[guide.chat] Meaning of Saint Patrics day

  • From: "Carol O'Connor" <missbossyboots33@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "guide chat" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2013 15:47:15 -0000


Even though Saint Patrick the patron saint of Ireland and one of the 
most celebrated religious figures around the world, the factual 
information about his life and times is quite vague. Most information 
about St. Patrick has been twisted, embellished, or simply made up over 
centuries by storytellers, causing much ambiguity about the real life of 
St. Patrick.

  St. Patrick's Day is observed on March 17 because that is the feast 
day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is believed that he 
died on March 17 in the year 461 AD. It is also a worldwide celebration 
of Irish culture and history. St. Patrick's Day is a national holiday in 
Ireland, and a provincial holiday in the Canadian province of 
Newfoundland and Labrador.

  In Ireland on St. Patrick's Day, people traditionally wear a small 
bunch of shamrocks on their jackets or caps. Children wear orange, white 
and green badges, and women and girls wear green ribbons in their hair.

  Many cities have a St. Patrick's Day parade. Dublin, the capital of 
Ireland, has a huge St. Patrick's Day festival from March 15-19, that 
features a parade, family carnivals, treasure hunt, dance, theatre and 
more. In North American, parades are often held on the Sunday before 
March 17. Some paint the yellow street lines green for the day! In 
Chicago, the Chicago River is dyed green with a special dye that only 
lasts a few hours. There has been a St. Patrick's Day parade in Boston, 
Massachusetts since 1737. Montreal is home to Canada's longest running 
St. Patrick's Day parade, which began in 1824.
Facts about Saint Patrick.

  St. Patrick was born in 385 AD somewhere along the west coast of 
Britain, possibly in the Welsh town of Banwen. At age 16, he was 
captured and sold into slavery to a sheep farmer. He escaped when he was 
22 and spent the next 12 years in a monastery. In his 30s he returned to 
Ireland as a Christian missionary. He died at Saul in 461 AD and is 
buried at Downpatrick.
Facts about the Irish

* 34 million Americans have Irish ancestry, according to the 2003 US 
Census. That's almost nine times the population of Ireland, which has 
4.1 million people.
* Some American towns have "Irish" names. You could visit: Mount 
Gay-Shamrock, West Virginia; Shamrock Lakes, Indiana; Shamrock, 
Oklahoma; Shamrock, Texas; Dublin, California and Dublin, Ohio.

* The harp is the symbol of Ireland. The color green is also commonly 
associated with Ireland, also known as "the Emerald Isle."

* The Irish flag is green, white and orange. The green symbolizes the 
people of the south, and orange, the people of the north. White 
represents the peace that brings them together as a nation.

* The name "lephrechaun" has several origins. It could be from the Irish 
Gaelic word "leipreachan," which means "a kind of aqueous sprite." Or, 
it could be from "leath bhrogan," which means "shoemaker."
Facts about Clovers

* According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest number of 
leaves found on a clover is 14!

* One estimate suggests that there are about 10 000 regular three-leaf 
clovers for every lucky four-leaf clover.

* 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. 

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  • » [guide.chat] Meaning of Saint Patrics day - Carol O'Connor