In article
<090e435f-2a09-44d0-980d-01c107cea374@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
kevrob <AnSpideog@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>On Mar 4, 9:25=A0pm, djhe...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:
>> In article <fqkv63$5m...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>> Keith F. Lynch <k...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>> >Harry Mary Andruschak <adoptsoldc...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> >> And more and more schools will be celebrating Shamrock Day (17
>> >> March) to avoid the use of that awful sectarian word "Saint", thus
>> >> protecting the Children from whatever.
>>
>> Do you suppose it's less protecting people from the influence of
>> saints (as if!) and more using a phrase that more customers will
>> recognize? =A0
>>
>> In the universe of _Nightmare Before Christmas_, in which all the
>> secular holidays (if I may so describe them) dwell together in a
>> wood and the patron of Christmas is not Jesus but Santa Claus
>> and the patron of Easter is again not Jesus but the Easter Bunny,
>> the patron of March 17th is not St. Patric but the leprechaun.
>>
>>
>>
>> >They'd better change the name of numerous US cities while they're at
>> >it, then. =A0Especially in California, unless "San," "Santo," or
"Santa"
>> >is sufficient disguise for that word.
>>
>> >(Why is Kris Kringle "Santa Claus" rather than "Santo Claus"?
=A0Doesn't
>> >the former imply that he's female?)
>>
>> Nope. =A0Wrong language. =A0Wrong subfamily in fact. =A0Comes from
Dutch
>> "Sinter Klaas," St. Nicholas.
>>
>>
>
>As an American of Irish descent, and one who was raised R.C. but is no
>longer of that faith, I don't mind calling St. Patrick's Day by that
>name. Those who insist on its religious significance being foremost
>might consider why it happens to fall so close to the spring
>solstice. This wouldn't be another example of the church planting one
>of its holidays on top of an earlier, "pagan" celebration, would it?
Not in this case. March 17th is the date on which he died.
Since there are several pagan celebrations that have been, um,
defused by the addition of a Christian celebration on the same
day*, we must be careful not to assume that they *all* are,
because they're not.
*From Christmas on the date of the Saturnalia, to the Feast of
St. Joseph the Workman on May Day.
>The secular side of St. Pat's in the U.S. has always been much about
>celebrating the Americanness of Irish immigrants and their
>descendants, of whatever religious background, and demonstrating
>political clout.
Hmmm... if you say so. To the casual observer, it seems much
more about seizing on an excuse to get drunk and disorderly.
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djheydt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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