Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I want to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!! Since I am half Irish on both my dad‘s side of the family and my mom’s, St. Patrick’s Day has always been a cause for celebration! And, of course, if you live in Chicago, it is a huge day.

Those of you not in Chicago probably wonder, “Do they really dye the Chicago river emerald green? That really can’t be true, is it?”
Well, it’s absolutely true.

As shown in the picture below, my daughter, Shannon, celebrated St. Patrick’s Day and her 30th birthday with friends from Notre Dame, Northwestern University, and Europe!! Note how green the river really is!!!
It seemed like everybody was in the spirit to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!

Here’s Julie with some of our relatives having a “little Guinness”. 🤣

The spirit was in great form even at church yesterday morning. The priest, Father Michael, is from Ireland. So, right before the end of mass, he picked up an accordion and started playing an Irish tune to the applause of the entire church. If you think I’m kidding, take a look at the picture and video below.

And here’s the video:

For any of you who are interested in what the REAL history of Saint Patrick and St. Patrick’s Day is all about, take a look at this recent article from Time Magazine: 10 Surprising Facts About St. Patrick’s Day

Yes, there really are some surprising facts about St. Patrick’s Day. For example, (get ready for a shock), Saint Patrick wasn’t even Irish. It appears that he was a Roman citizen in Britain, who may have been enslaved and taken to Ireland.

When I was a child, I was told that the reason a shamrock had three leaves was to remind us of the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Whether this is true appears to be highly debatable.

OK, one more, what’s the story with the color GREEN? It appears that green did not relate directly to Saint Patrick. He lived in the fifth century, apparently dying around 480 A.D. The first recording of using green didn’t occur until 1200 years later in 1641. As reported by Time, “the color dates back to the Great Irish Rebellion of 1641, where Catholic local leaders revolted against the English crown, using a green flag with a harp as an emblem.”

It turns out everyone in my family woke up yesterday ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! That includes my five-month-old grandson, Harrison Clark, who woke up with a big Irish smile as shown below!😁

Harrison’s smile definitely got me ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!

Here’s wishing you all a wonderful week!