Happy St.Patrick's!

An Early Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick in Legend

Patrick was born at Banna Venta Berniae, Calpornius his father was a deacon, his grandfather Potitus a priest. When he was about sixteen, he was captured and carried off as a slave to Ireland. Patrick worked as a herdsman, remaining a captive for six years. He writes that his faith grew in captivity, and that he prayed daily. After six years he heard a voice telling him that he would soon go home, and then that his ship was ready. Fleeing his master, he travelled to a port, two hundred miles away he says, where he found a ship and, after various adventures, returned home to his family, then in his early twenties.

Pious legend credits Patrick with banishing snakes from the island, though post-glacial Ireland never actually had snakes; one suggestion is that snakes referred to the serpent symbolism of the Druids of that time and place, as shown for instance on coins minted in Gaul (see Carnutes), or that it could have referred to beliefs such as Pelagianism, symbolized as “serpents”. Legend also credits Patrick with teaching the Irish about the concept of the Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a 3-leaved clover, using it to highlight the Christian belief of 'three divine persons in the one God' (as opposed to the Arian belief that was popular in Patrick's time). Whether or not these legends are true, the very fact that there are so many legends about Patrick shows how important his ministry was to Ireland. Some Irish legends involve the Oilliphéist, the Caoránach, and the Copóg Phádraig. During his evangelising journey back to Ireland from his parent's home at Birdoswald, he is understood to have carried with him an ash wood walking stick or staff. He thrust this stick into the ground wherever he was evangelising and at the place now known as Aspatria (ash of Patrick) the message of the good news took so long to get through to the people there that the stick had taken root by the time he was ready to move on. The 12th century work Acallam na Senórach tells of Patrick being met by two ancient warriors, Caílte mac Rónáin and Oisín, during his evangelical travels. The two were once members of Fionn mac Cumhaill's warrior band the Fianna, and somehow survived to Patrick's time. They traveled with the saint and told him their stories.

Celebrated in America since 1737!!

Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated worldwide by Irish people and increasingly by non-Irish people (usually in Australia, North America, and Ireland) as well. Celebrations are generally themed around all things Irish and, by association, the colour green. Both Christians and non-Christians celebrate the secular version of the holiday by wearing green or orange, eating Irish food and/or green foods, imbibing Irish drink (such as Guinness) and attending parades.

The St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin, Ireland is part of a five-day festival; over 500,000 people attended the 2006 parade. The largest St. Patrick's Day parade is held in New York City and it is watched by over 2 million spectators. The St. Patrick's Day parade was first held in Boston in 1737, organized by the Charitable Irish Society. New York's celebration began on 18 March 1762 when Irish soldiers in the British army marched through the city.[citation needed] The predominantly French-speaking Canadian city of Montréal, in the province of Québec has the longest continually running Saint Patrick's day parade in North America, since 1824. The city's flag has the Irish emblem, the shamrock, in one of its corners. Ireland's cities all hold their own parades and festivals. These cities include Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Derry, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, and Waterford. Parades also take place in other Irish towns and villages.

---

---

The reason for this early "Ireland Forever" (/ˌɛrɪn gə ˈbrɔː/) is that there won't be any posts during the next two days. Tomorrow I'll be going to the hospital for a small operation on one of my lower vertebrae. It has an outgrowth that is pressing the nerve running up and down the spinal cord and let me tell you: IT's quite painful; my lower back and my legs have been drugged with something one step shorter than morphine, at least until tomorrow morning when the doctor will remove the excess bone.

I trust my doctor, after all it was him who removed the 5 inch tumor from the top of my head two years ago, and I came out better than I went in... ...I think. Anyway, he tells me that this operation is a simple procedure and that I will only need to be in the hospital until Wednesday. 2 days, that's all, then I'll be back at the computer finding out what Anderson did or didn't do for those two days. Today he's in New Orleans, where he'll be tomorrow and Wednesday is anybody's guess at this moment, but he is supposed to go to Los Angeles, Detroit, Tampa and New York. New York will be his last stop I assume, so that he'll end up at home.

So, it is Good Night for now, I have to get an early rest so I can make it to the hospital by 6 AM tomorrow. SIX A.M.! May St. Patrick guide me along the path to and back from the hospital. And while everybody will be getting ready to attend the parade, St. Pats will be by my side, just long enough to guide the doctor's hand and then run to the start of his parade. Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody!