Some Facts about St Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Okay, so I'm a day early, but tomorrow everyone will be celebrating.  In North Kansas City, the celebration started Saturday with the Snake Saturday parade.  For those of you not familiar with this city it's a suburb of Kansas City, MO.  My hubby and I weren't there for the parade, but I'm sure it was packed because when we came through there after church there were still people in green roaming the sidewalks. 

Saturday was a wonderful day for a parade, but the official Kansas City parade, which is Monday, will not be so sunny.  It will cool (very cool) and windy.  Yep, we can't get away from those March winds.  March madness is going on in our city and big 12 basketball tournament has been going on.  That's not all, Comicon is here, too.  You bet our city is packed with people.  lol

Everyone knows St. Patrick's Day is celebrated each year on March 17, the traditional religious feast day of St. Patrick.

I think most people know corned beef and cabbage is a traditional St. Patrick's Day dish, but did you know in 2009 roughly 26.1 billion pounds of beef and 2.3 billion pounds of cabbage were produced in the United States.

Did you know?  There are 34.7 million U.S. residents with Irish ancestry.  This number is more than seven times the population of Ireland itself. 

The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place in the United States on March 17, 1762, when Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City.  

More than 100 St. Patrick's Day parades are held across the United States.  New York City and Boston are home to the largest celebrations.  At the annual New York City St. Patrick's Day parade, participants march up 5th Avenue from 44th Street to 86th Street.  Each year, between 150,000 and 250,000 marchers take part in the parade, which does not allow automobiles or floats.

Facts about Irish Americans:  There are 34.7 million U.S. residents with Irish ancestry.  This number is more than seven times the population of Ireland itself.  Irish is the nations second most frequently reported ancestry, ranking behind German.

Across the country, 11 percent of residents lay claim to Irish ancestry.  That number more than doubles to 23 percent in the state of Massachusetts.  Irish is the most common ancestry in 54 U.S. counties of which 44 are in the Northeast.  Middlesex County in Massachusetts tops the list with 348, 978 Irish Americans, followed by Norfolk County, MA, which has 203,285.

Irish ranks among the top five ancestries in every state except Hawaii and New Mexico.  It is the leading ancestry group in Delaware, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

There are approximately 144,588 current U.S. residents who were born in Ireland. 

This information came from the history channel.  For more information go to http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day-facts/ 

Have a fun St. Patrick's Day!  Stay safe!

Have a great week, and I'll see you next Sunday.

Sandra K. Marshall

http://www.skaymarshall.com

Halloween: A Night of Evil, or a Night of Fun.

You wouldn’t think trick or treating would be such a controversial topic, but it is among many. I’m going to give a bit of history for background here.

Halloween’s origins are believed to date back 2000 years ago when the Celts celebrated their new year on November 1st. On October 31st, they celebrated Samhain, a night that they believed the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. These ghosts were believed to cause havoc upon the land during this night. Supposedly, these spirits made it easier for Celtic priests to make predictions about the future. They would build bonfires to offer sacrifices of crops and the weaker animals that might not survive the winter. During the ceremony, the Celts wore costumes consisting of animal heads and skins, and told each other their fortunes. They may have used people as sacrifices, but I don’t believe this is confirmed. I will add that this is a very simplified version of what may have happened.
(Article by Diana Windgassen: The History of Halloween)

Some people believe that Halloween evolved out of the Catholic holiday called All Hallows Eve, which occurs before All Saints Day, a general celebration of the saints on November 1st. However, All Saints Day was originally celebrated on May 13, and in the Orthodox Church it continues that tradition. Pope Gregory III is credited with moving it in the 9th century to November 1st. Many Christians who are against Halloween celebrations believe that All Saints Day was moved to co-opt a Celtic Irish celebration call Samhain. The connection between these two celebrations is that Samhain placated or honored the dead and All Saints Day celebrates dead saints. This is the cause of much debate. (Is Halloween Christian, Pagan or Secular by Catherine Beyer)

Many Christians believe that we embrace and evil day of Satan when we celebrate Halloween. There are quotes from the Bible that testify to this. I could give you way more history on this, and I admit the topic of Halloween is a complicated one.

My question to all of you is do you think Halloween is evil or fun innocence?

Here is my take on Halloween: This holiday has been diluted regardless of whether its intent was to be evil or good. It has become a hodge-podge of traditions, and I believe we have made Halloween a different tradition from the originals ones. Evil is rampant everywhere in this world, and it’s there day or night. Yes, there’s more evil on Halloween night, but that’s because anyone can wear a costume and hide their true identity.

It’s fun for our little boys to dress up as super heroes and princesses, or anything they want to be. Heck, it is fun for all of us to masquerade once in a while.

I’ll be eager to hear the comments today. Grin.

Until next Sunday, have a great week.

Sandy