2008 Woodie Awards
It's St. Patricks Day!
Amanda Rudolph
Issue date: 3/17/06 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Remember when you were little and on March 17 you ran around at your school pinching everyone because they weren't wearing green? You didn't care who or what St. Patrick's Day was, you just loved going around pinching everyone and getting candy later on.
St. Patrick came to Ireland after an angel appeared to him in his dream and urged him to go to Ireland to spread Christianity. St. Patrick incorporated traditional beliefs into his Christianity lessons with the Irish belief. The sun, to the Irish, is a powerful symbol and with the cross and the sun the Celtic was created.
One traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. And this stems from a more bona fide Irish tale that tells how 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. The shamrock is now the national emblem of Ireland.
Leprechauns were known in ancient Irish as "lobaircin", meaning "small-bodied fellow". Belief in leprechauns probably stems from Celtic belief in fairies, tiny creatures that could use their magical powers for good or evil.
Everyone wears green to honor Ireland because green is the national color which symbolizes the islands lush landscape. And legend has it that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland and they all went into the sea and drowned. The snake was a pagan symbol and to this day there are no venomous snakes in Ireland.
The St. Patrick's Day custom came to America in 1737, which was the first year St. Patrick's Day was publicly celebrated in this country, in Boston. In the United States, St. Patrick's Day would not be St. Patrick's Day unless the Chicago River is dyed green which began in 1962.
Today, people celebrate St. Patrick's Day by wearing green, enjoying Irish folk music and food, and consuming large quantities of Irish beer (sometimes dyed green), such as Murphys, Smithwicks, Harp or Guinness - or other Irish liquors such as Irish whiskey, Irish coffee or Baileys Irish Cream.
One reason St. Patrick's Day might have become so popular is that it takes place just a few days before the first day of spring. One might say it has become the first green of spring. So this Friday go out and celebrate St. Patrick's Day!
St. Patrick came to Ireland after an angel appeared to him in his dream and urged him to go to Ireland to spread Christianity. St. Patrick incorporated traditional beliefs into his Christianity lessons with the Irish belief. The sun, to the Irish, is a powerful symbol and with the cross and the sun the Celtic was created.
One traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. And this stems from a more bona fide Irish tale that tells how 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. The shamrock is now the national emblem of Ireland.
Leprechauns were known in ancient Irish as "lobaircin", meaning "small-bodied fellow". Belief in leprechauns probably stems from Celtic belief in fairies, tiny creatures that could use their magical powers for good or evil.
Everyone wears green to honor Ireland because green is the national color which symbolizes the islands lush landscape. And legend has it that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland and they all went into the sea and drowned. The snake was a pagan symbol and to this day there are no venomous snakes in Ireland.
The St. Patrick's Day custom came to America in 1737, which was the first year St. Patrick's Day was publicly celebrated in this country, in Boston. In the United States, St. Patrick's Day would not be St. Patrick's Day unless the Chicago River is dyed green which began in 1962.
Today, people celebrate St. Patrick's Day by wearing green, enjoying Irish folk music and food, and consuming large quantities of Irish beer (sometimes dyed green), such as Murphys, Smithwicks, Harp or Guinness - or other Irish liquors such as Irish whiskey, Irish coffee or Baileys Irish Cream.
One reason St. Patrick's Day might have become so popular is that it takes place just a few days before the first day of spring. One might say it has become the first green of spring. So this Friday go out and celebrate St. Patrick's Day!