St. Patrick's Day

Greetings from sunny Ireland!! For once I'm not even joking. The sun is splitting the rocks today for a change and it has me wondering if Saint Patrick not only chased the snakes out, but maybe he chases the sun in for his day each year? As anyone who has visited Ireland, will tell you, we get a fair drop of rain throughout the year and our Summer lasts from July 2nd until July 16th typically with the mercury hitting an eye-watering 22 degrees Celsius for more than two days in a row.

Ok, let's not turn this into a post about the weather, as I will start losing my audience as quick as Metal fans at a Susan Boyle concert. This post first and foremost wants to wish you a happy St. Patrick's day, over the past 200 years, my ancestors and those of all of us in Ireland have scattered to the 4 corners of the world. It is touching and beautiful to see all of our diaspora celebrate our Patron Saint's day every year on March 17th and spread the celebration in doing so - I will touch on that also, showing land marks from around the world lighting up for Saint Patrick. I will give a brief history of Saint Patrick and how he became our Patron Saint and I will share some of the art my kids made for St. Patrick's day.

I don't often praise the Government here in Ireland - to be fair none of us do. Ypu won't see many tweets saying "The Irish Government are fantastic because.....", instead you're more likely to see "Kim Kardasian's big toe is amazing because..." But today I will not wax lyrical about the Phalanges of Miss Kardasian, no sir, today, I will say, Well done Irish Government. They decided at the end of last year that they would gift our country an extra bank holiday this year and with St. Patricks day (already a bank holiday) falling on a Thursday, what better day than Friday to give as a bank holiday. The entire country can stay in bed tomorrow and nurse that St. Patricks day hangover, Huray. For those of you partaking in a few pints of Arthur (aka Guinness), I hope the hangover is not to severe tomorrow as you face into your workday, I will spare you a thought as I roll over for some cold pillow.

St. Patrick some man for the Paddleboarding

Check out these fellow Galwegians from last year enjoying a paddle board surf in Galway bay in full St Patrick's day attire! Legends :) And sure you'd have to bring the dog with you too, everyone knows our canine brethren are mad for a bit of paddle boarding too!

Kids Art from School

My kids are big into St. Patrick's day too and here is some of the art they made to celebrate the day. That box of keepsakes upstairs is getting bigger by the year, but I love the kids art and we try to hold onto as much as we can.

Saint Patrick's Day around the world

St Patricks day is not just a big deal in Ireland. Many of our friends around the world celebrate it too and they usually brighten up their famous landmarks with the green of St Patrick. Here is just a taste of the landmarks that turn Irish for one day only! It makes me so proud to be Irish when our friends around the world celebrate with us like this. In fact, given that the colour associated with the day is green, I would like to see us explore pushing Green energy and planet conservation as part of the global celebration. For one day a year, us Irish have this global stage, and I'd love to see it used constructively and not just centre around drinking and craic. Don't get me wrong now, I do like a bit of drinking and craic, but why not drinking, craic and planet sustainability?

A history of St. Patrick

I found the following short history on https://www.galwaytourism.ie/ which you may find interesting.

Saint Patrick was a Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the “Apostle of Ireland”, he is the primary patron saint of Ireland along with Saints Brigid and Columba.

The dates of Patrick’s life cannot be fixed with certainty but, on a widespread interpretation, he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the second half of the fifth century. He is generally credited with being the first bishop of Armagh.

It is said that he was about 16 years old he was captured from his home in Great Britain by Irish Pirates, and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. During his time in Ireland it is believed Patrick was a Shepard on the slopes of the Slemish Mountains in County Antrim. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. When he arrived home he was re-united with his family and friends. He later began to realize that he may have a vocation to the priesthood, or some ministry of prayer in the Church. At this time the Church was already established somewhat in Ireland. There was already an Archbishop of Armagh by the name of Pallidus.

When Patrick was ordained a priest, he asked to be sent as a missionary to Ireland, back then it was known as Hibernia, which means the “Land of Winter.” Patrick was soon to become Ireland’s Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland. This he undertook and gave himself two mandates, first to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity, and secondly to setting up the ecclesiastical structures and dioceses with a view to achieving independence from Arles, which was supporting the missionary activity in Ireland up until that time.

