Celebrate!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Really and truly, the Irish are worth celebrating, as is their Patron Saint.  It takes a special people to live and thrive where they do.  St. Patrick's monasteries were places where many of the great literary works of Western Civilization were saved from destruction after the fall of Rome.  Without them we wouldn't have Limericks and the art of Blarney, which Queen Elizabeth I said was saying what you do not mean and meaning what you do not say.

On top of all that, no one can construct and word a blessing like the Irish.

So, in honor of the Irish, their Saint, and this beautiful day:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
May the rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May G-d hold you in the palm of His hand.

May you always have...
Walls for the winds,
A roof for the rain,
Tea beside the fire,
Laughter to cheer you,
And all your heart might desire.

May the blessing of light be upon you,
Light on the outside, light on the inside.
With G-d's sunlight shining on you,
May your heart glow with warmth,
Like a turf fire that welcomes
Friends and strangers alike.
May the light of the Lord shine from your eyes,
Like a candle in the window,
Welcoming the weary traveler.

May those who love us, love us;
And for those who don't love us,
May G-d turn their hearts.
And if He doesn't turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles,
So we will know them by their limping.

Here's to your coffin!
May your coffin have six handles of finest silver!
May your coffin be carried by six fair young maids!
And may your coffin be make of finest wood
from a 100-year-old tree,
that I'll go plant tomorrow!


Today is:

Buzzard Day -- Hinkley, OH, US (a day to celebrate the returning buzzards)

Camp Fire USA Birthday Week

Care Sunday / Carling Sunday -- England, 5th Sunday of Lent (possibly from the Old Saxon "carles", or husbandman)

Cheesefare Sunday -- Orthodox Christian (final day upon which dairy products and eggs may be consumed before the Lenten fast)

Dumb Week -- Greek Orthodox Church (no church services may be held the week preceding Holy Week, except on Friday)

Ennensai -- Kyoto, Japan (festival and traditional performances)

Evacuation Day -- Suffolk County, Massachusetts, US (day the British troops left the city in 1776)

Festival of King Amenhotep I -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (rituals dramatizing his death and burial, held in the Valley; date approximate)

Kustonu Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (no planting today, to ward off insects)

Liberalia -- Ancient Roman Empire (fertility festival in rural areas)

National Corned Beef and Cabbage Day -- i wonder why

Root Canal Awareness Week begins -- sponsored by the American Association of Endodontists

Rubber Band Day -- patented in England this date in 1845 by Stephen Perry

Saint Patrick's Day (Patron of engineers, excluded people, ophidiophobics; Ireland; Nigeria; over 20 other towns/dioceses around the world; against fear of snakes, snakes and snake bite)
     a public holiday in the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Montserrat, and Ireland, and widely celebrated throughout the world (for those who have a paid day off for this, it will be observed Monday).
     Trefuilnid Treochair (Feast of Triple Bearer of the Triple Key) -- Ireland (Ireland's National Day)

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Birth Anniversary -- Bangladesh

St. Gertrude's Day (Patron of cats, for accomodations and lodging while traveling, gardeners, mentally ill people, pilgrims, poor people, sick people, suriphobics, travellers, widows; Nivelles, Belgium; against fear of mice and rats, fever, insanity and mental disorders, mice and rats)

St. Joseph of Arimathea's Day (Patron of funeral directors, morticians/undertakers, pallbearers, tin miners, tin smiths; Glastonbury Cathedral)

Submarine Day -- the sandwich or the submersible, your choice



Anniversaries Today:

Wellesley Female Seminary is established, 1870
Franklin D. Roosevelt marries Eleanor Roosevelt, 1905


Birthdays Today:

Caroline Corr, 1973
Mia Hamm, 1972
Rob Lowe, 1964
Arye Gross, 1960
Gary Sinise, 1955
Kurt Russell, 1951
Patrick Duffy, 1949
John Sebastian, 1944
Paul Kantner, 1941
Rudolf Nureyev, 1938
Nat "King" Cole, 1919
Bobby Jones, 1902
Shemp Howard, 1895


Today in History:

In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda, BC45
Marcus Aurelius dies leaving Commodus as the sole emperor of the Roman Empire, 180
Led by Muhammad, the Muslims of Medina defeat the Quraysh of Mecca in the Battle of Badr, 624
Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy made in England, 1337
Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated in New York City for the first time (at the Crown and Thistle Tavern), 1756
George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday "as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence," 1780
The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King, 1805
Henry Jones of Bristol patents "self-raising" flour, 1845
Stephen Perry of London patents the rubber band, 1845
John Joseph Montgomery makes the first glider flight, in Otay, California, 1884
The first practical submarine leaves the dock at NYC and submerges for one hour forty minutes, 1898
A showing of seventy-one Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation, 1901
Luther Gulick and his wife Charlotte found Camp Fire Girls (now Camp Fire USA), 1910
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley announce the creation of element 98, which they name "Californium", 1950
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India, 1959
Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel, 1969
A referendum to end apartheid in South Africa is passed 68.7% to 31.2%, 1992