~Let love and friendship reign~

"La Fheile Padraig" (how do you like my Gaelic?)


There is a beautiful statue of St. Patrick at the Abbey Well at Co. Clare in Ireland.My late Uncle Clare was my late beloved Auntie Kay's husband. We are an Irish family, my maternal grandmother, Eulalia Holland, coming from Co. Cork in Ireland.





St. Patrick's Day: Legend has it that Saint Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland which is a metaphor since Ireland, since the Ice Age, never had snakes. The snake is a pagan symbol and it is suspected that this is a figurative tale explaining that St. Patrick drove "paganism" out of Ireland. Named Maewyn Succat at his birth in Britain near the end of the fourth century, he was abducted by the Celts and sold into slavery at age 16. He worked for six years as a shepherd in Ireland, tending his flock, alone, with only God to talk to and he converted to Christianity. He took the name Patrick(or Patricus) after he fled slavery to became a priest in Gaul(France) at age 22. After years of serving as a priest and monk in Gaul, he received a vision that told him to return to Ireland which he did at at about 60 years of age to follow his calling and convert the Irish pagans to Christianity. Through the strength of his personality, he was able to win many converts. He used the shamrock, a kind of three-leafed clover common in Ireland, to help explain the concept of the Trinity. His missionary work in Ireland lasted for 30 years until he died on March 17 in 461 AD. The day of his death
has been commemorated as St. Patrick's Day ever since.

It wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without signing off with a joke, so here goes:

Two Irishmen were walking by a pub...
It could happen!