As you know, today is St. Patrick’s Day! It’s also the monthly guest reader post! And who better than one of my most absolute favoritest people c². (You might think – or even say “Hmm Lime seems to say that a lot. Well oftentimes for other people I’m lying. I mean it! … Even though she is so mean to me, as you can see!
Top o’ the morning to ye, interwebbers! Tis a lovely Spring day and a fine day to be Irish, don’t you think? And everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day! My goodness, doesn’t time fly by?? It seems like just a few weeks ago when Ms. Lime was starting up her blog and scheduling guests years in advance (I may have mocked said scheduling, btw). Yet here we areand it’s MY turn. Yikes!
For those of you who don’t know me (and that would be most of you, I’m sure), I sporadically review over at TGTBTU and hang around on Twitter a lot. Actually, if you read my Twitter bio, it says I am a lover of gadgets and trivia and am a procrastination facilitator. I do love to share all sorts of randomness. 😀
Since I was lucky enough to end up scheduled here on St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I would combine my love of trivia with my post for Lime. I didn’t mention that I love to travel but I do so there will be pictures of my visits to Ireland, too. Are you ready?? Yay!
First up, some St. Patrick’s Day trivia (from our friends over at Wikipedia, mostly). Did you know:
- St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated since the early 16th century when it was made an official feast day? It has gradually become a secular celebration of Irish culture in general.
- St. Patrick’s Day celebrates Ireland’s patron saint, Saint Patrick, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. Saint Patrick was a missionary in Ireland in the 5th century. Supposedly he drove all the snakes out of Ireland but that seems unlikely since islands generally don’t have snakes to start with (see what I did there?? BONUS trivia!).
- St. Patrick’s Day is usually celebrated with wearing green, a lifting of the Lenten dietary restrictions (including drinking alcohol), church services and parades.
- Saint Patrick’s real name was Maewyn Succat.
- There are more Americans of Irish origin than there are Irish in Ireland (36 million Americans claimed Irish ancestry in 2008; population of Ireland was 4.4 million at the time). (via Huffington Post)
- The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was in New York City in 1762.
- St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17th because it is the day Saint Patrick died, supposedly.
- Saint Patrick was, in fact, NOT Irish. He came to Ireland from Roman-ruled Britain.
- On St. Patrick’s Day, Chicago dyes its river green. Festive!
- The shamrock is the symbol of Ireland. It is said that Saint Patrick used it to illustrate the Trinity when teaching.
Sure, that’s more trivia than you ever wanted to know but you can go forth and impress your friends at the bar tonight. Win!
Next up, pictures of Ireland taken by ME (or maybe my mom but probably ME) on assorted vacations.
Irish Countryside
Irish Garden Path
Giant's Causeway
Irish cows (with sheep in the background, I think)
Dunluce Castle
Irish Hills
This concludes our (very) brief tour of Ireland.
So, I hope everyone has a fabulous St. Patrick’s Day. You better be wearing green! The pinchers are everywhere!
I’ll leave you with a (strangely appropriate for the internet) Irish blessing:
May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, the foresight to know where you’re going and the insight to know when you’ve gone too far.
And a very well known blessing, as well:
May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind ever be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.