It's going to be a white St. Patrick's Day this year. One of the traditions for this feast day is the wearing of the green which legend tells us is a tribute to the coming of spring and the greening of the fields & pastures. From what I can see outside you'll be able to get away with wearing of the white this year.
According to Census Bureau numbers for 2005 out of the 288 million plus people in the United States 12% or 34.7 million claim to be of Irish heritage. On March 17th that number jumps to nearly 100%. I once knew a gentleman that hailed from the Emerald Isle. He use to tell me there were three kind of Irish - Lace Curtain Irish, Shanty Irish and Wish I Were Irish.
Did you know that St. Patrick wasn't even born in Ireland? If you say "No Way!" you're not alone. According to Wikipedia St. Patrick was born 1,622 years ago in Roman Britain in the year AD385. His given name was Maewyn and he was a pagan until he got to his early twenties.
At the age of 16 St. Patrick was captured by Irish marauders and made a slave when they raided his English village. Six years later he escaped and fled to Gaul (France). It was in France that he studied in St. Germain and was converted to Christianity. That is when he took the Christian name of Patrick. He went on to become a priest and eventually returned to Ireland as a missionary.
He had great success with his missionary work converting many to Catholicism and having churches built all around the land. Legend had it that he could raise the dead and that he drove the snakes off the island. His success upset the Celtic Druids and he was arrested several times. Each time he escaped to continue with his work. I'm just wondering if some of the dead he brought back to life were just passed out cold from drinking too much of the potent poteen that the Irish were noted for. St. Patrick used the Irish shamrock, a three stemmed plant, to explain the Holy Trinity - the Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit.
St. Patrick did his missionary work for 30 years and then retired to the country. He lived to the ripe old age of 76 and died on March 17, AD461. The first St. Patrick's Day parade in the USA was in 1737 in Boston. It was in honor of the Irish soldiers serving the British.
You are probably familiar with the rest of the story and the rest of the St. Patrick's Day traditions. So, if you're out and about drinking green beer or sipping that expensive Irish whiskey this week-end be careful. Don't drink and drive.
Incidently, the picture of the leprechauns is from Google Images.
3 comments:
LIKE YOUR BLOG, DIDN'T KNOW ST PADDY WENT BACK TO THE 300'S. A FREIND TOLD ME THE CATHOLICS WEAR GREEN ON THIS DAY AND THE PROTESTANTS WEAR ORANGE - HAS ANYONE ELSE HEARD THIS? SHE IS FROM PGH. ALSO (THIS WAS SAID ON PUBLIC RADIO) IRELAND MOVED THEIR FESTIVITIES UP A NOTCH WHEN THEY SAW THAT NYC TURNS THEIR RIVERS GREEN ON THIS DAY INTERESTING.
I think the Protestants wearing orange is due to the fact they mostly belong to the Orange Party which is a political group loyal to the English ruling class. I have heard of it. The Orange Party is the nemesis of the Irish IRA.
A recent article in the USA Today said that the celebrating of St. Patrick's Day is more American than Irish but that the Ireland tourism folks are starting to capitalize on it in recent years. Tourism is one of their biggest income producers. One Irish fellow was quoted as saying they use to go to the pub on St. Patrick's day to watch the American tourist make fools of themselves. We may be foolish but we have fun! :-)
I am Irish through and through and have never celebrated St. Patrick's Day (Calling an Irishman Paddy is a derogatory term, by the way).
I don't even wear green on that day.
I just take quiet pride in my heritage and leave it go at that.
I don't call myself an Irish-American, or insist that menus and billboards and telemarketing calls include Gaelic ("push one for English, two for Gaelic")or ask for special privileges because my ancesters were driven out of Ireland or brought to this country as slaves (which they were).
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