Denise Morgan (Helping Hand)'s Posts - Traveling within the World2024-03-28T15:37:42ZDenise Morgan (Helping Hand)https://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/DeniseRMorganhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2057497987?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=0istmayja5k8g&xn_auth=noTonight's Super Moon March 19th, 2011tag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2011-03-19:2185477:BlogPost:1119102011-03-19T18:13:03.000ZDenise Morgan (Helping Hand)https://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/DeniseRMorgan
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Tonight we have a very special full moon...</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"><img height="438" id="il_fi" name="il_fi" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/18/article-1367474-0B3AE07200000578-38_634x574.jpg" style="padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="483"></img></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">When you step outside tonight, don't forget to take a good look up at the sky.…</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Tonight we have a very special full moon...</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"><img height="438" width="483" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/18/article-1367474-0B3AE07200000578-38_634x574.jpg" id="il_fi" style="padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" name="il_fi"/></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">When you step outside tonight, don't forget to take a good look up at the sky.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Assuming clouds don't get in the way, you'll get to gaze at the <a target="external" href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/video/tsunami-supermoon-theory-13116090">biggest full moon</a> in nearly two decades.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">During what some skywatchers are calling the "supermoon," the <a target="external" href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/autumnal-equinox-full-harvest-moon-start-fall-jupiter/story?id=11699280">moon</a> won't just be at its closest approach to Earth in its elliptical orbit, it will be closer than it has been in 18 years.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">"It's going to be big and really bright," said NASA astronomer Dave Williams. "It should be noticeably brighter than a normal full moon."</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"><a target="external" href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Apollo11MoonLanding/story?id=8102785&page=1">Full moons</a> come in different sizes because of the elliptical shape of the moon's orbit -- one side of the ellipse is about 31,000 miles closer to Earth than the other. When the moon is closest to Earth (at its perigee), it is 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than when it's farthest from the planet (at its apogee).</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">For weeks, the rare full moon has sparked interest online, with astrologers and amateur astronomers speculating that the "supermoon" could lead to unusual weather. After <a target="external" href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/Japan_Disaster/">Japan's earthquake</a>, some even wondered if the supermoon contributed to the event.</span></p>
<h4><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">'Supermoon' Not Connected to Earthquakes, Natural Disasters, Scientists Say</span></h4>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In a post earlier this month, <a target="external" href="http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/astronomy/story/46417/extreme-super-full-moon-to-cause-chaos.asp">Accuweather blogger Mark Paquette</a> said the phrase "supermoon" originated on the website of <a target="external" href="http://www.astropro.com/">astrologer Richard Nolle</a> and spread to astronomers online.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">According to Nolle's definition, a new or full moon at 90 percent or more of its perigee (or closest approach to Earth) qualifies as a "supermoon." Tonight's full moon won't just be a supermoon but an extreme supermoon, he said, because the moon will be almost precisely at its closest distance to Earth.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">According to "new age" forecasts, he said, the supermoon brings strong earthquakes, storms or unusual climate patterns.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">"There were supermoons in 1955, 1974, 1992 and 2005," Paquette wrote. "These years had their share of extreme weather and other natural events. Is the Super Moon and these natural occurrences a coincidence?</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">But scientists emphasize that there is no connection between the moon's position and extreme weather or natural disasters (like Japan's earthquake) here on Earth.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">"There's nothing really special about this," NASA's Williams told ABCNews.com.</span></p>
<h3><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Scientist: 'Supermoon' Will Be Biggest Moon You'll Ever See</span></h3>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The moon orbits the Earth every 29-1/2 days, so it reaches perigee more than once a month. The orbit of the moon changes slightly over time, so the distance between Earth and the moon also changes -- but only slightly, Williams said.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Tonight, it will probably be only about half a percent closer than it ever is every 18 years, he said, which is a "very, very small amount."</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Even this super-close full moon will still be 221,567 miles away, according to NASA.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">And though the gravitational effect of the moon causes tides (when the moon is closer, the tides are slightly larger), he said there's "no scientific reason whatsoever" to expect that this supermoon will result in floods or other extreme conditions.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">It's likely that the moon won't even look that different to the human eye (although scientists say the moon looks larger when it's closer to the horizon). Still, Williams recommended that you make the extra effort to take a look.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">"This is the biggest full moon that you will ever see," he said. "You will see this moon again, but this is as big as it gets."</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Source:</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/super-moon-miss-rare-full-moon-tonight/story?id=13168322">http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/super-moon-miss-rare-full-moon-tonight/story?id=13168322</a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/super-moon-miss-rare-full-moon-tonight/story?id=13168322&page=2">http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/super-moon-miss-rare-full-moon-tonight/story?id=13168322&page=2</a></span></p>Saint Patrick's Daytag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2011-03-17:2185477:BlogPost:1107982011-03-17T19:30:18.000ZDenise Morgan (Helping Hand)https://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/DeniseRMorgan
