16 FOREIGN LANGUAGE NEWS 008

By Theresa Willson

St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 is associated with every-thing Irish: green and gold, shamrocks and luck, music and dance and, of course, the craic! The wearing of the green is taken very seriously and, as the Irish have spread out across the world, they have taken their history and observances with them. March 17 is said to have been the date of St. Patrick’s death: he is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland and is believed to have been born in the late fourth cen-tury. hence, the biggest cel-ebrations are in that country – the beautiful ‘emerald Isle’: with the exception of restau-rants and pubs almost all busi-nesses close for the day. For those who follow its original meaning, St. Patrick’s Day is a time for spiritual renewal and offering prayers for missionar-ies, and for many of those, and countless others, it is the day to celebrate all things Irish. St. Patrick is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. he described himself as a most humble-minded man, pouring forth a continuous paean of thanks to his Maker for having chosen him as the instrument whereby multitudes, who had worshipped idols and unclean things before, had become the people of God. he is often con-fused with Palladius, a bishop sent by Pope Celestine in 431 to be the first bishop to the Irish believers in Christ, but it is St. Patrick who is cred-

ited with driving the snakes from Ireland. There probably never were any snakes for him to drive – the island was sepa-rated from the rest of the con-tinent at the end of the Ice Age – but the legend lives on. As in many old pagan religions, ser-pent symbols were common, and often worshipped: ‘driving

the snakes from Ireland’ was probably symbolic of putting an end to those practices. It is also Patrick who is said to have encountered the Druids at Tara and abolished their pagan rites. The story holds that he converted the warrior chiefs and princes: baptising them and thousands of their subjects

in the holy Wells that still bear this name. It is also believed that St. Patrick is responsible for the Shamrock being so associated with Ireland - as he used it to explain the holy Trinity to the pagans. Though all these years later it is the catalyst for religious cel-ebrations and joyous partying all around the world, St. Patrick’s death nevertheless remains a mystery. There are several different accounts doing the rounds. One says that Patrick died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ire-land, on March 17, 460 AD. his (or someone’s) jawbone was pre-served in a silver shrine and was often requested during times of childbirth, epileptic fits, and as a preservative against the so-called evil eye. Another account says that St. Patrick ended his days at

Glastonbury, england, and was buried there - with the Chapel of St. Patrick still existing as part of Glastonbury Abbey. Today, many Catholic places of worship around the world are named after St. Patrick, including cathedrals in New York and Dublin – his spirit is everywhere. Major landmarks around the globe are illuminated in green and, this year the Cibeles foun-tain and palace in the cen-tre of Madrid, as well as the Tower of hércules, a UNeSCO World heritage site in Galicia, northwestern Spain, will also be going green. St. Patrick’s Day was even celebrated on the International Space Sta-tion in 2011. In American cities, the day is a very big deal indeed. Big cities and small towns alike celebrate

with parades, traditional Irish music and song, lashings of food and drink, and activities for kids too. Nowadays, St. Patrick’s Day is even a big event in many areas of Spain. There are usually sev-eral large festivals and parties in towns, cities and resorts that have a large Irish resident pop-ulation, including in Barcelona, Pamplona, Costa Blanca and Marbella. Last year, the Cabo Roig party on Costa Blanca was said to have been the largest in the country.St. Patrick’s Day is also cele-brated to the full in Tenerife, in resorts and villages such as Playa de Las Américas, Los Cristianos, Callao Salvaje and Playa de la Arena, amongst others: Playa del Inglés in Gran Canaria holds another big ‘knees up’ and almost all the other islands will also hold parties and celebrations. In fact, many people plan their holidays in the Canaries spe-cifically to coincide with the great date. So, unless you are situated in the furthest reaches of the highest mountains, lost in the loneliness of the great plains, or are diving to the depths of the ocean, almost every-where you go on March 17 there will be someone rais-ing a glass to St Patrick. The crowds will be wearing green and the Irish bars and other establishments will be deco-rated gaily and offering plenty of food, drinks and wonder-ful company. There’ll be pub crawls and plenty of Irish song, music, dancing and jokes. The celebrations go on all day and evening, so there’s plenty of time to try some Irish stew, bacon or corned beef with cab-bage, boxty, Irish shepherd’s pie, specially prepared breads, an Irish cream bundt cake and more. All enjoyed with a tradi-tional pint of Guinness! Why not share this day with the Irish people who are truly pas-sionate about their heritage: go on, join in and go green.

May the Irish hills caress you,May her lakes and rivers bless you,May the luck of the Irish enfold you,May the blessings of St Patrick behold you. n

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WheN The WORLD TURNS GReeN

Saint Patrick’s Day

And a pint of the good stuff please!

Music, Guinness and lots of good company