St. Patrick's Day - March 17th

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Don't press your luck... :giggle:
 

Capt Lightning said:
Well, I'll stay happily British. After all, St Patrick was English.
When I was in N.Ireland, many years ago, nobody seemed to bother about it. It was looked upon by many as an American thing.
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I am far from Irish myself but have been celebrating St. Patrick's Day since I was a child. Mom made it point to dress us in green in order to avoid getting pinched by classmates. Teachers made it a fun day as well. It is OK to be Irish for the day.
 
PamfromTx said:
I am far from Irish myself but have been celebrating St. Patrick's Day since I was a child. Mom made it point to dress us in green in order to avoid getting pinched by classmates. Teachers made it a fun day as well. It is OK to be Irish for the day.
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LOL..I'm Scottish from Irish Grandparents.. and Irish ancestry... and in Scotland where I was born and raised we always made a big deal about St Patricks' day with marches, and street parties ( not as much as Americans' tho') ... oddly we hardly ever celebrated St Andrews Day... which is Scotlands' Saint..
 
hollydolly said:
LOL..I'm Scottish from Irish Grandparents.. and Irish ancestry... and in Scotland where I was born and raised we always made a big deal about St Patricks' day with marches, and street parties ( not as much as Americans' tho') ... oddly we hardly ever celebrated St Andrews Day... which is Scotlands' Saint..
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LOL, I'm a fourth generation Mexican American and do not have a drop of Irish blood. Teehee.
 

"The real story of Saint Patrick​

Everyone knows about Saint Patrick — the man who drove the snakes out of Ireland, defeated fierce Druids in contests of magic, and used the shamrock to explain the Christian Trinity to the pagan Irish. It’s a great story, but none of it is true. The shamrock legend came along centuries after Patrick’s death, as did the miraculous battles against the Druids. Forget about the snakes — Ireland never had any to begin with. No snakes, no shamrocks, and he wasn’t even Irish.


The real story of St. Patrick is much more interesting than the myths. What we know of Patrick’s life comes only through the chance survival of two remarkable letters which he wrote in Latin in his old age. In them, Patrick tells the story of his tumultuous life and allows us to look intimately inside the mind and soul of a man who lived over fifteen hundred years ago. We may know more biographical details about Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great, but nothing else from ancient times opens the door into the heart of a man more than Patrick’s letters. They tell the story of an amazing life of pain and suffering, self-doubt and struggle, but ultimately of faith and hope in a world which was falling apart around him.

The historical Patrick was not Irish at all, but a spoiled and rebellious young Roman citizen living a life of luxury in fifth-century Britain when he was suddenly kidnapped from his family’s estate as a teenager and sold into slavery across the sea in Ireland. For six years he endured brutal conditions as he watched over his master’s sheep on a lonely mountain in a strange land. He went to Ireland an atheist, but there heard what he believed was the voice of God. One day he escaped and risked his life to make a perilous journey across Ireland, finding passage back to Britain on a ship of reluctant pirates. His family welcomed back their long-lost son and assumed he would take up his life of privilege, but Patrick heard a different call. He returned to Ireland to bring a new way of life to a people who had once enslaved him. He constantly faced opposition, threats of violence, kidnapping, and even criticism from jealous church officials, while his Irish followers faced abuse, murder, and enslavement themselves by mercenary raiders. But through all the difficulties Patrick maintained his faith and persevered in his Irish mission.


The Ireland that Patrick lived and worked in was utterly unlike the Roman province of Britain in which he was born and raised. Dozens of petty Irish kings ruled the countryside with the help of head-hunting warriors while Druids guided their followers in a religion filled with countless gods and perhaps an occasional human sacrifice. Irish women were nothing like those Patrick knew at home. Early Ireland was not a world of perfect equality by any means, but an Irish wife could at least control her own property and divorce her husband for any number of reasons, including if he became too fat for sexual intercourse. But Irish women who were slaves faced a cruel life. Again and again in his letters, Patrick writes of his concern for the many enslaved women of Ireland who faced beatings and abuse on a daily basis.


Patrick wasn’t the first Christian to reach Ireland; he wasn’t even the first bishop. What made Patrick successful was his dogged determination and the courage to face whatever dangers lay ahead, as well as the compassion and forgiveness to work among a people who had brought nothing but pain to his life. None of this came naturally to him, however. He was a man of great insecurities who constantly wondered if he was really cut out for the task he had been given. He had missed years of education while he was enslaved in Ireland and carried a tremendous chip on his shoulder when anyone sneered, as they frequently did, at his simple, schoolboy Latin. He was also given to fits of depression, self-pity, and violent anger. Patrick was not a storybook saint, meek and mild, who wandered Ireland with a beatific smile and a life free from petty faults. He was very much a human being who constantly made mistakes and frequently failed to live up to his own Christian ideals, but he was honest enough to recognize his shortcomings and never allow defeat to rule his life.


You don’t have to be Irish to admire Patrick. His is a story of inspiration for anyone struggling through hard times public or private in a world with unknown terrors lurking around the corner. So raise a glass to the patron saint of Ireland, but remember the man behind the myth."

https://blog.oup.com/2014/09/real-story-saint-patrick/
 
They are only referring to their Irish heritage, Holly. I cannot imagine living in Ireland, but I am descended from both the North and the Republic. Further, it is not only an American thing as was commented on before. All of Ireland honors St. Patrick as its patron saint. He was abducted from England and enslaved as a youngster by Irish nobles. When he escaped and later became a priest, he returned to Ireland and introduced Christianity to that Pagan state. The shamrock is a symbol of the Holy Trinity. In Ireland, today is a holy day of obligation for Catholics.

The idea of how we in America is to celebrate getting out of that very repressive country, and to try and forget the Troubles and the Famine, etc. That's all. Most festivals we celebrate over here are for the similarity in reasons for coming to the USA.
 
My wife pinched me this morning because I did not have green on. I pinched her back telling her she too was not wearing green!

She scolded me, reminding me of her green eyes and her Auburn red hair. I reminded her that did not count. She is as Irish as an American can get, although she was adopted, and we are not sure about her last name.... probably "O" something or 'Mc' something! Anyway, we have been fighting this battle for over 52 St. Patrick Days together. It has been a good life after all...

Happy St. Patrick's Day to one and all...
 
Lewkat said:
Everybody is Irish tomorrow. Celebrate and enjoy.
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My wife was proudly Polish the rest of the year, but Irish on her St. Patrick's Day birthday. The story she told was that the doctor who delivered her was Irish, and he convinced her mother to name her Patricia. This was a special day in our household when our daughters were growing up. When they were young adults, we would hit a pub or two for green beer on this fine and glorious day!
 
It's said that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. Without an internal combustion engine, it would be centuries before that came along, he probably had a couple of electric eels, masquerading as snakes, supplying the power:
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