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Saint Patrick's Day</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"><b>Saint Patrick's Day</b> (Irish: <i>Lá Fhéile Pádraig</i>) is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It is named after Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland. It originated as a Roman Catholic holiday but is now…</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Saint Patrick's Day</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"><b>Saint Patrick's Day</b> (Irish: <i>Lá Fhéile Pádraig</i>) is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It is named after Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland. It originated as a Roman Catholic holiday but is now observed by Protestant churches also. It became an official feast day in the early 17th century. Over time, Saint Patrick's Day has gradually become more of a secular celebration of Irish culture.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland,<sup>[1]</sup> Northern Ireland,<sup>[2]</sup> Newfoundland and Labrador and in Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora, especially in places such as Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and Montserrat, among others.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Saint Patrick</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Little is known of Patrick's early life, though it is known that he was born in Roman Britain in the 4th century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father and grandfather were deacons in the Church. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave.<sup>[3]</sup> It is believed he was held somewhere on the west coast of Ireland, possibly Mayo, but the exact location is unknown. According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest.<sup>[<i>citation needed</i>]</sup></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In 432, he again said that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to Christianise the Irish from their native polytheism. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of evangelism, he died on 17 March 461, and according to tradition, was buried at Downpatrick. Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish Church.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Wearing of the green</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Originally, the colour associated with Saint Patrick was blue. Over the years the colour green and its association with Saint Patrick's day grew.<sup>[4]</sup> Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century.<sup>[5]</sup> He is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish, and the wearing and display of shamrocks and shamrock-inspired designs have become a ubiquitous feature of the day.<sup>[6][7]</sup> In the 1798 rebellion, in hopes of making a political statement, Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on 17 March in hopes of catching public attention.<sup>[4]</sup> The phrase "the wearing of the green", meaning to wear a shamrock on one's clothing, derives from a song of the same name.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In Ireland</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Saint Patrick's feast day, as a kind of national day, was already being celebrated by the Irish in Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries. In later times he become more and more widely known as the patron of Ireland.<sup>[8]</sup> Saint Patrick's feast day was finally placed on the universal liturgical calendar in the Catholic Church due to the influence of Waterford-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding<sup>[9]</sup> in the early 1600s. Saint Patrick's Day thus became a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics in Ireland. The church calendar avoids the observance of saints' feasts during certain solemnities, moving the saint's day to a time outside those periods. Saint Patrick's Day is occasionally affected by this requirement, when 17 March falls during Holy Week. This happened in 1940, when Saint Patrick's Day was observed on 3 April in order to avoid it coinciding with Palm Sunday, and again in 2008, where it was officially observed on 14 March (15 March being used for St. Joseph, which had to be moved from March 19), although the secular celebration still took place on 17 March. Saint Patrick's Day will not fall within Holy Week again until 2160.<sup>[10][11]</sup> (In other countries, St. Patrick's feast day is also March 17, but liturgical celebration is omitted when impeded by Sunday or by Holy Week.)</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In 1903, Saint Patrick's Day became an official public holiday in Ireland. This was thanks to the Bank Holiday (Ireland) Act 1903, an act of the United Kingdom Parliament introduced by Irish MP James O'Mara.<sup>[12]</sup> O'Mara later introduced the law that required that pubs and bars be closed on 17 March after drinking got out of hand, a provision that was repealed in the 1970s. The first Saint Patrick's Day parade held in the Irish Free State was held in Dublin in 1931 and was reviewed by the then Minister of Defence Desmond Fitzgerald. Although secular celebrations now exist, the holiday remains a religious observance in Ireland, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In the mid-1990s the Irish government began a campaign to use Saint Patrick's Day to showcase Ireland and its culture.<sup>[13]</sup> The government set up a group called St. Patrick's Festival, with the aim to:</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"><i> </i></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"><i>— Offer a national festival that ranks amongst all of the greatest celebrations in the world and promote excitement throughout Ireland via innovation, creativity, grassroots involvement, and marketing activity.</i></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"><i>— Provide the opportunity and motivation for people of Irish descent, (and those who sometimes wish they were Irish) to attend and join in the imaginative and expressive celebrations.</i></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"><i>— Project, internationally, an accurate image of Ireland as a creative, professional and sophisticated country with wide appeal, as we approach the new millennium.</i><sup>[14]</sup></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The first Saint Patrick's Festival was held on 17 March 1996. In 1997, it became a three-day event, and by 2000 it was a four-day event. By 2006, the festival was five days long; more than 675,000 people attended the 2009 parade. Overall 2009's five day festival saw close to 1 million visitors, who took part in festivities that included concerts, outdoor theatre performances, and fireworks.<sup>[15]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The topic of the 2004 St. Patrick's Symposium was "Talking Irish," during which the nature of Irish identity, economic success, and the future were discussed. Since 1996, there has been a greater emphasis on celebrating and projecting a fluid and inclusive notion of "Irishness" rather than an identity based around traditional religious or ethnic allegiance. The week around Saint Patrick's Day usually involves Irish language speakers using more Irish during <i>seachtain na Gaeilge</i> ("Irish Week").<sup>[<i>citation needed</i>]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">As well as Dublin, many other cities, towns, and villages in Ireland hold their own parades and festivals, including Cork, Belfast, Derry, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, and Waterford.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The biggest celebrations outside Dublin are in Downpatrick, County Down, where Saint Patrick is rumoured to be buried. In 2004, according to Down District Council, the week-long St. Patrick's Festival had more than 2,000 participants and 82 floats, bands, and performers and was watched by more than 30,000 people.<sup>[<i>citation needed</i>]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The shortest St Patrick's Day parade in the world takes place in Dripsey, Cork. The parade lasts just 100 yards and travels between the village's two pubs.<sup>[16]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Christian leaders in Ireland have expressed concern about the secularisation of St Patrick's Day. In The Word magazine's March 2007 issue, Fr. Vincent Twomey wrote, "It is time to reclaim St Patrick's Day as a church festival." He questioned the need for "mindless alcohol-fuelled revelry" and concluded that "it is time to bring the piety and the fun together."<sup>[17]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Sports events</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The Ulster Schools Cup final,<sup>[18]</sup> Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup final and Munster Schools Rugby Senior Cup finals all take place annually on St. Patrick's Day.