Happy St Patrick’s Day
So many of us have Irish ancestry, and if we believe all that we are told, the rest of the world wishes they did.
There are numerous sites with varying histories as to the beginning of St. Patrick's Day. I will leave you to decide which are correct ..
perhaps one of the extracts below...
As the world battles the coronavirus this year, many parades and other celebrations have been cancelled, so let's wander though some of the traditions, etc. here instead...
Of course, we couldn't celebrate this day without a smile or two...
enjoy!
Here's a recipe for St. Patrick's Day Irish stew:
- Get some meat, some potatoes, onions, peas, spinach and a lot of Guinness.
- Drink all of the beer.
- Forget about the stew.
James said to his friend Daniel, "I know a girl who married an Irishman on St. Patrick's Day."
Daniel said, "Oh really?"
James said, "No, O'Reilly."
Daniel said, "Oh really?"
James said, "No, O'Reilly."
Q: Why do people wear shamrocks on St. Patrick’s Day?
A: Regular rocks are too heavy.
A: Regular rocks are too heavy.
Q: What do you call a leprechaun who gets sent to jail?
A: A lepre-con!
Paddy was driving his lorry when he saw a bridge with a sign saying 10 foot max. headroom. He slowed down wondering if he could drive under it or not , 'A shure I'll give it a go, he thought, only to find that his lorry got stuck underneath it.
Paddy sat back in his seat, poured out a cup of tea and lit a cigarette. A policeman arrived a short time later and knocked on the cab door which Paddy then opened, 'what do you think you are doing? asked the policeman in a sharp tone, 'Sure I'm having me tea break, replied Paddy, 'And what do you work at? asked the policeman, 'Agh shure I deliver bridges,! smiled Paddy!
St. Patrick's Day
St Patrick’s Day is a global celebration of Irish culture on or around March 17. It particularly remembers St Patrick, one of Ireland’s patron saints, who ministered Christianity in Ireland during the fifth century.
St Patrick’s Day is celebrated in countries with people of Irish descent.
©bigstockphoto.com/Stu99
What Do People Do?
St Patrick’s Day is celebrated in many parts of the world, especially by Irish communities and organizations. Many people wear an item of green clothing on the day. Parties featuring Irish food and drinks that are dyed in green food color are part of this celebration. It is a time when children can indulge in sweets and adults can enjoy a “pint” of beer at a local pub. Many restaurants and pubs offer Irish food or drink, which include:
- Irish brown bread.
- Corned beef and cabbage.
- Beef and Guinness pie.
- Irish cream chocolate mousse cake.
- Irish coffee.
- Irish potato champ, also known as poundies, cally or pandy.
- Irish stew.
- Irish potato soup.
Some people plan a pilgrimage to St Patrick’s Purgatory, which is commonly associated with penance and spiritual healing since the early 13th century. It is on Station Island in Lough Derg in County Donegal where St Patrick had a vision promising that all who came to the sanctuary in penitence and faith would receive a pardon for their sins.
Public Life
St Patrick's Day is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland (United Kingdom) and the Republic of Ireland. St Patrick’s Day is also a festive occasion in some parts of the world where it is not a public holiday. Therefore traffic and parking may be temporarily affected in streets and public areas where parades are held in towns and cities.
Background
St Patrick is one of the patron saints of Ireland. He is said to have died on March 17 in or around the year 493. He grew up in Roman Britain, but was captured by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland as a slave when he was a young adult. After some years he returned to his family and entered the church, like his father and grandfather before him. He later returned to Ireland as a missionary and worked in the north and west of the country.
According to popular legend, St Patrick rid Ireland of snakes. However, it is thought that there have been no snakes in Ireland since the last ice age. The "snakes" that St Patrick banished from Ireland, may refer to the druids or pagan worshipers of snake or serpent gods. He is said to be buried under Down Cathedral in Downpatrick, Ireland. Ireland’s other patron saints are St Brigid and St Columba.
Luke Wadding, a Franciscan scholar born in 1588 in Waterford, on the south coast of Ireland, was influential in ensuring that the anniversary of St Patrick's death became a feast day in the Catholic Church. Many Catholic churches traditionally move St Patrick's Day to another date if March 17 falls during Holy Week.
Many immigrants from Ireland fled to other parts of the world, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many Irish customs, including the St Patrick’s Day celebrations, became quite popular in these countries. However, much of the interest in the St Patrick’s Day events is largely commercially driven in the 21st century.
For further reading see here
also St. Patrick's Day and this Saint Patrick's Day | History, Traditions, & Facts | Britannicawww.britannica.com › topic › Saint-Patricks-Day
For those interested in the migration of the Irish...
from The Irish Times
More Irish emigrants leaving the country than returning again
Number of emigrants falls to 54,900, the lowest level recorded since 2008
The number of Irish people emigrating from Ireland has overtaken the number of people returning again.
An estimated 29,000 Irish nationals emigrated in the year to April 2019 compared with 26,900 who returned to the country during the year, according to figures published by the Central Statistics Office.
This marks a return to net outward migration after a year when, for the first time in nine years, the number of Irish people returning to live in Ireland from abroad marginally (100) overtook the number emigrating.
The net outward migration of 2,100 during the year – compared with net inward migration of 100 in 2017/2018 – contrasts starkly with the net inward migration of foreign nationals moving to Ireland.
The number of non-Irish nationals moving to Ireland exceeded the number leaving by 35,800 during the year, an increase of 5.6 per cent on the corresponding period for the previous 12-month period.
Some 88,600 people moved to Ireland during the year, down almost 2 per cent on the previous year. Of these, 26,900, or 30.4 per cent, were returning Irish nationals.
The 54,900 people who emigrated from Ireland, both Irish and other nationalities, during the year was the lowest figure recorded since 2008, down 2.5 per cent on the figure covering the same period last year. The number of emigrants peaked at 83,000 in 2012.
Population change
The population increased by 64,500, or 1.3 per cent, to 4.92 million people at April 2019. There were 622,700 non-Irish nationals – up almost 5 per cent – in the State, accounting for 12.7 per cent of the population.
It was estimated that there were almost 1.4 million people living in Dublin in April, or 28.4 per cent of the population. All regions recorded a population increase, ranging from the Mid West with an increase of 2,600 people, or 0.5 per cent of the population, to 25,100, or 1.8 per cent, in Dublin.
The United Kingdom remains the most popular country for emigrants from Ireland.
Migration to the UK increased by almost 2 per cent to 11,600 during the year, bucking several years of decline, while the numbers moving from the UK to Ireland fell by 2 per cent, to 19,700.
Immigration from “rest of world” countries (which excludes the UK, EU, Australia, Canada and the US) rose from 27,400 to 31,400, an increase of 14 per cent.
There was a surge in emigration to Australia, as the numbers leaving Ireland for the country increased by 2,000 to 6,500 in the year to April 2019 - a figure last recorded in 2015.
The numbers heading to Australia had been declining or remained flat in the intervening period. Emigrants leaving for the country peaked at 17,400 in 2012 in the wake of the economic crash.
The number of people returning or immigrating from Australia declined from 7,200 to 5,800.
To continue...
I couldn't resist adding this with the state of the world at the moment and all the panic buying...
