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St Patrick's Day Costume Party
Ideas
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 IT'S OFFICIAL
For most of the world, St. Patrick's Day
will be
on March 17, 2012, just days after the end
of carnival! However, since it is now a
National Holiday in Ireland, it is sometimes
celebrated at a later date if it conflicts
with Holy Week.
St. Patrick's Day Festival in Ireland is now
rivaling Mardi Gras in the US in terms of
attendance.
The festival, which started out as a one day
celebration to put Ireland on the party map,
has expanded to a five day event, with more
than half a million party goers attending.
Methinks, it may be time to book a trip!!
It seems, regardless of ethnic background,
the whole world celebrates the
patron saint of
Ireland, the man who chastised the
British for mistreating the People Ireland?
And why not? When one is oppressed, we are
all oppressed, because we are all one:
bottom's up!
No matter where you might be in the world on
St. Paddy's day, you are bound to find
something swathed,
cloaked, or painted, lit or dyed green... Embrace
it - you're now under the spell of the Land of
the Leprechaun! If you want the luck '
o the Irish you have to wear green. Find it
here. |
 Who's
the Man? Saint Patrick? Important historical figures are frequently shadowed
by the myths and legends attributed to them over the
course of centuries, and St. Patrick is no
exception. He is believed to have been born in the
late fourth century, and is often confused with Palladius, a bishop who was sent by Pope Celestine
in 431 to be the first bishop to the Irish believers
in Christ. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, St.
Patrick was the patron saint and national apostle of
Ireland who is credited with bringing Christianity
to Ireland. Most of what is known about him comes
from his two works, the Confessio, a spiritual
autobiography, and his Epistola, a denunciation of
British mistreatment of Irish Christians.
Saint
Patrick is most known for driving the snakes from
Ireland. It is true there are no snakes in Ireland,
but there probably never have been -- the island was
separated from the rest of the continent at the end
of the Ice Age.
As in many old pagan religions,
serpent symbols were common and often worshipped.
Driving the snakes from Ireland was probably
symbolic of putting an end to that pagan practice.
While not the first to bring Christianity to
Ireland, it is Patrick who is said to have
encountered the Druids at Tara and abolished their
pagan rites. The story holds that he converted the
warrior chiefs and princes, baptizing them and
thousands of their subjects in the "Holy Wells" that
still bear this name.
St. Patrick's Day
Costume Party Ideas
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