St. Patrick's Day ~ the history, traditions, parades & recipes

My goal for this week is to provide you with some traditional-types of Irish recipes. Of course, I'll be switching things up in order to modify the recipes - making them much more low carb than the traditional version. So I've spent a good deal of the day researching traditional Irish recipes and legends. First of all, do you know the story of St. Patrick?
St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity's most widely known figures. St. Patrick was born to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century in Britain. He is believed to have died on March 17. At the age of 16 he was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate. The raiders transported him to Ireland, where he spent 6 years in captivity before escaping. During his captivity he turned to his religion for solace and became a devout Christian. When he escaped, he returned to Britain. It is reported that Patrick was visited by an angel in a dream telling him to return to Ireland as a missionary. He studied for more than 15 years and was ordained as a priest. He then returned to Ireland to minister to Christains already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the remaining Irish to Christianity.
The Irish have celebrated this holiday for over 1000 years. Traditionally, Irish families celebrated St. Patrick's day by attending church in the morning and celebrating in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against consumption of meat were waived & people would dance, drink & feast - on the traditional meal of Irish bacon & cabbage. However, the first St. Patrick's day parade took place in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through the streets of New York City on March 17, 1762. The parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots and the fellow Irishmen seerving in the English army. This parade is the world's oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United states, with over 150,000 participants. Each year, nearly 3 million people line the 1.5 mile parade route to watch the procession, which takes more than 5 hours.
My first recipe, in honor of St. Patrick's day is St. Patrick's Colcannon. Colcannon is traditionally made from mashed potatoes or cabbage, butter, salt & pepper. It can also contain milk, cream, leaks, onions, chives, garlic, boiled ham or Irish bacon. An old Irish tradition was to serve colcannon with prizes of small coins concealed in it on Halloween. Colcannon is typically eaten in autumn & winter. This Irish tradition also inspired a song "Colcannon" or it's also called "The Skillet Pot." How neat! A recipe that has inspired a song and it's been sung by many artists. The beginning lyrics are:
Did you ever eat Colcannon, made from lovely pickled cream?
With the greens and scallions mingled like a picture in a dream.
Did you ever make a hole on top to hold the melting flake
Of the creamy, flavoured butter that your mother used to make?

And the chorus is:

Yes you did, so you did, so did he and so did I.
And the more I think about it sure the nearer I'm to cry.
Oh, wasn't it the happy days when troubles we had not,
And our mothers made Colcannon in the little skillet pot.

If you'd like to hear the entire song, here's a link to the Black Family performing this traditional song!
I hope you've enjoyed this little bit of history. And more importantly, I hope you try this recipe & you enjoy it, too. My husband likes it so much, he wants me to make it once a week!