Erin Go Braugh has NOTHING to do with lingerie….

While I am not Irish, I have attended my fair share of Irish events (okay, parades) and have SEVERAL friends with Irish heritage and names that last 25 breaths --(ex: "Mary Katherine Brigid Appolonia Megan Alphonsa Margaret".) My darling niece and nephew are, by way of their mother, Irish. Because of this, since they were children, my family liked to help them embrace. My mother, who always did feed festively when the occasion was right, would try her old-school cooking hand at corned beef and cabbage, just to keep the kids focused on their heritage.

Being Irish is EASY. Anyone can be Irish. Chicago is an easy city to be Irish in, too. Don a pin that says, "Kiss me I'm Irish," while slurping down a beer and you, too, can be the MOST popular lass on your block.

With this in mind, I found myself wondering about Irish ideals and what they really mean, so here is my hand at a little Irish research:

Does Kissing the Blarney Stone REALLY give do anything special??

Yup! Kissing the Blarney Stone, at Blarney castle, in Blarney, Ireland, gives you the "gift of gab." If you give it one kiss, you can talk a lot of "blarney" and people will still believe you! Did you know that you have to lie on your back and bend your head waaaay down to even reach the stone? And when you do, you will be kissing something that has been kissed by thousands of people a year for 500 years! Eeew!

Erin Go Braugh has NOTHING to do with lingerie….

Yup, the luck of the Irish must be with you! Erin Go Braugh means "Ireland Forever."

The term "honeymoon" originated from an Irish tradition. The word for honeymoon in Gaelic is "mi na meala", which means "the month of honey". Irish monks used to produce a fermented honey brew called mead and would give enough to a bride and groom to last them a month after their wedding. It was believed that this drink enhanced fertility and was the best way to ensure a good beginning for a new marriage.

The original Guinness Brewery in Dublin has a 6,000 year lease. A full seven percent of the Irish barley crop is used solely for the production of Guinness beer

Mmmmm. Beer.


(this is the Chicago River. It is dyed green for the week of St. Patty's day...)

Fun Fact:
Green River is a bright green, lime-flavored soft drink produced by the Clover Club Bottling Corp. of Chicago. The drink was developed in 1919 by the Schoenhofen Brewery of Chicago as a non-alcoholic product for the prohibition era. It was popular for decades as a soda fountain syrup. .