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The All-Ireland Club Football and All-Ireland Club Hurling championships finals are held annually in Croke Park on St Patrick's Day.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The Interprovincial Championship in both Gaelic Football and Hurling were held in Croke Park from up to and including 1986 and in 1991.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The St. Patrick's Day Test is an international rugby league tournament that is played between the USA and Ireland. The competition was first started in 1995 with Ireland winning the first two tests with the USA winning the last 4 in 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004. The game is usually held on or around March 17 to coincide with St. Patrick's Day<sup>[19]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Outside Ireland</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In Argentina</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In Argentina, and especially in Buenos Aires, all-night long parties are celebrated in designated streets, since the weather is comfortably warm in March. People dance and drink only beer throughout the night, until seven or eight in the morning, and although the tradition of mocking those who do not wear green does not exist, many people wear something green. In Buenos Aires, the party is held in the downtown street of Reconquista, where there are several Irish pubs;<sup>[20][21]</sup> in 2006, there were 50,000 people in this street and the pubs nearby.<sup>[22]</sup> Neither the Catholic Church nor the Irish community, the fifth largest in the world outside Ireland,<sup>[23]</sup> take part in the organization of the parties.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In Canada</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">One of the longest-running Saint Patrick's Day parades in North America occurs each year in Montreal, the flag of which has a shamrock in one of its corners. The parades have been held in continuity since 1824.<sup>[24]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In Quebec City, there was a parade from 1837 to 1926. The Quebec St-Patrick Parade returned in 2010, after an absence of more than 84 years. For the occasion, a portion of the NYPD Pipes and Drums were present as special guests.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team was known as the Toronto St. Patricks from 1919 to 1927, and wore green jerseys. In 1999, when the Maple Leafs played on <i>Hockey Night in Canada</i> (national broadcast of the NHL) on Saint Patrick's Day, they wore the green St. Patrick's day-themed retro uniforms. There is a large parade in the city's downtown core that attracts over 100,000 spectators.<sup>[<i>citation needed</i>]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Some groups, notably Guinness, have lobbied to make Saint Patrick's Day a national holiday in Canada.<sup>[25]</sup> Currently, the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador is the only jurisdiction in Canada where Saint Patrick's Day is a provincial holiday.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In March 2009, the Calgary Tower had changed its top exterior lights to new green-coloured CFL bulbs just in time for Saint Patrick's Day. The lights were in fact part of the environmental non-profit organisation, Project Porchlight, and were Green to represent environmental concerns. Approximately 210 lights were changed in time for Saint Patrick's Day and almost resemble a Leprechaun's hat during the evening light. After a week, regular white CFLs took their place, saving the Calgary Tower around $12,000 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 104 metric tonnes in the process.<sup>[26]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In Great Britain</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In Great Britain, the Queen Mother used to present bowls of shamrock flown over from Ireland to members of the Irish Guards, a regiment in the British Army consisting primarily of soldiers from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Guards still wear shamrock on this day, flown in from Ireland.<sup>[27]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Horse racing at the Cheltenham Festival attracts large numbers of Irish people, both residents of Britain and many who travel from Ireland, and usually coincides with Saint Patrick's Day.<sup>[28]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Birmingham holds the largest Saint Patrick's Day parade in Britain with a massive city centre parade<sup>[29]</sup> over a two mile (3 km) route through the city centre. The organisers describe it as the third biggest parade in the world after Dublin and New York.<sup>[30]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">London, since 2002, has had an annual Saint Patrick's Day parade which takes place on weekends around the 17th, usually in Trafalgar Square. In 2008 the water in the Trafalgar Square fountains was dyed green.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Liverpool, a major port leading to the Irish Sea, has the highest proportion of residents of Irish ancestry of any English city.<sup>[<i>citation needed</i>]</sup> This has led to a long-standing celebration on St Patrick's Day in terms of music, cultural events and the parade.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Manchester hosts a two-week Irish festival in the weeks prior to St Patrick's Day. The festival includes an Irish Market based at the city's town hall which flies the Irish tricolour opposite the Union Flag, a large parade as well as a large number of cultural and learning events throughout the two-week period. .<sup>[31]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The Scottish town of Coatbridge, where the majority of the town's population are of Irish descent,<sup>[<i>citation needed</i>]</sup> also has a St. Patrick's Day Festival which includes celebrations and parades in the town centre.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Glasgow began an annual Saint Patrick's Day parade and festival in 2007.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In Montserrat</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The tiny island of Montserrat, known as "Emerald Island of the Caribbean" because of its founding by Irish refugees from Saint Kitts and Nevis, is the only place in the world apart from Ireland and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador where St Patrick's Day is a public holiday. The holiday commemorates a failed slave uprising that occurred on 17 March 1768.<sup>[32]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In South Korea</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Seoul (Capital city of South Korea) has celebrated Saint Patrick's Day since 2001 with Irish Association of Korea. The place of parade and festival has been moved from Itaewon and Daehangno to Cheonggyecheon.<sup>[33]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In New Zealand</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Saint Patrick's Day is widely celebrated in New Zealand - green items of clothing are traditionally worn and the streets are often filled with revellers drinking and making merry from early afternoon until late at night.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The Irish made a large impact in New Zealand's social, political and education systems, owing to the large numbers that emigrated there during the 19th century and Saint Patrick's Day is seen as a day to celebrate individual links to Ireland and Irish heritage.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In Japan</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Saint Patrick's Parades are now held in 9 locations across Japan<sup>[<i>citation needed</i>]</sup>. The first parade, in Tokyo, was organised by The Irish Network Japan (INJ) in 1992. Nowadays Parades and other events related to Saint Patrick's Day spread across almost the entire month of March.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In the United States</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Early celebrations</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Irish Society of Boston organised what was not only the first Saint Patrick's Day Parade in the colonies but the first recorded Saint Patrick's Day Parade in the world on 18 March 1737.