Erin go Bragh!

Today is St' Patrick's Day, one of my favorite holidays. You don't need to do anything, except wear green, and have fun!! And eat some wonderful food! I always make boiled corned beef and cabbage with carrots and potatoes. It's tradition!

From Wikipedia:

Little is known of Patrick's early life, though it is known that he was born in Roman Britain in the fifth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father and grandfather were deacons in the Church. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave.^[1] It is believed he was held somewhere on the west coast of Ireland, possibly Mayo, but the exact location is unknown. According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest.

In 432, he again says that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to save the Irish, and indeed he was successful at this, focusing on converting royalty and aristocracy as well as the poor. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of teaching and spreading God's Word he died on 17 March, 461 AD, and was buried at Downpatrick, so tradition says. Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish Church.

Wearing of green

According to legend, Saint Patrick used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish people.

Originally the colour associated with Saint Patrick was blue. However, over the years the colour green and its association with Saint Patrick's day grew.^[2] Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century.^[3] He is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish, and the wearing and display of shamrocks and shamrock-inspired designs have become a ubiquitous feature of the day.^[4][5] Then in the 1798 rebellion in hopes of making a political statement Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on 17 March in hopes of catching attention with their unusual fashion gimmick.^[2] The phrase "the wearing of the green", meaning to wear a shamrock on one's clothing, derives from the song of the same name.

History in Ireland

It is believed that Saint Patrick's Day has been celebrated in Ireland since before the 1600s. It was also believed to have served as a one-day break during Lent, the forty day period of fasting. This would involve drinking alcohol; something which became a tradition. Saint Patrick's feast day was finally placed on the universal liturgical calendar in the Catholic Church due to the influence of theWaterford-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding^[6] in the early 1600s. Saint Patrick's Day thus became a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics in Ireland. The church calendar avoids the observance of saints' feasts during certain solemnities, moving the saint's day to a time outside those periods. Saint Patrick's Day is very occasionally affected by this requirement – when 17 March falls during Holy Week. This happened in 1940 when Saint Patrick's Day was observed on 3 April in order to avoid it coinciding with Palm Sunday, and again in 2008, having been observed on 15 March. Saint Patrick's Day will not fall within Holy Week again until2160.^[7][8]

^{More here on St. Patty's day.}

^{He is also believed to have chased all the snakes out of Ireland too. However, there never werr snakes on the isle. It's probably meant as chasing the Pagans away when he brought Christianity to the Irish.}

^{Have a good one, everybody.}

<sup>May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God be with you and bless you:
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.</sup>

Today is Saint Patrick's Day! I'm not Irish but I certainly enjoy being Irish for the day! lol.

Saint Patrick was born as Maewyn, in AD 385, in Wales. He was sold into slavery at 16. He converted to Christianity, took up the name Patrick, and escaped from slavery in his early 20's. He joined a monastery in Gaul and found his calling converting pagans (Druids) to christianity. For thirty years, he set up schools and churches in Ireland, converting the Celts into Christians wherever he went. He died on March 17th AD 461.

There is much folklore surrounding St. Patrick's Day. It is believed that Patrick raised people from the dead. He is also said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland. Scientists say that snakes were never native to Ireland. Probably, this is a metaphor for the conversion of the pagans.

One traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day.

In 1737, The first American St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in Boston. Today, people celebrate the day with parades, wearing of the green, and drinking beer. One reason St. Patrick's Day might have become so popular is that it occurs just before spring. One might say it is the first green of spring.

Here is a link to the Catholic encyclopedia about St. Patrick.

I am celebrating with a dinner of Bubble and Squeak. What's that, you ask? Why, it's boiled corned beef with cabbage, carrots, potatoes and onions! I like to put the corned beef in a crock pot and simmer all day. Then I add the vegetables in the last couple of hours. I make baking soda bread and, this year, I want to make a grasshopper pie: chocolate cookie crust with a green marshmallowy filling with creme de menthe liquer. Yummy!!! Here's a link to the recipe. Or maybe just a coffee with some whipped cream and Baileys.

Here's wishing a blessing to everyone, direct from the mouth of St. Patrick himself:

A blessing on the people --
Men, youths, and women;
A blessing on the land
That yields them fruit.

A blessing on every treasure
That shall be produced on their plains,
Without any one being in want of help,
God's blessing be on everyone.

A blessing on their peaks,
On their bare flagstones,
A blessing on their glens,
A blessing on their ridges.

Like the sand of the sea under ships,
Be the number in their hearths;
On slopes, on plains,
On mountains, on hills, a blessing.

Little Greenie - song: Jean Genie, artist: David Bowie, album: Aladdin Sane