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Show Wear Something Green To Avoid a Pinch By Lorraine Chidester Did you know that it's a tradition in some parts of the U.S. for only those who are Irish to wear green on St. Patrick's Day? This slightly contrasts with what most of us do to celebrate the holiday. Everyone usually tries to wear something green so they won't be pinched, and they try to catch others without green so they can pinch them, whether they are Irish or not. We take St. Patrick's Day just as a fun holiday that doesn't seem too important. It's lucky if we even remember remem-ber the day. However, there are organizations founded by the Irish, mostly in the eastern east-ern states, which take the holiday more seriously. Some celebrate with parades and - some with public dinners to - which prominent guest speak- ers are invited. New York j usually has a big parade every j year. ! St. Patrick's Day is celebra-r celebra-r ted in honor of the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick, who died on March 17 about the year 461. St. Patrick is believed to have been born in Britian, (according to some authorities, authori-ties, in Scotland). When he was 16 years old, he was captured by Irish slave traders trad-ers and sold to an Irish chieftain, who was a high priest. The saint worked as a shepherd for the chieftain, getting more religious during that time. After about 6 years, he had a vision where he heard a voice which told him to return to his native land. He escaped from Ireland on a ship that , took him to Britian. He devoted devo-ted himself to religious work while there. Later on he had a vision to return to Ireland as a missionary, (some believe he was commissioned by the Pope of Rome to return). He taught and preached for over three decades in Ireland, converting con-verting the Irishmen to Christianity. Chris-tianity. He was believed to have even converted his old master. He encountered hardships hard-ships and persecutions because be-cause of his missionary work, but through his persistance he was able to establish over 300 churches and baptize thousands thous-ands of people. He was known as one who "found Ireland all heathen and left it all Christian." Christ-ian." Several traditions have grown up about the life of St. Patrick. A familiar one is the idea of how he explained the Trinity by using a shamrock. He held up a shamrock and said that the three leaves represented the thr-e persons of the Trinity - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - and that the stem represented the Godhead, typical of the unity of three in one. The word "shamrock" is anglicized from Seamrog, which means trefoil (three- leaved). St. Patrick was believed be-lieved to have planted the shamrock in Ireland because of its representation of the Trinity. The shamrock is the national emblem of Ireland. Ixyal sons of Ireland wear the shamrock on St. Patrick's Day. The small clover is considered the true shamrock, although it is given to a number of plants by different authorities. Anot her tradit ion relates to the snakes that St. Patrick drove to the sea. St. Patrick banished all the snnkes except one old serpent. He made a box for the serpent and invited invit-ed him to enter it, but the serpent refused because he thought it was too small. St. Patrick insisted it was large enough; and after a long discussion, the serpent ngreed to enter to prove that the box was too small. As soon as the serpent entered, St. Patrick shut the lid, fastened it, and threw it into the sen. Although all of the traditions tradi-tions centered around St. Patrick's Day are not. remembered remem-bered and celebrated by people peo-ple in the Moab area, the wearing of green is one of the traditions most followed by student at G.C.H.S. So. ..re member to wear your green clothes and shamrocks on St. Patrick's Day so you won't lie pinched. |