Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today I'm bringing you a selection of sayings and blessings from the vast repertoire of Irish tradition, some of which are better known than others.

Here's the most widely known blessing, to begin with:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields,
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Given Ireland's religious history, it's not surprising to see God appearing as a recurring theme, in combination with beautiful metaphors and a good dose of humour:

May the Lord keep you in His hand and never close His fist too tight.

If God sends you down a stony path, may He give you strong shoes.

God is good, but never dance in a small boat.

Continuing with the metaphors...

When the roaring flames of your love have burned down to embers, may you find that you’ve married your best friend.

As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.

May the hinges of our friendship never grow rusty.

Friendship is another main theme, highly valued by the Irish:

May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.

May you always find three welcomes in life.
In a garden during summer,
At a hearth during winter,
And in the hearts of friends throughout all your years.

Then there are these sayings I love for their timeless wisdom dressed in simplicity:

May you get all your wishes but one, so you always have something to strive for.

Here's to a fellow who smiles when life runs along like a song.
And here's to the lad who can smile when everything goes dead wrong.

You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.

When a twig grows hard it is difficult to twist it. Every beginning is weak.

And my favourite phrase:

I complained that I had no shoes,
until I met a man who had no feet.

Irish saying

Well, I hope that you liked these sayings, and that you enjoyed the most Irish day of the year. Here are two bonus blessings to wrap it all up:

May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been,
the foresight to know where you're going
and the insight to know when you're going too far.