Who was Saint Patrick?

Saint Patrick's Day is one of the very few Catholic-oriented celebrations included in the calendar of the American Union. Being based on a figure that represents the faith of a minority is popular in most of the States but not in all including those where other religious denominations have a much stronger prensence. In other words, if you want to experience what happens on this day and how it is celebrated  it is better to go to places where the population is mostly Irish descendants since the Irish immigrnats were the ones who brought that tradition to the American soil. One of those places is the cosmopolitan New York City.
Saint Patrick is the patron saint of a country strongly identified with Catholicism, such as Ireland. He is believed to be the one who introduced Catholicism to a then pagan Ireland back in 432 A.D. It is to commerorate his death on a March 17 the reason why Saint Patrick´s Day is obseved on this date. Among the curious traditions practiced on Saint patrick's Dayare the following.
- Wear green, only one piece of clathing will do. Green is also the color that greatly represents the Irish culture.
- Get things that show the image of shamrocks, the plant most commomnly associated to Ireland.
- Participate in the festivals and witness the parades organized on this day. Tghe irish people are quite a joyful and lighthearted community.
More than  anything Saint Patrick is one of the many cultural icons that represent the already multicultural identity of the United States. 
                                                                                        

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How do you say MIRADOR in English?

Image
"Hmm, why do I have this nagging feeling that someone is watching me watching?" In Spanish, a MIRADOR is any place that allows a privileged view of the surroundings. In English, a MIRADOR is a VIEWPOINT or a LOOKOUT. Another possible translation is VANTAGE POINT, though in a tourist context this term is a bit less common.
Read more

The Maps of Ship-Trap Island

Image
Once I had my high school students read The Most Dangerous Game, a short story by Richard Connell. Rainsford, the main character, is a professional hunter traveling by ship to his next hunting area, accidentally ends up in an island called Ship- Trap island. When he goes into the island he finds there are two men living in a palace in the island. One of them is a Cossack general and the other, his brutish servant.  The Cossack is called general Zaroff who is also  a game hunter but has become bored of hunting regular game and now uses the island's unique position to capture sailors from shipwrecks. He lets them go first and next after some time he hunts them down. Rainford's arrival who is worldwide famous presents Zaroff with a rare opportunity to find excitement in hunting again by hunting another hunter. Little does Zaroff know that Rainsford is The Most Dangerous Game in the World and hunting him will not be easy at all. My students enjoyed themselves at reading...
Read more

How do you say EXAMEN SUPLETORIO in English?

Image
Darn! I wonder if there's a Make Up exam for this Make up exam! I remember that long ago I asked my distinguished and knowledgeable colleagues of that time to enlighten me and tell me the right English word for what we know in Ecuador as EXAMEN SUPLETORIO or EXAMEN DE RECUPERACION.  After hearing Recovery exam or Supplemenary test and even Supletory exam, I was not convinced so I decided to go to a higher authority and looked up one of those encyclopedic dictionaries from Oxford or Cambridge university (these were the pre-browser times) and found the right expression is MAKE UP EXAM which is taken when an exam has been missed or when a student needs to change one score with a more favorable one. The British say RECUPERATION EXAM which is perhaps more practical since to some people the term Make Up is confusing. Make-up is the word for the wearing of cosmetics. There are Make-up tests which are oriented to future Make-up artists.
Read more