Celebrating St. Patrick's Day - the traditional way with the Irish Countrywomen's Association!

From picking the shamrock to the grand parade, followed by a traditional lunch and a perfect Irish coffee - the Irish Countrywomen’s Association know how to celebrate St Patrick’s Day!

Today St Patrick’s Day is celebrated by the Irish diaspora all around the world, and we see great cities hosting sophisticated parades and broad rivers, landmark sky-scrapers and ancient monuments being turned green for the day. But it is in the small towns and villages around Ireland that the spirit of St Patrick’s Day really lives on, when local communities come together to play music and don the shamrock like they have been doing for so many years. If you’re looking for the perfect party food, you can’t go wrong with baked ham and colcannon, followed by a perfect Irish coffee.

Back in the Day…

“Every St Patrick’s Day we would get up early to go pick the shamrock in the front field. We proudly wore it to mass and for the remainder of the day. We lived on a farm and were self-sufficient, having lots of chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. We also had vegetables of every kind to choose from. That day, after a lunch of our own lovely fresh food, we headed for Castlebar to take part in the St Patrick’s Day parade.”

Mary O’Reilly, Mayo

How to make a perfect Irish Coffee - read our blog here!

Read more about traditional Irish recipes, practical know-how and pearls of wisdom from Irish Women in The ICA Book Of Home and Family - now available 20% off in our bookstore. Also available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com. Shortlisted as the Best Irish-Published Book of the Year at the 2013 Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards.