyfriend works at Nestle which is one of the companies that make them. We also do Easter egg hunts with mini eggs usually for younger children.

Nicole wrote about the anniversary traditions in the UK:

Each annual wedding anniversary has a different meaning and item attached to it i.e. 1st is paper etc.

Our anniversaries over here, they all have “names” and for each, a gift is given which relates to the “name”:

1 paper
2 cotton
3 leather
4 linen
5 wood
6 iron
7 copper
8 bronze
9 pottery
10 aluminum
11 steel
12 silk
13 lace
14 ivory
15 crystal
20 china
25 silver
30 pearl
35 coral
40 ruby
45 sapphire
50 gold
55 emerald
60 diamond

Nicola wrote:

A few other traditions for you, there’s some English superstitions in there too, so your going to have to sift through cos I’ve included quite a lot!

Maypole Dancing- usually done in spring, it’s quite an old one which involves a tall pole and lots of long ribbons in various bright colours.

Scarecrow Festivals- done in autumn local groups i.e. schools and scouts build and decorate a scarecrow, they are then collected and arranged in fields round a path, people then pay for a map and walk round answering questions about each scarecrow i.e. what colour hat are they wearing or which road are they on, the money is then given to charity.

Bonfire Night – fire works and sparklers and hotdogs etc, also called Guy Fawkes night after he tried to blow up the houses of Parliament in London.

British Saints all have their own day:

St. David – Wales – March 1
St. Patrick – Ireland – March 17
St. George – England – April 23
St. Andrew – Scotland – November 30

I asked about St. George’s Day, and Nicola wrote:

St George’s Day is all based around St. George slaying a dragon, from what I can remember it’s a tale that said a village was living in fear of a dragon and young girls were being sacrificed to stop the dragon from eating the livestock. Then a prince came along, slayed the dragon and rescued the latest sacrifice who was the village leader’s daughter. So now around the time there is a parade usually organized by the scout movement, sometimes with floats and brass bands.

Nicola continued telling me about British traditions:

Remembrance Day – November 11th – in remembrance of soldiers killed in World War 1

Queens Birthday – London parade

Queen’s speech – Xmas day

Pantomimes around Xmas, all during November and December – local theatres put on pantomimes, usually with a man dressed as a comedy madam, a pretty damsel in distress and a dashing prince, lots of audience involvement and slapstick comedy. Aladin is one of the main panto’s that’s done along with Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White and Peter Pan. Here’s the link to the wikipedia page on Xmas Pantomime.

Here’s an old poster for a Christmas Pantomime:

I asked Nicola if she goes to the pantomimes or if it’s for kids and she said, “I go to at least one every year, I’m a cub scout leader so I take the kids to the local one.”

Here are more traditions Nicola wrote about:

Pancake Day – Shrove Tuesday – around Jesus’ resurrection (people eat pancakes before fasting for Lent).

1st Footing in Scotland – Putting coal on your house threshold on New Years Day – to do with good luck and to welcome in the new year, they put the coal on the outside doorstep.

Having a chimney sweep at your wedding is good luck i.e. to bless it I think, is supposed to bring good luck for the newly married couple.

[UPDATE: I talk more about the Chimney Sweep Tradition here.]

Weddings – bride should wear something old, new, borrowed, and blue – it should be one of each, but two or more can be combined.

Picking up a penny is said to bring good luck.

Giving a wooden spoon for baking for a bride.

Don’t walk under a ladder, brings bad luck.

Bride throws bouquet at a wedding, the person who catches it is supposed to get married next.

Breaking a mirror is supposed to bring you 7 years bad luck unless you throw a pinch of salt over your shoulder.

Walking on cracks on the pavement brings bad luck.

Black cat crosses path good luck. (Note by Mama Lisa: in the US, crossing the path of a black cat is considered bad luck!)

Magpies: 1 for sorrow, 2 for joy, 3 for a girl, 4 for a boy, 5 for silver, 6 for gold, 7 for a secret never to be told.

“Magpies” is an old superstition that school children learn, its supposed to be linked to how many you see is what you’ll get and if you only see one your supposed to cross yourself (finger tracing the shape of a cross on your face cheek to cheek then forehead to chin) to get rid of the bad luck.

Here’s a photo of a magpie:

Opening a umbrella inside is supposed to bring bad luck.

Shoes on a table brings bad luck.

Nicola said, “I didn’t think of all of these, I rang my mum and grandma for some more!”

I asked Nicola if most of these are still followed or not? She said, “A lot of them are known but not really followed, it’s mostly the older generations that still follow them.” I believe she meant that British people still follow many of the traditions (like Guy Fawkes Day and Christingle), but not the superstitions as much.

I would like to thank Nicola Holdsworth, and her Mum and Grandma, Susan Holdsworth and Gillian Hamer, for sharing these British traditions with us!

Thanks so much!

If you would like to share your traditions with us, please feel free to comment below or email me at lisa@mamalisa.com .

Mama Lisa

UPDATE: Check out info about some traditions and superstitions in the US and France in the comments below…

A limerick is a five-line poem, with the rhyming pattern A-A-B-B-A.

In other words, lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme with each other. They usually have 7-11 syllables per line.

Lines 3 and 4 rhyme with each other and have 5-8 syllables per line.

Limericks can be sung or recited.

Here’s an example of a limerick, written by Frank Richards.

