Luck of the Irish

         On March 17^th, St Patrick’s Day I spent time with the kids at Young Life, and helped organize a St Patrick’s Day party. All the kids showed up ready to party, wearing green clothes and accessories. Some even took the left over green steamers from the decorations and tied it around their head.  Many of the parents were gracious enough to make desserts that everyone can munch on. The food of course, was also very festive with bright green colors. Even the rice crispy treats were green; which looked rather odd but tasted great!  I got the chance to see some new faces at the party and enjoyed getting to know them better.  After spending the first half hour coloring in rainbows and eating, it was time for the activities of the night to start! First we played the “under over” game, which was pretty interesting trying to pass around a cabbage, a dodge ball and two tennis balls, but my team liked the challenge and ended up winning. Afterward it was karaoke time, as the entire group began dancing and singing to the words of the song. Some kids were brave enough to take the microphone and sing the song for us all to hear. To my surprise, I must say, they had pretty amazing voices. After all the singing and dancing was over the last thirty minutes of the evening was story time. Becky Parr, the leader of the Young Life organization began telling us the origins of St Patrick’s Day.

         As the old story goes, Patrick was born in the 4^th century Roman Britain, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father and grandfather were both deacons in the Church. At the age of sixteen, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. While in captivity, God came into his dreams, telling him to flee and return back to Britain. After returning he was determined to become a priest and joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul. In 432, as a Bishop, he was yet again called back to Ireland to Christianize the Irish from their Native Polytheism beliefs.  According to Irish folklore, it tells how one of Patrick’s teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish. The highlight of Patrick’s story is that even after being imprisoned by the Irish, he managed to look past that and help them convert into Christianity. For that, he was held in great esteem in the Irish Church.

        Another tradition on this celebratory day is to “wear green”.  Originally, the color associated with Saint Patrick was blue, however over the years many people began idolizing the shamrock and wore the colors in commemoration of the day.

       These days St. Patrick’s Day can be celebrated by anyone who wishes to, and they don’t have to be Irish. However, those who are Irish do recognize this day more so then those who aren’t.