<sup>[34][<i>unreliable source?</i>]</sup> (The first parade in Ireland did not occur until 1931 in Dublin.) This parade in Boston involved Irish immigrant workers marching to make a political statement about how they were not happy with their low social status and their inability to obtain jobs in America. New York's first Saint Patrick's Day Parade was held on 17 March 1762 by Irish soldiers in the British Army. The first celebration of Saint Patrick's Day in New York City was held at the Crown and Thistle Tavern in 1766, the parades were held as political and social statements because the Irish immigrants were being treated unfairly.<sup>[35]</sup> In 1780, General George Washington, who commanded soldiers of Irish descent in the Continental Army, allowed his troops a holiday on 17 March “as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence."<sup>[36][37]</sup> This event became known as The St. Patrick's Day Encampment of 1780.<sup>[34][<i>unreliable source?</i>]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Irish patriotism in New York City continued to soar and the parade in New York City continued to grow. Irish aid societies were created like Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and the Hibernian Society and they marched in the parades too. Finally when many of these aid societies joined forces in 1848 the parade became not only the largest parade in the United States but one of the largest in the world.<sup>[38]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Customs today</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In every year since 1991, March has been proclaimed Irish-American Heritage Month by the US Congress or President due to the date of St. Patrick's Day. Today, Saint Patrick's Day is widely celebrated in America by Irish and non-Irish alike. It is one of the leading days for consumption of alcohol in the United States, and is typically one of the busiest days of the year for bars and restaurants. Many people, regardless of ethnic background, wear green clothing and items. Traditionally, those who are caught not wearing green are pinched affectionately.<sup>[39]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Seattle and other cities paint the traffic stripe of their parade routes green. Chicago dyes its river green and has done so since 1962 when sewer workers used green dye to check for sewer discharges and had the idea to turn the river green for Saint Patrick's Day. Originally 100 pounds of vegetable dye was used to turn the river green for a whole week but now only forty pounds of dye is used and the colour only lasts for several hours.<sup>[4]</sup> Indianapolis also dyes its main canal green. Savannah dyes its downtown city fountains green. Missouri University of Science and Technology - St Pat's Board Alumni paint 12 city blocks kelly green with mops before the annual parade.<sup>[<i>citation needed</i>]</sup> In Jamestown, New York, the Chadakoin River (a small tributary that connects Conewango Creek with its source at Chautauqua Lake) is dyed green each year.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Columbia, SC dyes its fountain green in the area known as Five Points (a popular collegiate location near the University of South Carolina). A two day celebration is held over St Patrick's Day weekend. In Boston, Evacuation Day is celebrated as a public holiday for Suffolk County. While officially commemorating the British departure from Boston, it was made an official holiday after Saint Patrick's Day parades had been occurring in Boston for several decades, and is often believed to have been popularised because of its falling on the same day as Saint Patrick's Day.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In the Northeastern United States, peas are traditionally planted on Saint Patrick's Day.<sup>[40]</sup></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Parades</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Many parades are held to celebrate the holiday. The longest-running public parades are:</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">New York City, since 1762<sup>[41]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1771</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Morristown, New Jersey, since 1780</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Boston, Massachusetts, since 1804</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">New Orleans, Louisiana, since 1809</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Buffalo, New York, since 1811</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Savannah, Georgia, since 1824<sup>[42][43]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Carbondale, Pennsylvania, since 1833</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">New Haven, Connecticut, since 1842</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Milwaukee, Wisconsin, since 1843<sup>[44]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Chicago, Illinois, since 1843</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Saint Paul, Minnesota, since 1851<sup>[45]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">San Francisco, California, since 1852</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Scranton, Pennsylvania, since 1862</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Cleveland, Ohio, since 1867</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, since 1869<sup>[46]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Kansas City, Missouri, since 1873<sup>[47]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Butte, Montana, since 1882</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Rolla, Missouri, since 1909</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">U.S. cities with major celebrations</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Buffalo, New York</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The city of Buffalo has two Saint Patrick's Day parades. The first is the "Old Neighborhood Parade," which is in its 18th year in 2011 and takes place in the city's historic Old First Ward in South Buffalo on the Saturday before Saint Patrick's Day. The older, larger "Buffalo St. Patrick's Day Parade" (in its 69th consecutive year in 2011) also takes place, usually on the Sunday before Saint Patrick's Day. That parade runs from Niagara Square along Delaware Avenue to North Street.<sup>[48]</sup> The latter parade is the 3rd largest parade in New York State behind the New York City Parade and the Pearl River Parade.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Butte, Montana</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Butte's mixed heritage and mining history brought in a large population of Irish immigrants. The yearly event brings in visitors from all over the world and doubles the city's population for the day. Butte has a long history of running a parade and concerts in the uptown area. There currently is not an open container law in Butte Montana and the event often becomes rowdy.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Dallas, Texas</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Each year since 1981 a parade and after party has been held on Lower Greenville Avenue. The parade is held the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day with thousands of spectators and partiers lining the streets. It is the biggest St. Patrick's Day parade and festival in the Southwest. There is also a run before the parade on Greenville.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Hoboken, New Jersey</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The New Jersey town of Hoboken has held an annual St. Patrick's Day parade since 1986.<sup>[49]</sup> The parade takes place at 1 PM and marches down Washington Street from 14th Street to 1st Street.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Over the years, there has been much controversy surrounding the public intoxication during this event. The city has issued a zero tolerance policy, and has been inacting $2,000 minimum fines for any alcohol related offence.