Why All THe GREEN Today?

What is behind our St. Patrick's day celebration? This is believed to ber the anniversary if the death of Saint Patrick.

So why do we celebrate St Patrick’s death?
Who was he and why is he honored still?
He left us in the fifth century, and has become an iconic leprechaun in my mind.
What's behind one of the biggest commemorative parties going?

Here’s some interesting findings:

THE SAINT:
"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. Many of the stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, including the famous account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland, are false, the products of hundreds of years of exaggerated storytelling."
Saint Patrick is credited with bringing the written word to Ireland. From Great Britain, his pilgrimage to Ireland spanned thirty years. He brought Christianity to Ireland, displacing the Pagan Druids


THE PARADE 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. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.

In 1848, several New York Irish Aid societies decided to unite their parades to form one New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade. Today, that parade is the world 's oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States, with over 150,000 participants.

THE CORNED BEEF Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional St. Patrick's Day dish. In 2007, roughly 41.5 billion pounds of U.S. beef and 2.6 billion pounds of U.S. cabbage were sold. Many St. Patrick's Day celebrants enjoyed corned beef from Texas, which produced 6.8 billion pounds of beef, and cabbage from California and New York, which produced 581 and 580 million pounds, respectively.

IRISH AMERICANS There are 36.5 million U.S. residents with Irish roots. This number is almost nine times the population of Ireland itself (more than four million).

So if you, like I, have Irish ancestry...and even if you don't, utter a quiet moment's tribute to the man who changed Irish Civilization, and is honored today!

Top of the Mornin' To You!

Linda Carol Berry

LE TI IT BE FUN !