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Thursday, March 17, 2005

St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! Now, I don't have to confess this, since none of you can see me right now, but I'm not wearing green today. It just didn't occur to me that it was St. Patrick's Day until I saw the giant tent the Irish pub was setting up across the street from where I dropped my car off to be worked on today. Yes, for those of you who know of my love and devotion to my car, the 'Stang is sick :(. Her left ball joint has gone bad, but she should be good as new by sundown. Good news for all the CoCo and Leadership Event Planning Team members with fond memories of being shoved in her backseat (sometimes with luggage, when her trunk refused to open).

However, I still want to pay my homage to the Emerald Isle. So I went to www.historychannel.com and found out some tidbits for you all. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, as you probably know, and today is thought to be the anniversary of his death. Irish raiders kidnapped the young Patrick from his home in Britain in the early centuries of Christianity, and during his captivity he turned to God. After escaping captivity, he felt called to return to Ireland as a missionary. The website says that contrary to popular belief, Patrick didn't actually introduce Christianity to Ireland-- there were already a few Christians there. He did, however, popularize Christianity by incorporating pagan symbolism into Christian celebrations. The Celtic Cross? A blend of the sun, which was already worshipped in Ireland, on the Christian cross to make veneration of the cross more appealing to the people. However, he did not banish all snakes from Ireland.

Irish people have celebrated St. Patrick's Day since his death. Though this day falls during Lent, the Irish take a break from fasting and have a feast of meat after going to Mass in the morning. Yet the first parade for St. Patrick's Day took place here, in the United States, in 1762. It was held by Irish soldiers serving abroad in the English military (since England was the occupying power of Ireland at the time).

During the 19th century, when Irish Catholic immigrants were victims of racial prejudice and stereotyping by the Anglo Protestant majority in the United States, St. Patrick's Day parades became an important show of solidarity and political strength in the Irish-American community. Today they are celebrated around the world, particularly among the 34 million people in the United States who claim some Irish ancestry (Ireland itself only has a population of about four million!).

I hope you enjoyed the little history lesson, and that you enjoy St. Patrick's Day. One final, interesting factoid about St. Patty's Day in Ireland-- until the 1970s, all pubs were closed on March 17 for the religious observance of the holiday. I'll bet you never would have guessed that!

"One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, 'Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!'" --Luke 14:15

Kelsey
posted by Noelle at 9:38 AM

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