Photo by Angela Lansbury.
I decided to wear green and orange for online meetings all through the month of March to celebrate St Patrick's day.
The Flag of Eire
St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. His day fell on a Sunday this year, which is a great day since you can celebrate all day at the weekend. But in the USA they start serving green drinks at pubs near universities before St Patrick's Day.
I posed questions about St Patrick's Day at Toastmasters clubs in the UK and online to Asia. Many people in India have not heard of it, so I had a chance to enlighten them.
Green Colour
Why green? Ireland is known as the emerald Isle. The countryside is green. The same as other parts of the UK, notably Scotland, the lake district of England, where the water falling from the Westerlies, westerly winds, creates lakes.
St Patrick
St Patrick supposedly travelled from the mainland UK to Ireland to convert the Irish to Christianity. Now in Eire the majority are Roman Catholic, with the pope in the Vatican as the head of their church.
Snakes In Ireland
So the, story goes, had miraculous powers. He exterminated all the snakes in Ireland. Whilst it is true that there are no snakes in Ireland, and have been none since his time, researchers found that there were no snakes in Ireland earlier either. As they say, why let the truth get in the way of a good story.
The Blarney Stone
Perhaps we should credit the famed Blarney stone. Legend says if you kiss it, it gives you the gift of the gab.
New York
The Irish Heritage Museum in New York has an exhibit about Irish dance dresses, which frequently have green, at least as a border.
The places to see Irish costumes next year include, pubs in the UK, pubs in Singapore and Malaysia, Japan and Korea,, The USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, especially Montreal, Moscow,
If you want to stock up for next year, or buy second hand, look at Shein, Amazon, Temu and other places for green hats, ties, bow ties. You can also buy spectacle frames, scarves, stocks, bunting, and sleeves which look like tattoos.
Favourite motifs include shamrocks and leprechauns.
Useful Websites
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