He travelled the length and breadth of the island of Ireland, baptising people and establishing monasteries, schools and churches as he went. It is believed that St Patrick used the shamrock which is the national flower of Ireland to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagans. It is also believed that he chased all the snakes out of Ireland by driving them into the sea; this of course is a myth. St Patrick is also the one who left us with the Celtic cross. When he began to evangelize he found that many of the pagans had worshipped the sun and so he embodied the sun into the Latin cross, likewise when he met the Druids who worshipped a sacred standing stone that was marked with a circle, which was symbolic of the moon goddess, which he embodied that also. The Celtic cross is now world famous and revered by all.

Saint Patrick’s Day takes place on the 17th of March, the date of his death. It is celebrated inside and outside Ireland as a religious and cultural holiday. Many big cities and small towns along with people around the world have a parade in his honour and wear green to represent Ireland and many buildings around the world turn green along with rivers and fountains.

It is not known for sure where his remains were laid although Downpatrick in County Down in the North of Ireland is thought to be his final resting place.

There are many different stories about St. Patrick and the events in his life but his memory lives on strong with the people of Ireland and around the world.

St Patrick’s connections to my native Galway

West of Galway City is the village of Killannin, a townland named after St Annin, a druidess during the time of St Patrick, is fabled to have potentially been his lover had he not been faithful to his vow of his celibacy due to his devout Christianity.

A stronger connection stems from the ancient religious remains on Inchagoill Island, an island popular with visitor taking the Corrib Cruise from Cong and Oughterard. The most noteworthy of these ancient artifacts conserved on Inchagoill Island is the Early Christian church of St Patrick, believed to have been built by Patrick and his nephew Lugna, who died on the island (circa 500 AD). The headstone of Lugna bears the inscription, “LIE LUGUAEDON MACCI MENUECH” which translates to “The Stone of Luguaedon Son Of Menuech”. This text is considered to be the oldest inscription in Roman letters in Europe other than found at the catacombs in Rome. Menuech is almost certain to have been a reference to Liamain, which was the name of St Patrick’s sister and Lugna is also reputed to have been St Patrick’s navigator. This monumental stone is a single, four sided pillar which is significantly in the shape of a boat’s rudder.

Fun Facts about St Patrick… Patron Saint of Ireland

1. St Patrick Died on March 17th
2. At the age of 16 years old he kidnapped by Irish raiders and sold as a slave
3. He was from Great Britain
4. St. Patrick used the shamrock to preach about the holy trinity
5. St Patrick’s Day is a massive day for brewers. An estimate amount spent on beer for Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations at €214 million
6. Legend says St. Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland
7. The World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Riverdale, in the Bronx, NY. The event took place on March 17, 2014 and raised $2,300 to help feed the homeless. It was a spectacular success
8. The Shamrock is the national flower of Ireland but not the symbol. The harp is the national symbol
9. Your odds of finding a four-leaf clover are About 1 in 10,000
10. His colour was “Saint Patrick’s blue,” a light shade. The colour green only became associated with the St Patricks day after it was linked to the Irish independence movement in the late 18th century
11. The St. Patrick‘s Day parade was invented in the United States
12. Nine of the people who signed our Declaration of Independence were of Irish origin, and nineteen Presidents of the United States proudly claim Irish heritage — including our first President, George Washington
13. St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated in space – twice
14. St Patrick’s Day was considered a strictly religious holiday in Ireland, which meant that the nation’s pubs were closed for business on the 17th of March. In 1970, the day was converted to a national holiday, and the stout and Beer resumed flowing.
15. Chicago dyes its river green on St. Patrick’s Day
16. In Seattle, there is a ceremony where a green stripe is painted down the roads
    34 million Americans have Irish ancestry, according to the 2003 US Census. That’s almost nine times the population of Ireland
17. Legend says that each leaf of the clover means something: the first is for hope, the second for faith, the third for love and the fourth for luck

Thanks a million for stopping by.

The images used are not my own and the following are the sources:

https://pixabay.com/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/
https://www.rte.ie/
https://www.irishmirror.ie/
https://www.newstalk.com/

Peace Out