<sup>[50]</sup></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Holyoke, Massachusetts</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">This Western Mass factory town was the site of massive Irish immigration in the 19th Century, and hosts a Parade its organisers claim is the second largest in the United States. It is scheduled on the Sunday following Saint Patrick's Day each year. Attendance exceeds 300,000, with over 25,000 marchers, through a 2.3-mile route in this city of 40,000. A 10K road Race and many events create a remarkable festival weekend.<sup>[51]</sup> Each year an Irish-American who has distinguished himself or herself in their chosen profession is awarded the John F. Kennedy National Award. JFK was a National Award Winner in the 1958 Holyoke Parade. Other winners include author Tom Clancy, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, and actor Pat O'Brien <sup>[52]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Hot Springs, Arkansas</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The Hot Springs, Arkansas parade is among world's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade, held annually on historic Bridge Street, designated "The Shortest Street in the World" in the 1940s by Ripley’s Believe It or Not.<sup>[53][54</sup><sup>]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Las Vegas, Nevada</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The Southern Nevada, (formerly Las Vegas) Sons of Erin have put on a parade since 1966. It was formerly held on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, later moved to 4th street. Since 2005, the parade has been held in downtown Henderson. It is one of the biggest parades in the state of Nevada. It also consists of a three day festival, carnival and classic car show in Old Town Henderson.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">New Orleans</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Historically the largest entry port for Irish immigrants in the U.S. South, New Orleans has maintained a large population of Irish heritage, and Saint Patrick's Day traditions going back to the 19th century, including multiple block parties and parades.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The New Orleans parades are mostly based around neighbourhood and community organisations. Major parades include the Irish Channel parade, the Downtown Irish Parade starting in the Bywater neighborhood, multiple parades in the French Quarter, and a combined Irish-Italian Parade celebrating both Saint Patrick's Day and Saint Joseph's Day. As with many parades in New Orleans, the influence of New Orleans Mardi Gras is apparent, with some of the floats being reused from local Carnival parades, and beads and trinkets being thrown to those along the parade route. New Orleans Saint Patrick's Day parades are also famous for throwing onions, carrots, cabbages, potatoes, and other ingredients for making an Irish stew.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Various suburbs and surrounding communities also hold celebrations, including parades in Metairie, Slidell, and an Irish Italian Isleño Parade in Chalmette.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">New York City</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The New York parade has not only become the largest Saint Patrick's Day parade in the world but it is also the oldest civilian parade in the world.<sup>[55]</sup> In a typical year, 150,000 marchers participate in it, including bands, firefighters, military and police groups, county associations, emigrant societies, and social and cultural clubs, and 2 million spectators line the streets.<sup>[56]</sup> The parade marches up the 1.5 mile route along 5th Avenue in Manhattan, is a five hour procession, and is always led by the U.S. 69th Infantry Regiment. The Commissioner of the parade always asks the Commanding Officer if the 69th is ready, to which the response is, "The 69th is always ready." New York politicians - or those running for office - are always found prominently marching in the parade. Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch once proclaimed himself "Ed O'Koch" for the day, and he continued to don an Irish sweater and march every year up until 2003, even though he was no longer in office.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The parade has drawn controversy for many years for its exclusion of openly gay organisations.<sup>[57][58][59][60][61]</sup> In 1989 Dorothy Hayden Cudahy became the first female Grand Marshal of the St. Patrick's Day Parade; in 1984 she had become the first woman, as well as the first American-born person, to be elected president of the County Kilkenny Association</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The New York parade is moved to the previous Saturday (16 March) in years where 17 March is a Sunday. The event also has been moved on the rare occasions when, due to Easter falling on a very early date, 17 March would land in Holy Week. This same scenario arose again in 2008, when Easter fell on March 23, but the festivities went ahead on their normal date and received record viewers.<sup>[62]</sup> In many other American cities (such as San Francisco), the parade is always held on the Sunday before 17 March, regardless of the liturgical calendar.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Pearl River, New York</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Pearl River attracts a crowd of 100,000 people, making it the second largest parade in New York state behind the New York City Parade. The parade started in 1963.<sup>[63]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Rolla, Missouri</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Rolla is home to the Missouri University of Science & Technology (formerly known as University of Missouri-Rolla, and Missouri School of Mines), an engineering college. Saint Patrick is the patron saint of engineers, the school and town's celebrations start ten days before Saint Patrick's Day, with a downtown parade held the Saturday before Saint Patrick's. A royal court is crowned, and the streets in the city's downtown area are painted solid green. Each year's celebrations are said to be "The Best Ever." In 2008, Rolla celebrated its "100th Annual Best Ever St. Patrick's Day 2008" celebration.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In previous years, a pit of green liquid was made by students as part of the festivities, and named 'Alice' -- stepping into Alice was a rite of bravery. In recent years the university faculty has banned the practice out of health concerns.<sup>[64]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Savannah, Georgia</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The parade organisers have claimed an expected attendance of around 400,000.<sup>[65]</sup> In 2006, the Tánaiste was featured in the parade. The parade travels through Savannah's Historic District. One tradition that has developed has been the official "dyeing of the fountains" which happens several days before the parade.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Some confusion exists about the year of the first St. Patrick's Day parade in Savannah. There is some evidence that a private parade was held by "an unidentified group" referred to as "Fencibles" on March 17, 1818.<sup>[66][67]</sup> However, it's generally accepted that the first publicly-held St. Patrick's Day procession was in 1824, organised by the Hibernian Society.<sup>[68][69]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">San Francisco, California</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">There has been a St. Patrick's Day celebration in San Francisco since 1852. San Francisco has always had a large Irish American population and for many decades Irish Americans were the largest ethnic group in San Francisco. However, as of the early 21st century, the largest ethnic group in San Francisco is Chinese Americans and most of the Irish Americans have moved to the suburban parts of the San Francisco Bay Area. Each year, however, Irish from all over the San Francisco Bay Area come into San Francisco to march in or to see the Saint Patrick's Day parade march down Market Street, held the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day. Numerous people from all ethnic groups can be seen wearing green in San Francisco on St. Patrick's Day.