Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Green for a day.

It is St. Patrick's Day!

How, you may ask, do we plain vanilla Protestant Christians, and local Catholics, many of whom are Italian or French descent, celebrate an English saint who is beloved of the Irish (besides with the parade that was this past Saturday)?

By going to the synagogue and buying corned beef sandwiches, of course.

Yes, really.

For today, Irish blessings:

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:

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

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
     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, travelers, 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
Vicky Lewis, 1960
Gary Sinise, 1955
Lesley-Anne Down, 1954
Kurt Russell, 1951
Patrick Duffy, 1949
John Sebastian, 1944
Paul Kantner, 1941
Rudolf Nureyev, 1938
Paul Horn, 1930
Nat "King" Cole, 1919
Bayard Rustin, 1910
Bobby Jones, 1902
Shemp Howard, 1895
Jim Bridger, 1804
Roger B. Taney, 1777


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Camino Real"(Play), 1953
"Kiss and Tell"(Play), 1943
"Welded"(Play), 1928
"The Girl Friend"(Musical), 1926
"Wilhelm Tell"(Play), 1804


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
President Bush delivers an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein: leave Iraq within 48 hours or face an attack, 2003
Scientists discover that a large number of bacterial life forms live in the deepest part of the world's oceans, the Mariana Trench, which is about 6.831 miles, 2013

10 comments:

  1. i loved the coffin one. hadn't read that one before. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Loved them all but especially that last one. Yes indeed.

    Have a fabulous St. Patrick's Day. ☺

    ReplyDelete
  3. 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!

    I've never heard this before and just love it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy Shamrock Day! That's my name for the day. Lol. I'll be making vegan 'corned beef' and cabbage for supper here. And I don't own a single green item of clothing. The Protestant rebel in me wants to wear orange, but that might be pushing things a bit too far!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I kind of like the tradition of buying the sandwiches from the synagogue myself! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

    betty

    ReplyDelete
  6. I don't miss my ex-wives, but I do miss their soda bread!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Have a good one.

    ReplyDelete
  8. As they say on St. Patrick's Day, everyone is Irish. Even at the synagogue.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/2015/03/ww-text-message.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm going to Ireland in August to walk the land of my ancestors. Can't wait. I'll think of you if I hear any more Irish blessings.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for meandering by and letting me know you were here!
Comments on posts more than a week old are moderated.
If Blogger puts your comment in "spam jail," i'll try to get it hauled out by day's end.