Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here is a little History for you.
St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity's most widely known figures. But for all his celebrity, his life remains somewhat of a mystery.
Taken Prisoner By Irish Raiders. It is known that St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century. He is believed to have died on March 17, around 460 A.D. At the age of sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate. They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity. During this time, he worked as a shepherd, outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian. (It is also believed that Patrick first began to dream of converting the Irish people to Christianity during his captivity.) After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to his writing, God's-spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland.
To do so, Patrick walked nearly 200 miles from County Mayo, where it is believed he was held, to the Irish coast. After escaping to Britain, Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation-an angel in a dream tells him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Soon after, Patrick began religious training, a course of study that lasted more than fifteen years. After his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland with a dual mission-to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish. Familiar with the Irish language and culture, Patrick like many before him including Christ, chose to incorporate traditional ritual into his lessons of Christianity. Rather than of attempting to eradicate native Irish beliefs he would give them new meaning. For instance, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter since the Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire. He also superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish. Although there were a small number of Christians on the island when Patrick arrived, most Irish practiced a nature-based pagan religion. So for the most part St. Patrick did indeed Christianize Ireland.
Did St. Patrick remove the snakes from Ireland. Well some contend there were never were any physical snakes there to begin with. But in a symbolic way he did indeed remove the snakes from Ireland in the hearts of the Irish people. The "banishing of the snakes" was really a metaphor for the eradication of pagan ideology from Ireland and the triumph of Christianity. Within 200 years of Patrick's arrival, Ireland was completely Christianized.
The first St. Patrick's Day parades were in not in Ireland but in NYC staring March 17, 1762.
For symbols and recipes and more fun facts click the link below from the History Channel.
Hello My Friend - Last night I watched “Magic Moments”: The Best of 50’s Pop on our local KETV station. It was just wonderful…A lot of my favorites from the past were there and still doing a great job.. The show started off with Patti Page singing Tennessee Waltz… I hope I don’t leave any names out here but also performing were the original “Crew Cuts”, Debbie Reynolds, Pat Boone, The Four Aces, The Four Lads, the lead singer of The Chordettes (guess they couldn’t get all of them for various reasons; they may not all be living), Don Cherry, The Four Coins, The Diamonds, Gogi Grant, Mel Carter, The Four Preps and Wink Martindale was also there and last but not least “The McGuire Sisters” (their last appearance of this kind was in 1967). The young man who put this show together (I can’t remember his name) said it took 2 years trying to locate everyone or as many as they could to find out if they could make an appearance. I hope I haven’t left any names out…All these artists sang their hit songs of the past…Also featured by old clips were Tommy Edwards and Rosemary Clooney. Nick Clooney father of George was one of the hosts and the show was dedicated to Rosemary… I enjoyed every minute of this show. When it is time for fund raising you can’t beat what PBS comes up with to bring back so many memories for us “oldsters”…and all the young people out there who enjoy our kind of music..
Hello my friend, I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I am alive and well. Things have been kind of hectic here lately with the transitioning of the new company into our new home at work. This began the middle of February and we have just completed the moving part a week ago today. Now all we have to do is work out the bugs of the new networks (both computer and phones) and figure out where we put everything! So far everything is going well. We were able to make the move and still make and repair product and ship the product to our customers.
Yesterday, I had an appointment at the VA Hospital in Manchester, NH to have an eye exam as I am noticing some changes in my vision. I will be getting a new prescription to include trifocals so that I can stop tilting my head up or down to clearly see the computer screen! I also told them that I was having problems at night time with the glare of headlights of other vehicles. Hopefully the anti-glare coating will take care of that. While I was there, I had to have a couple of prescriptions renewed and also got both the regular flu shot as well as the H1N1 shot. I seem to be dragging a bit today and feeling stiff all over.
Please accept my apologies for not being on the Hill as much as what I used to be. Working 10 hour days does have a habit of taking its toll on a person. I wish everyone a very Happy St. Patrick's Day and
The sun has been shining here today and it has reached the low 40's..big improvement to what it has been. The weekend is here and I think most everyone looks forward to that for one reason or another...Enjoy... Jean
It's a lovely sunny day here in central Texas. I promise all of you in the snow and yuk, Spring is on it's way. Take care now. HUGS, Suzie
hope you're having a wonderful day! HUGS, Suzie