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Scranton, Pennsylvania</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Due to the rich history of Scranton participation in Saint Patrick's Day festivities it is one of the oldest and most populated parades in the United States. It has been going on annually since 1862 by the St. Patrick's Day Parade Association of Lackawanna County and the parade has got attention nationally as being one of the better Saint Patrick's Day parades. The parade route begins on Wyoming Ave. and loops up to Penn Ave. and then Lackawanna Ave. before going back down over Jefferson Ave. to get to Washington Ave. Scranton hosts the third largest Saint Patrick's Day Parade in the United States. In 2008, up to 150,000 people attended the parade.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Seattle, Washington</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Seattle Washington's Saint Patrick's Day Parade,<sup>[70]</sup> recognised by CNN in 2009 as one of the "Five places to get your green on" in America,<sup>[71]</sup> travels along a 1-mile route through the Emerald City's downtown financial and retail core the Saturday before Saint Patrick's Day. Seattle's Saint Patrick's Day Celebration is the largest and oldest in the Northwestern United States. In 2009, some 20,000 spectators and groups from throughout the Northwest turned out for the city's Irish shenanigans. Along with the annual "Laying 'O the Green" where Irish revellers mark the path of the next morning's procession with a mile-long green stripe, the Seattle parade marks the high-point of Seattle's Irish Week festivities. The week-long civic celebration organised by the city's Irish Heritage Club [3] includes the annual Society of the Friends of St. Patrick Dinner where a century-old Irish Shillelagh<sup>[72]</sup> has been passed to the group's new president for 70 years, an Irish Soda Bread Baking Contest, a Mass for Peace that brings together Catholics and others in a Protestant church, and the annual Irish Week Festival, which takes place around Saint Patrick's Day is enormous, including step dancing, food, historical and modern exhibitions, and Irish lessons. Many celebrities of Irish descent visit Seattle during its Saint Patrick's Day Celebration. In 2010 The Right Honourable Desmond Guinness, a direct descendant of Guinness Brewery founder Arthur Guinness, will serve as the parade's grand marshal. In 2009, The Tonight Show's Conan O'Brien made a guest appearance at the annual Mayor's Proclamation Luncheon at local Irish haunt F.X. McCrory's. And in 2008, European Union Ambassador to the U.S. and former Irish Prime Minister John Bruton served as the parade's grand marshal and marched alongside Tom Costello, the mayor of Galway, Seattle's Irish sister city. There is also another Saint Patrick's Day Parade, that also takes place in Washington's eastern side of the state in Spokane.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Syracuse, New York</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">In the city of Syracuse, NY, Saint Patrick's celebrations are traditionally begun with the delivery of green beer to Coleman's Irish Pub on the last Sunday of February. Coleman's is located in the Tipperary Hill section of the city. Tipperary Hill is home to the World famous "Green-on-Top" Traffic Light and is historically the Irish section in Syracuse. Saint Patrick's Day is rung in at midnight with the painting of a Shamrock under the Green-Over-Red traffic light. Syracuse boasts the largest Saint Patrick's Day celebration per-capita in the United States with their annual Syracuse Saint Patrick's Parade,<sup>[73]</sup> founded by Nancy Duffy, an honoured journalist in the Central New York area and an active community leader, and Daniel F. Casey, a local Irishman and businessman. "The parade remains a major annual event, typically drawing an estimated crowd of more than 100,000 visitors to downtown Syracuse, as well as 5,000 to 6,000 marchers." <sup>[74]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Tallahassee, Florida</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The Tallahassee Irish Society has been hosting an annual St. Patrick's Day event in Tallahassee since 1999. In 2010, along with the City of Tallahassee, the first annual St. Patrick's Day parade and Downtown Get Down is being hosted along Adams Street.<sup>[75]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Sports-related celebrations</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Baseball</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Although Major League Baseball is still in its preseason spring training phase when Saint Patrick's Day rolls around, some teams celebrate by wearing holiday-themed uniforms. The Cincinnati Reds were the first team to ever wear Saint Patrick's Day hats in 1978. The Boston Red Sox were the second team to start wearing Saint Patrick's Day hats in 1990.<sup>[76]</sup> Many teams have since started wearing St. Patrick's day themed jerseys, including the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1980s and Boston Red Sox in 2004.<sup>[77]</sup> Since then it has become a tradition of many sports teams to also wear special uniforms to celebrate the holiday. The Los Angeles Dodgers also have a history with the Irish-American community. With the O'Malley family owning the team and now Frank McCourt, the Dodgers have had team celebrations or worn green jerseys on Saint Patrick's Day.<sup>[78]</sup> The Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies also wear St. Patrick's Day caps and jerseys.<sup>[79]</sup> Other teams celebrate by wearing kelly green hats. These teams include: the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago White Sox, the New York Mets, the San Diego Padres, the Atlanta Braves, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Kansas City Royals, the Seattle Mariners and the St. Louis Cardinals.<sup>[80]</sup> The Washington Nationals have fan green hat day on September 17 to represent 6 months to Saint Patrick's Day.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Nearly all MLB teams now produce Saint Patrick's Day merchandise, including Kelly green hats, jerseys, and t-shirts.<sup>[81]</sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Basketball</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Between 15 and 17 March 2009, a number of NBA teams wore green jerseys in recognition of Saint Patrick's Day including the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks. The Boston Celtics, whose road jersey is green, wore a specially designed green and gold jersey.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Ice hockey</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">While no NHL teams currently don green jerseys during Saint Patrick's Day games (although the New Jersey Devils wore their classic red, white, and green jerseys on their Saint Patrick's Day 2010 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.<sup>[82]</sup>), the league has offered a line of holiday-themed gear to its fans in recent years.<sup>[83]</sup></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Gaelic Games</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Traditionally the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship and All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship are held on Saint Patrick's Day in Croke Park, Dublin. The Interprovincial Championship was previously held on March 17 but this was switched to games being played in Autumn.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">Rugby Union</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;">The Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup, Munster Schools Rugby Senior Cup and Ulster Schools Senior Cup are held on Saint Patrick's Day. The Connacht Schools Rugby Senior Cup is held on the weekend before Saint Patrick's Day.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: georgia,palatino; color: #ffffff;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick's_Day">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick's_Day</a></span>Imbolctag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2011-02-01:2185477:BlogPost:977232011-02-01T21:12:33.000ZDenise Morgan (Helping Hand)https://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/DeniseRMorgan
