Religious Education Update: March 11, 2007

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Today we will learn about St. Patrick’s Day in RE and become a little Irish ourselves, as it is said that everyone is Irish on this holiday. The Irish honor their patron saint with parades, fireworks, limericks, and merrymaking. It is celebrated with both reverence and irreverence as evident in the following quotes:

St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time -- a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic.
Adrienne Cook

This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever.
Sigmund Freud (about the Irish)

Ireland is rich in literature that understands a soul's yearnings, and dancing that understands a happy heart.
Margaret Jackson
Maybe it's bred in the bone, but the sound of pipes is a little bit of heaven to some of us.
Nancy O'Keefe

St. Patrick lived about 1600 years ago, and is credited with driving all the snakes from Ireland. This is just a legend, as we know that snakes were not found in Ireland at the time, as Ireland has been an island since the last Ice Age and separated from all snake populations.

Some of the Druidic celebrations that St. Patrick observed in ancient Ireland were incorporated into Easter customs still practiced today. He founded many Christian churches, but retained pagan rituals. He was not Irish himself, but much loved by his adopted land.

Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education