Tonight we at the shiny / socKs / av household will be celebrating by baking Hamentaschen  -- a delicious Irish treat.

-- S

But... The Pope moved St. Patrick's Day to the 15th because there would've been a conflict with Holy Week. So... St. Patrick's Day is already done.

I was wondering about that this year...  Oh, well.  Other folks around here are still celebrating on the 17th!

The funny thing is the fight in Ireland between "christianity" and "paganism" was won by St. Patrick during Holy Week in the year 430something. So it should be celebrated at the same time, if  I remeber my stories from school. ( it's been a while, lol)  I think this should help if you really want ot know about St. Patrick, I myself am no longer catholic ( never was really)   .http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11554a.htm

Oh, I'm familiar with St. Patrick's history.  I'm Pagan myself, but instead of harboring old grudges against "christianity" I just now associate the day with the Irish people themselves and how they've gone through many struggles against outside cultures.  St. Pat's day could be sad day, if we allow it to be, but I chose not to let it be that way!  Thanks for the info and link.  Much appreciated!

Ah how very cool, I celebrate on the pagan side myself, other "religious" stuffs tend to be hypocritical. ( or just miss informed and really uptight about it) I feel the same way- Just Celebrate- Be Happy!

That and isn't the Easter week a tad early this year?  I'm used to having Easter in April!  Mind explaining that one for me?  There's also an earlier daylight savings time this year as well.  Did it have to do anything with leap year?  Or am I just clueless...?  

I'm not exactly sure how Ash Wednesday is decided, but it's a Catholic thing... Easter is 40 days after Ash Wednesday... And I'm not sure about DST...

Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.  I believe March 23rd is the earliest day possible for Easter.  It hasn't been this early in many years.. (Seventy something I believe, but don't quote me on that).

Prior to 325 AD, churches in different regions celebrated Easter on different dates, not always on Sundays. The Council of Nicea in AD 325 made the celebration more uniform by declaring that Easter would be celebrated on Sundays.

The Gregorian Calendar was introduced in 1582 and with it the system of deciding the date of Easter, and the same system has been used continuously since 1583.

Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox - the Paschal Full Moon. This may occur any time from March 21 to April 18, inclusive. So, the date of Easter is anywhere from March 22 to April 25, again inclusive.

The dates of all the feasts associated with Easter are also moveable : Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of Lent, is 46 days before Easter and Ascension day is 40 days after Good Friday with Pentecost (Whit Sunday) ten days after that (that is, seven weeks after Easter Sunday).

If you are interested in the precise calculations of the moveable feasts, you can read all the details by clicking here.

Thank you for all that information!  I'm not Catholic, so this is new to me, and it makes sense.

ahhh...but us Protestants...who will even eat meat on Fridays during Lent...well, I certainly didn't care that St Patty's Day was during Holy Week

St. Patrick's day is for stupid liberals. Why have a holiday that celebrates a drunken nationality with an obsession with green? It is a liberal concept. Leprechauns don't exist! Show me proof! Show me scientific evidence!

I just felt something was lacking from this discussion.

Don't you have a welfare check to cash or something?

-- S

Damn! You've caught me. I'm on welfare.... funny thing is I'm also a millionaire AND a tax evader.

Suck it America!

Nope that'd be me.

But I can't be sure since I can't count.  I'm not even sure if I can work a calculator correctly! =(  Why isn't college doing me any good??!?

Shit... that mindset is contagious now?!

I hope not. haha

if it were on the weekend,
i'd be getting wasted.

but no.
it's on a monday.

OK...here's my question...how much dye does it take to turn that river green each year...you know, one day I will just have to go to Chicago for St Patty's Day

Dye? HA!

That is prozac. Good ol' Fluoxetine Hydrochloride....

And the answer is a lot.

LET THE RIVERS RUN GREEN!

http://www.chicagostpatsparade.com/river-dye.html

I will definitely make a trip to Chicago sometime in my future for St Patrick's Day