From the elephant paddock one day,
They took poor Barbara Woodhouse away;
There’s no harm in the least,
Shouting ‘Sit’ to the beast,
But she should have got out of the way

One tale behind the word Limerick is related to the city of Limerick in Ireland. It’s said that in the 1800’s, when people would gather together for parties and such, they would sing little nonsense songs. The songs talked about people of different towns around Ireland, but they ended with the line “Will you come up to Limerick?” It’s told that these songs followed the pattern of limericks. There’s no printed proof of any of this. But that’s one of the legends about limericks!

It seems that the limerick form was known in the 1800’s. But Edward Lear from England is the man who made it popular with “A Book of Nonsense”, which was published in 1846. It contained limericks that he illustrated.

Here’s one of Lear’s limericks with an illustration:

There was an Old Man with a nose,
Who said, ‘If you choose to suppose,
That my nose is too long,
You are certainly wrong!’
That remarkable man with a nose.

So when you’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, along with your corn beef and cabbage, don’t forget to recite a few limericks!

You can find more of Edward Lear’s Limericks online at Nonsense Books by Edward Lear at Project Gutenberg.

Corned Beef and Cabbage is a very traditional meal that Irish Americans eat for St. Patrick’s Day.

I’m one-eighth Irish. My great grandmother came from Ireland. The tradition of eating Corned Beef and Cabbage was passed down through the family to my Mom. Here’s Mom’s delicious, and easy, recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage.

We like to serve it with Mustard, Boiled Potatoes, Rye Bread and/or Irish Soda Bread, and Ale. Some people like it with Prepared Horseradish.

Recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage

Corned Beef (3-4 pounds)
Fresh Cabbage

1) Clean corned beef by rinsing it under cold water.
2) Place in large pot and cover meat with cold water.
3) Bring to a boil. Then cover and simmer.
4) Cook for 2-3 hours, until tender when pierced with a fork.
5) Meanwhile, to prepare the cabbage, take off and discard its outer leaves.
6) Rinse cabbage well under water.
7) Remove any imperfections from the cabbage.
8) Cut cabbage into 4ths or 8ths, depending on the size of cabbage pieces you prefer.
9) Once the meat is done, remove it from the water. Place cabbage in the same water and bring to a boil. Then let it simmer for about 10 to 20 minutes, depending upon how wilted or firm you like your cabbage.
(Some people prefer to cook the cabbage with the corned beef during the last 10-20 minutes of cooking the meat.)
10) Drain the cabbage and cover to keep it warm.
11) Slice the corned beef in thin slices, against the grain.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the recipe Mom!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Top of the Morning to You All!

Lisa

About St. Patrick

St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. He was born in Roman controlled Britain around 390. He died on March 17, 460. March 17th is when Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated.

St. Patrick was abducted by Irish raiders when he was 16 and was taken to Ireland, which was pagan at that time. There he was sold into slavery and forced to work as a shepherd for 6 years. It was during this time that he became devoutly religious. He also learned to speak the Celtic language and he learned about Druidism, a pagan religion practiced in Ireland.

After 6 years, he is said to have had a vision in which God told him to leave Ireland. He escaped to Britain. That was when he is said to have had a second vision in which God told him to return to Ireland one day as a missionary. After that he began training as a priest in France, where he was ordained. Eventually he was sent back to Ireland to convert the pagans to Christianity.

Legends about St. Patrick

St. Patrick decided to try to convert the Irish by using their preexisting symbols and traditions. One legend is that he created the Celtic cross. The sun and moon were important symbols in Ireland. They were shown by drawing a circle. With this idea in mind, the legend says that St. Patrick superimposed a circle onto the cross to make the cross more familiar and important to the Irish people.

Another popular legend about St. Patrick is that he banished all the snakes from Ireland. It’s thought that the snakes were really a symbol for the pagans and that he rid Ireland of all the pagans by turning them into Christians.

He is also said to have used the shamrock in his teachings. He related its three leafs coming out of one stem to the three part trinity (the father, son and the holy spirit) being the one god of Christianity. That’s why the shamrock is one of the symbols of St. Patrick’s Day.

Traditions of St. Patrick’s Day in the US and Ireland

The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was actually held in the US in the 1700’s by Irish soldiers. The tradition of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade continues to this day.

Irish Americans also established the tradition of wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day and decorating with the symbol of the shamrock or three leaf clover. In Ireland they wear a sprig of a real shamrock on their clothes. Girls in Ireland will wear a green ribbon in their hair. But they’re careful not to wear any other green! In Ireland people believed that the fairies loved green and if they saw anyone wearing that color, they would steal them away.

In the US, the traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal is corned beef and cabbage, sometimes potatoes, Irish soda bread and Irish beer (which is sometimes dyed green!).

In Ireland they might eat a popular dish called colcannon, which is made with mashed potatoes, onions and kale. (This is also a traditional meal for Halloween.) They might also eat Irish bacon (which is like ham), potatoes and possibly cabbage. They might also eat Irish soda bread. The children eat lots of sweets.

In Ireland, they’ll greet each other saying in Gaelic, Beannacht na feile Padraig oraibh, in English, May the Blessings of St. Patrick be with you. In the US, you’ll often see sayings about the “Luck of the Irish”.

In both the US and Ireland, people were traditionally given a reprieve from the Lenten fast and were able to eat meat in celebration of this special day.

St. Patrick’s Day has only recently become a bigger celebration in Ireland. It used to be only a religious celebration and pubs weren’t even allowed to open on this day. The law was changed in 1995 when the Irish government decided that St. Patrick’s Day was a good opportunity to promote Irish culture. They established the St. Patrick’s Festival in Dublin, that takes place over several days. About one and a half million people attend it.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! May the luck of the Irish be with you!

Lisa

Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World Ireland Page for some Irish Songs to sing for St. Patrick’s Day!