We do not celebrate St Patrick’s Day in Sweden. Actually I have to confess that I was not aware until recently that it was celebrated anywhere but in Ireland!
So what can I bring to the table? Clover is a common plant here too in the summers – both white and red. I’m not sure if our white clover would be considered identical with the Irish shamrock or not. In my own photo archives I only managed to find the red variety.
I know that the legend says St Patrick made use of the three-leaved shamrock to teach the Irish about the Holy Trinity. Here we consider it lucky if we happen to find a rare four-leaf clover among the three-leaved ones. Now this time of year it’s hard enough to even find a bit of green at all… But one day I happened to come upon a four-winged green butterfly sitting on the ground. Made of plastic, but even so… Surely that must be lucky! Well, perhaps not for whoever dropped it, I suppose… But for me it served as a sort of reminder that eventually spring will come…
Indoors I have an Oxalis plant which is also called Purple Shamrock.
I also have this nice jar with a pattern of red clover:
“May you have the hindsight to know where you've been,
The foresight to know where you are going,
And the insight to know when you have gone too far.”
(An Irish Blessing)
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Happy St Patrick’s Day!
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