Happy St. Paddy's 2011

One: Let me start by saying the diminutive form of "St. Patrick's" is "St. Paddy's", not "St. Patty's". Patty is the shortened form of Patricia, which is feminine. Paddy is the shortened form of Patrick, which is the masculine form of a Roman word for the elite families in their society.

Two: St. Patrick is the most well known Patron Saint of Ireland, not the only one. He died, by most critical accounts on March 17, 493. Some of the few things about his life that are documented are that he was of Romano-British heritage; he was captured by invading Irish marauders as a boy and made a slave; after returning to the Britain he joined the church; later he returned to Ireland as a missionary.

Quick historical facts: the British Isles refer specifically to the islands of Britain and Ireland and named for the Celtic tribe of the Pictish, who were eventually called British by invading Romans. The island of Britain today is comprised of three countries: England, Scotland, and Wales. The Romano-British were the results of the nearly four hundred years of occupation of the Romans intermarrying with the Celtic Picts (Brits). Within a generation of the Romans leaving Britain, the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Germanic peoples invaded. Those early German invaders called the British people Welsh, a blanket term for "foreigner", and Wales derives from the title of the land that they never conquered, hence the name of the land today. England is named for the Anglos, also known as Angles, a sea-faring fishing tribe (also the source of "angling", as in "to fish"). In another five hundred years the French Normans would invade and conquer. Those Celts sure had a lot of invaders. This sheds light on the history of the British Empire...

The northern areas of Britain were invaded by marauders from Hibernia, which is an old term for Ireland, and at some point in recorded history their tribal affiliation changed from whatever it was to Scottish. Seriously, the Scots are settlers from Ireland. Go figure.

I guess that wasn't such a quick set of historical facts. It shows a little of how the Isles were set up in the 480s, when Patrick of Britain was working on converting the brutes who enslaved him as a boy.

The Saints Day for Patrick is celebrated in many countries throughout the world as just that, a Saints Day. It was made into a Feast Day in the seventeenth century. Today, many in the Irish diaspora celebrate the day as a general celebration of Irish culture, heritage, and identity. Oddly, the original color associated with St. Patrick's Day was blue, which suits me well, but had turned to green probably around the same time as the day earned Feast Day rites.

The shamrock was supposedly a parable that Pat used to explain the trinity to the pagan Irish.

Celebrations today include kids pinching kids who aren't wearing green, and adults skipping work to get drunk.

Me, though, I went to bed early last night since I had to be at work at 2 AM to help with inventory. I'm sipping on a Smithwick's and'll be heading for a nap once I get this post edited just right.

Happy St. Pat's!