St. Patrick

Today is St. Patrick's Day, and I know many people that argue that the meaning of the day is when St. Patrick chased the pagan's out of Ireland...but that is not really the story of it all, March 17Th, is when St. Patrick died. The Ironic thing is that St. Patrick was not even Irish! He was English, he was kidnapped, and enslaved in Ireland. It is said that he converted many Pagan's to Christianity(thus chasing the snakes out of Ireland) But as with many holidays, the meaning changes a bit with time. The first St. Paddy's day parade was in the US, not Ireland, and then the Irish government decided to use it as a way to draw tourism...so in many ways St. Patrick is like Santa...a way to make money!
For me Saint Patrick's Day means something different. It is a day to celebrate your Irish heritage, My Great grandmother was an immigrant from Ireland. And think about it so many cool things come from Ireland: Yeats, Guinness beer, U2, The Pogue's, My Left foot, Gerald Butler, Liam Neeson, Irish wool, Kildare, St. Brigid, and the list can go on forever! But that is what today is for me...not a celebrate of a Saint, that died many years ago, nor choose to ignore other people's religion. But it was a very different time, now wasn't it?