Inside March 11, 2003's Issue

-Opinions-

Bourne with an Opinion

Top 10 new Mascots for FC

House of thought

Truth about St. Patty's Day

By Sandy House
Staff Writer

The truth about the annual March 17 holiday is quite the opposite of what most Americans believe. Though much Irish folklore surrounds St. Patrick's Day, not much of it is substantiated.

St. Patrick's Day is Ireland's greatest holiday. It celebrates the anniversary of the death of the missionary who became a patron saint of Ireland.

Many people who immigrated to the United States have come from Ireland. More than one-half of the soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War had Irish ancestors.

Today, it is said, Irish descendants in the United States put on a noisier and bigger St. Patrick's Day celebration than the people in Ireland. Every year on March 17 cities with a large population of Irish Americans have parties and parades.

Green is one of the national colors of Ireland and also one of the signs of spring. On St. Patrick's Day, people wear green shirts, ties, hair ribbons and hats. Many American bars even serve green beer!

Just like many other holidays in the United States, St. Patrick's Day has its origins in ancient times. A young boy named Patrick lived in the British Isles, a land that had been invaded and conquered first by the Romans and then by Germanic tribes. Patrick was captured and taken as a slave from the British Isles to what is now Ireland.

He lived there for several years herding sheep. He was a religious boy, and he prayed that he would someday return to his homeland.

The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place, not in Ireland but in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762.

Though originally a Catholic holy day, St. Patrick's Day has evolved into more of a secular holiday. 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.

Back when I attended Sunday school I believed that a four-leaf clover was lucky because the fourth leaf was symbolic of the return of Jesus Christ.

There are many misconceptions about St. Patrick's Day. I will start with the pinching, since that is the one I hate the most.

School children started a little tradition of their own. They pinch their friends if they are not wearing green on St. Patrick's Day. Wearing green is strictly a U.S. custom.

Green is connected to the old green flag and a time when Ireland was not free. So green is considered an unlucky color in Ireland.

Many Americans eat corned beef on St. Patrick's Day; however, corned beef is not an Irish dish. It is what Americans think the Irish eat. A more traditional meal would be ham and cabbage. (I think I'll stick with the corned beef.)

Some also think that green beer is prominent, but years ago pubs were closed for business because St. Patrick's Day is considered a holy day.

So that is the real deal. Americans will take any excuse they can get to drink and be merry.