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"><b>Imbolc</b> (also <i>Imbolg</i> or <i>Oimelc</i>), or <b>St Brigid’s Day</b> (Scots Gaelic <i>Là Fhèill Brìghde</i>, Irish <i>Lá Fhéile Bríde</i>, the feast day of St. Brigid), is an Irish festival marking the beginning of spring. Most commonly it is celebrated on February 1 or 2 (or February 12, according to the Old Calendar), which falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox in the northern…</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"><b>Imbolc</b> (also <i>Imbolg</i> or <i>Oimelc</i>), or <b>St Brigid’s Day</b> (Scots Gaelic <i>Là Fhèill Brìghde</i>, Irish <i>Lá Fhéile Bríde</i>, the feast day of St. Brigid), is an Irish festival marking the beginning of spring. Most commonly it is celebrated on February 1 or 2 (or February 12, according to the Old Calendar), which falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2220776664?profile=original"><img width="408" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2220776664?profile=original" class="align-left"/></a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">The festival was observed in Gaelic Ireland during the Middle Ages. Reference to Imbolc is made in Irish mythology, in the <i>Tochmarc Emire</i> of the Ulster Cycle. Imbolc was one of the four cross-quarter days referred to in Irish mythology, the others being Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain. It has been suggested that it was originally a pagan festival associated with the goddess Brigid, who was later Christianised as St. Brigid.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">In the 20th century, Imbolc was resurrected as a religious festival in Neopaganism, specifically in Wicca, Neo-druidry and Celtic reconstructionism.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Irish <i>imbolc</i> derives from the Old Irish <i>i mbolg</i> "in the belly". This refers to the pregnancy of ewes. A medieval glossary etymologizes the term as <i>oimelc</i> "ewe's milk".</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Since Imbolc is immediately followed (on 2 February) by Candlemas (Irish <i>Lá Fhéile Muire na gCoinneal</i> "feast day of Mary of the Candles", Welsh <i>Gŵyl Fair y Canhwyllau</i>), Irish <i>imbolc</i> is sometimes rendered as "Candlemas" in English translation; e.g. <i>iar n-imbulc, ba garb a ngeilt</i> translated as "after Candlemas, rough was their herding".</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">A significance of the date of Imbolc already in the Irish Neolithic period has been suggested, based on the arrangement of a number of Megalithic monuments, such as the Mound of the Hostages at the Hill of Tara. At this site in County Meath the inner chamber of the passage tomb is aligned with the rising sun on the dates of Imbolc and Samhain.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Evidence of how Imbolc was celebrated in Gaelic Ireland is found in medieval Irish texts that mention the festival, besides folklore collected during the 19th and early 20th century in rural Ireland and Scotland.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Among agrarian peoples, Imbolc has been traditionally associated with the onset of lactation of ewes, soon to give birth to the spring lambs. Chadwick notes that this could vary by as much as two weeks before or after the start of February. However, the timing of agrarian festivals can vary widely, given regional variations in climate. This has led to some debate about both the timing and origins of the festival. The Blackthorn is said to blossom at Imbolc.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">The holiday was, and for many still is, a festival of the hearth and home, and a celebration of the lengthening days and the early signs of spring. Celebrations often involved hearthfires, special foods (butter, milk, and bannocks, for example), divination or watching for omens, candles or a bonfire if the weather permits. Imbolc is traditionally a time of weather prognostication, and the old tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens is perhaps a precursor to the North American Groundhog Day. A Scottish Gaelic proverb about the day is:</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"><i> </i></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"><i>Thig an nathair as an toll</i></span><br/><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"><i>Là donn Brìde,</i></span><br/><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"><i>Ged robh trì troighean dhen t-sneachd</i></span><br/><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"><i>Air leac an làir.</i></span><br/><br/><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">"The serpent will come from the hole</span><br/><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">On the brown Day of Bride,</span><br/><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Though there should be three feet of snow</span><br/><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">On the flat surface of the ground."</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Imbolc is the day the Cailleach — the hag of Gaelic tradition — gathers her firewood for the rest of the winter. Legend has it that if she intends to make the winter last a good while longer, she will make sure the weather on Imbolc is bright and sunny, so she can gather plenty of firewood. Therefore, people are generally relieved if Imbolc is a day of foul weather, as it means the Cailleach is asleep and winter is almost over. On the Isle of Man, where she is known as <i>Caillagh ny Groamagh</i>, the Cailleach is said to have been seen on Imbolc in the form of a gigantic bird, carrying sticks in her beak.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Fire and purification are an important aspect of this festival. Brigid (also known as Brighid, Bríde, Brigit, Brìd) is the Gaelic goddess of poetry, healing and smithcraft. As both goddess and saint she is also associated with holy wells, sacred flames, and healing. The lighting of candles and fires represents the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">In the modern Irish Calendar, Imbolc is variously known as the Feast of Saint Brigid (Secondary Patron of Ireland), <i>Lá Fhéile Bríde</i>, and Lá Feabhra — the first day of Spring. Christians may call the day "Candlemas". Long celebrated as "the feast of the Purification of the Virgin".</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">One folk tradition that continues in both Christian and Pagan homes on St. Brigid's Day (or Imbolc) is that of the Brigid's Bed. The girls and young, unmarried, women of the household or village create a corn dolly to represent Brigid, called the <i>Brideog</i> ("little Brigid" or "young Brigid"), adorning it with ribbons and baubles like shells or stones. They make a bed for the <i>Brideog</i> to lie in. On St. Brigid's Eve (January 31), the girls and young women gather together in one house to stay up all night with the <i>Brideog</i>, and are later visited by all the young men of the community who must ask permission to enter the home, and then treat them and the corn dolly with respect.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Brigid is said to walk the earth on Imbolc eve. Before going to bed, each member of the household may leave a piece of clothing or strip of cloth outside for Brigid to bless. The head of the household will smother (or "smoor") the fire and rake the ashes smooth. In the morning, they look for some kind of mark on the ashes, a sign that Brigid has passed that way in the night or morning. The clothes or strips of cloth are brought inside, and believed to now have powers of healing and protection.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">On the following day, the girls carry the <i>Brideog</i> through the village or neighborhood, from house to house, where this representation of the Saint/Goddess is welcomed with great honor. Adult women — those who are married or who run a household — stay home to welcome the Brigid procession, perhaps with an offering of coins or a snack. Since Brigid represents the light half of the year, and the power that will bring people from the dark season of winter into spring, her presence is very important at this time of year.