Amazed to discover that most of the things I thought to be true about St Patrick and his day of celebration are in fact not so.
Apparently we shouldn't be dying our drinks green, but blue, since this the colour associated with St Patrick.
St Patrick's Day was invented in America rather than Ireland when the celebrations were introduced as a way of creating solidarity among the massive influx of Irish immigrants to the country.
Celebrations in America
St Patrick's Day in Ireland!
And bizarrely, we're all partying on the day he died too. But then again the Irish do enjoy a good wake! Although the day was originally a dry one, with abstinence being observed as a mark of respect for the day's religious significance.
It's not even certain that he was born in Ireland and historians believe it more likely that he was born in either Scotland, Wales or England! And he probably didn't drive out snakes from Ireland either.
The symbol most commonly associated with Ireland is the shamrock and probably thought to be the national emblem is, in fact, not. It is the Irish harp, although they both seem to feature together a lot. And although it's not impossible to find a four leaf clover, your odds are pretty slim - about 10,000 to 1 (which is more likely than I'd expected.)
But whatever the fact or the fiction, if you're celebrating - have a great day.
And my tenuous link? Not even tenuous today as I can proudly link to our glorious leprechaun hat, and fittingly enough I shall be making and sending one off in the post today.
Additional reporting : Huffington Post.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for reading our blog. We hope you enjoy it and share it with your friends. If you have a secret place, shop, book or hobby you would like to share, we want to hear about it. Email us at enquiries@cobwebknits.co.uk together with a bit of info about you and any links or images you would like included.