The Patrick’s pot

An Irish gentleman told Hone how St Patrick’s Day used to be kept in small country towns and hamlets. The inn, if there was one, was thrown open, and the host gave everyone oaten bread and fish and a Patrick’s pot of beer, though whiskey had since taken its place. Where there was no inn, the largest cabin was chosen and doors lifted off their hinges from the neighbouring cabins were laid across poles to make one long table. Everyone brought their own bread and fish, and the evening was spent over the Patrick’s pot. The custom was explained by a tradition that the dying saint told his friends to take a drop of something rather than grieve.