St. Patrick's Day – Celebrating the Green

Since St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner (or is that the corner pub?), here’s a wee bit of background on the holiday itself, for the ‘intellectually curious’ out there. It’s from the History Channel’s website.

St. Patrick is believed to have driven the snakes from Ireland. Once a pagan himself, St. Patrick is one of Christianity's most widely known figures.

The modern secular holiday is based on the original Christian saint's feast day also thought to be the date of the saint's death. In 1737, Irish immigrants to the United States began observing the holiday publicly in Boston and held the first St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City in 1766.

Today, the tradition continues with people from all walks and heritages by wearing green, eating Irish food, and attending parades. St. Patrick's Day is bursting with folklore; from the shamrock to the leprechaun and to pinching those that are not wearing green. Read more…

----
Remember to wear the green yourself this year, with fun costumes, hats, and other accessories from anniescostumes.com.

St. Patrick's Day 2008 Changed to March 15th

A big thanks to Ronan from IrelandCostumes.com, who commented on my earlier post about celebrating St. Patrick's Day. He was kind enough to point out and bring to my attention that the the official date for St. Patrick's Day has been changed by an Irish Bishop to March 15, 2008. Because of the way that Easter falls this year, March 17th is on Holy Monday, and Catholic officials did not want the feast held in honor of Saint Patrick to interfere with holy week.

So whether you choose to celebrate St. Paddy's day on March 15th or March 17th (or even the entire weekend!), have a green blast!