Irish Colcannon Lore

Hallowe'en is long over now, but lots of Irish people will have eaten this very traditional Irish dish over the October / Halloween three-day "bank holiday" weekend that coincides with the ancient Celtic harvest festival of Samhain (pronounced "sowan").

Colcannon (sometimes also spelled "colchannon") is probably the single traditional Irish dish that is eaten by the largest number of modern Irish people. It's the food that's also a game... or an oracle for the year ahead... and there are even songs about it.

Never heard of colcannon before? Click "Read more" to learn its story. Or, if you know the dish...

More about colcannon...

(from IRISH TRADITIONAL FOOD, Theodora Fitzgibbon:)

  
  "This is traditionally eaten in Ireland at Hallowe'en.  Until quite
  recently this was a fast day, when no meat was eaten.  The name is
  from *cal ceann fhionn* -- white-headed cabbage.  Colcannon should
  correctly be made with chopped kale (a member of the cabbage family)
  but it is also made with white cabbage;  an interesting version is
  the Irish Folklore Commission's, which gives it as mashed potatoes
  mixed with onions, butter, and a boiled white cabbage in the center.
  Colcannon at Hallowe'en used to contain a plain gold ring, a
  sixpence, a thimble or button:  finding the ring meant marriage
  within the year for the person who found it, the sixpence meant
  wealth, the thimble spinsterhood and the button bachelorhood."
  
  (from THE POOLBEG BOOK OF IRISH TRADITIONAL FOOD:)

  "For a dish that is not widely eaten or served today, colcannon
  remains remarkably widely known.  Maybe the song about colcannon is
  better known than the dish.  If you say "colcannon" in a crowded
  room, the chances are that half the room will break into one version
  of the song and the other into a completely different version.  Like
  the recipe itself, there are two versions commonly known.
  
  Did you ever eat colcannon            Did you ever eat colcannon
  when 'twas made with yellow cream     when 'twas made with thickened
                                             cream
  And the kale and praties blended      And the greens and scallions
                                             blended 
  Like the picture in a dream?          Like the picture in a dream?
 
  
  Did you ever take a forkful           Did you ever scoop a hole on top
  And dip it in the lake                To hold the melting cake
  Of heather-flavored butter            Of clover-flavored butter
  That your mother used to make?        Which your mother used to make?
  
  Oh, you did, yes you did!             Did you ever eat and eat, afraid
  So did he and so did I,               You'd let the ring go past,
  And the more I think about it         And some old married sprissman
  Sure, the more I want to cry.         Would get it at the last?
  
                         God be with the happy times
                         When trouble we had not,
                         And our mothers made colcannon
                         In the little three-legged pot.

" -- Colcannon is so like champ, cally, and poundies that it's
difficult to understand how it ever came to have a different name.
Yet, all over the country, colcannon is colcannon and known as
nothing else. As in the two versions of the song, it can be made with
kale or with greens, meaning cabbage. Those reared on the version
made with kale can never understand how the cabbage version can be
considered colcannon, and vice versa...."

Also see:

• this discussion of Colcannon the dish from a member of Colcannon the musical group

• And there's even sheet music for the song (one version of it, anyway)

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