azurite | Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Every St. Patrick's day, I make it a point to wear green. I never thouught about it too much, until someone told me today that people that protested the pinching of people on St. Patty's day wore orange. I began to wonder why that was, and I looked up the history of St. P's day... and I found some rather interesting things out.

For starters, Irish people haven't always been well-liked. People studying US History should know this all too well, as the Irish coming to America was a big part of the immigration flood throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The story of St. Patrick is summarized pretty accurately here.

The History Channel, likewise has a wealth of information available to the Irish, or simply the curious. Myself, I'm a fraction Irish, and it shows-- I have the traditional freckled (angel-kissed, as my mother says ^^;) white skin, hazel eyes, and, in a combination between Dark Irish (with dark eyes and hair) and Traditional Irish (with hazel eyes and red hair), I have dark brown hair with reddish highlights. ^.^

As for the pinching and the green, well... it turns out that the first St. Patrick's Day was celebrated here in the US! Originally a highly religious holiday, it evolved to be about celebration and merrymaking. Traditionally Irish symbols, such as the Irish fairy (known as the leprachaun) and the clover (a symbol representing an Irish goddess of the Triad -Mother, Crone, and Virgin- as well as many other triads: The Luck Of The Irish - Finding a four-leaf clover; The wearing of the green; Kissing the blarney stone // . Love, Valour and Wit // Faith, Hope and Charity // Father, Son and Holy Spirit // "Three accomplishments well regarded in Ireland: a clever verse, music on the harp, the art of shaving faces."

And did you know that green is actually an UNLUCKY color in Ireland? Before Ireland became a free country, the flag was green, and it symbolized oppression! Now, the color is associated with Ireland, and remains on its flag, most probably because the country is SO green-- and it's beautiful that way!

^^ I had fun looking up all those things... and while, unfortunately, I didn't find anything as to why orange is color worn in protest to St. Patty's day (or maybe it's in protest to the pinching part that schoolchildren made up?) but I'm sure I could ask my mom later. As funny as this sounds, I'm happy to be even a little Irish-- stereotyped or not, I live up to my Irish blood, and I hope I get to visit the country one day! (In case I didn't tell you, my aunt Kara's wedding got moved to NY, since a wedding in Ireland would be quite difficult for the entire family...)

~_~ Well, aside from the joy of being Irish (but not truly getting to celebrate... hmph, I'll make it a point to really celebrate next year) there were some weird things today:
(1) Harry cut in the lunch line; I said something about "some people, at least, are honest," and he yelled back , "yeah, well some of us AREN'T going to war!" glaring pointedly at me as he said it. -.- Idiot. What does cutting in the lunch line have anything to do with war? Feh.
(2) Learned some more photoshop/dreamweaver techs today at the Extra Session of Media Academy... I might start tutorials on my site. Gaaah, too many ideas! I have a new FMoS fanfiction out too, so I need to do a site for that... not to mention a bunch of other pages... and the radio show... and karoke, and cosplay, and and and... WAUGH!! ;_;

Mm, I have to get home and change into something warmer, cleaner, and generally different than this muck. I think Joe's supposed to come over so we can watch something or...? Dunno. Better head home now, at any rate. =D