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Looking for four-leaf clovers
Wearing o’ the green – Leprechauns can’t see you when you wear green
Pinching those not wearing green
Kissing someone who’s Irish - the saying refers to kissing the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle in Ireland, which is said to give the lucky smoocher the gift of the gab—so kissing an Irish person is the next best thing.
Attending a St. Patrick’s Day parade
“Letting the devil out” of Irish soda bread - for the bread to be lucky, you have to cut a cross on the top “to let the devil out,” as well as to release steam during cooking, a superstition that both the Irish and Irish Americans hold.
Not eating green food - “Green food is not an Irish tradition, possibly due to the historical trauma of the Great Famine, when Irish folk literally had no choice but to eat grass in an attempt to survive, then they would often die of starvation with green-colored mouths from eating grass.”
“Drowning the shamrock” - Traditionally, the shamrock was dunked into a glass of whiskey, the whiskey was then drunk, and the shamrock at the bottom of the glass thrown over the drinker’s left shoulder.
Staying sober - St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland is not traditionally the raucous celebration it is in America—and it might bring you better fortune (and save you a hangover) to not use the holiday as an excuse to overindulge.
Eating Irish bacon - Corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day is an American adaptation of the holiday. In Ireland of yore, it would have been unlucky to kill cows, which were mainly used for dairy. There were more pigs kept in Ireland than cows, so more pork and bacon was consumed than beef.
Wearing blue for historical accuracy - You could also celebrate Ireland by wearing blue, which was the background color of the first coat of arms when the Kingdom of Ireland was created by England’s King Henry VIII; the hue also has earlier links to a figure in Irish mythology, Flaitheas Éireann, who wore blue.
Celebrating Irish culture
(RD)