Selecting this week's name was easy. It was clearly narrowed to a few choices that honor St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, whose feast day will be celebrated this weekend. This week's choice is a very popular name of Irish and Latin origin, and like a few other names of similar etimology, it means "star of the sea."
While St. Patrick's Day is not an official holiday in the United States, it may as well be in our family! The day has great significance for Baby Mulvaney's dad and many of her ancestors from the Emerald Isle, which include the Mulvaney, McCormick, Kennedy and Martin clans. In the Mulvaney and McCormick families, there are long standing traditions of how we celebrate St. Patrick's Day. This always includes the Holyoke St. Patrick's Day Road Race and a full day and night spent at Grandma McCormick's house, just a few wee blocks from the site of the Holyoke St. Patrick's Day Parade. It is definitely a special time of year that is always celebrated with lots of family, friends and good food (and drink) at Grandma's. Years ago, when asked to write about his favorite "holiday" for an elementary school assignment, Baby Mulvaney's dad wrote about some of those family traditions in his essay on St. Patrick's Day.
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While there are many beautiful Irish girls' names, this particular one is highlighted in a sweet, melancholy song that is the official anthem of Dublin City, Ireland. It has a pretty tragic ending, but "alive, alive-o", the Irish have been known to cry in their beer! A statue dedicated to herself was unveiled on June 13, 1988 during Dublin's millenium celebrations. For you sports fans out there, this song is to the Leinster Irish Rugby team what "Sweet Caroline" is to the Boston Red Sox.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Sláinte!
The Dubliners
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