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Neopagans of diverse traditions observe this holiday in a variety of ways. As forms of Neopaganism can be quite different and have very different origins, these representations can vary considerably despite the shared name. Some celebrate in a manner as close as possible to how the Ancient Celts are believed to have observed the festival, as well as how these customs have been maintained in the living Celtic cultures. Other types of Neopagans observe the holiday with rituals taken from numerous other unrelated sources, Celtic cultures being only one of the sources used.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Imbolc is usually celebrated by modern Pagans on February 1 or 2nd in the northern hemisphere, and August 1 or 2nd in the southern hemisphere. Some Neopagans time this celebration to the solar midpoint between the winter solstice and spring equinox, which now falls later in the first week or two of February. Since the Celtic year was based on both lunar and solar cycles, it is most likely that the holiday would be celebrated on the full moon nearest the midpoint between the winter solstice and vernal equinox, or when the primroses, dandelions, or other spring flowers rise up through the snow, or when the sun aligned with the passage tombs among the pre-Celtic megaliths.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Like other Reconstructionist traditions, Celtic Reconstructionists place emphasis on historical accuracy and cultural preservation. They base their Imbolc celebrations on traditional lore and customs that have been maintained in the Six Celtic nations and the Irish and Scottish diasporas. They also employ research into the older beliefs of the polytheistic Celts. They usually celebrate the festival when the first stirrings of spring are felt, or on the full moon that falls closest to this time. Many use traditional songs and rites from sources such as <i>The Silver Bough</i> and <i>The Carmina Gadelica</i>. It is especially a time of honoring the Goddess Brighid, and many of her dedicants choose this time of year for rituals to her.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"><sup> </sup></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Wiccans celebrate a variation of Imbolc as one of four "fire festivals", which make up half of the eight holidays (or "sabbats"), of the wheel of the year. Imbolc is defined as a cross-quarter day, midway between the winter solstice (Yule) and the spring equinox (Ostara). The precise astrological midpoint in the Northern hemisphere is when the sun reaches fifteen degrees of Aquarius. In the Southern hemisphere, if celebrated as the beginning of local Spring, the date is the midpoint of Leo. Sometimes the festival is referred to as "Brigid". Among Dianic Wiccans, Imbolc (also referred to as "Candlemas") is the traditional time for initiations.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">In Wicca, Imbolc is commonly associated with the goddess Brigid, and hence the Wiccan Goddess, and as such it is sometimes viewed as a "women’s festival" with specific rites only for female members of a coven.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imbolc">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imbolc</a>)</span></p>Imbolc Traditions and Historytag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2011-02-01:2185477:BlogPost:978372011-02-01T21:00:00.000ZDenise Morgan (Helping Hand)https://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/DeniseRMorgan
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Imbolc Traditions and History</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2220776835?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2220776835?profile=original" width="252"></img></a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Imbolc is one of the four principal festivals of the Irish calendar, celebrated either at the beginning of February or at the first local signs of Spring. Originally…</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Imbolc Traditions and History</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> <a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2220776835?profile=original"><img width="252" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2220776835?profile=original" class="align-left"/></a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Imbolc is one of the four principal festivals of the Irish calendar, celebrated either at the beginning of February or at the first local signs of Spring. Originally dedicated to the goddess Brigid, in the Christian period it was adopted as St Brigid's Day. In Scotland the festival is also known as Latha Fhèill Brìghde, in Ireland as Lá Fhéile Bríde, and in Wales as Gwyl Ffraed. Imbolc is conventionally celebrated on 1 February. Imbolc is traditionally a time of weather prognostication, and the old tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens is perhaps a precursor to Groundhog Day.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Thig an nathair as an toll</span><p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">La donn Bride,</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Ged robh tri traighean dh’ an</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Air leachd an lair.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">"The serpent will come from the hole</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">On the brown Day of Bride,</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Though there should be three feet of snow</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">On the flat surface of the ground."</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Imbolc is often defined as a cross-quarter day midway between the winter solstice (Yule) and the spring equinox (Ostara), and the precise midpoint is half way through, or fifteen degrees of, Aquarius. Fire and purification is considered by many to be an important aspect of this festival. Brigid (also known as Brighid, Bríde, Brigit, Brìd) is the Goddess of poetry, healing and smithcraft. As both goddess and saint she is also associated with holy wells, sacred flames, and healing. To some, the lighting of candles and fires represents the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Among agrarian peoples, the festival was traditionally associated with the onset of lactation of ewes, soon to give birth to the spring lambs. This could vary by as much as two weeks before or after the start of February. In Irish, Imbolc means "in the belly" (i mbolg), referring to the pregnancy of ewes, and is also a Celtic term for spring. Another name is Oimelc, meaning "ewe's milk". Some Celts and Neopagans shorten the name to Brigid, referring to the Celtic goddess of healing, poetry and smithcraft, to whom the day is sacred.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">That Imbolc was an important time to the ancient inhabitants of Ireland can be seen at a number of Megalithic and Neolithic sites, such as at the Loughcrew burial mounds and the Mound of the Hostages in Tara, Ireland. Here, the inner chamber of the passage tombs are perfectly aligned with the rising sun of both Imbolc and Samhain. Similar to the phenomena seen at Newgrange, the rising Imbolc sun shines down the long passageway and illuminates the inner chamber of the tomb.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">The holiday is a festival of the hearth and home, and a celebration of the lengthening days and the early signs of spring. Rituals often involve hearthfires, special foods, divination or simply watching for omens (whether performed in all seriousness or as children's games), a great deal of candles, and perhaps an outdoor bonfire if the weather permits.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">In the modern Irish Calendar, Imbolc is variously known as the Feast of Saint Brigid (Secondary Patron of Ireland), Lá Fhéile Bríde, and Lá Feabhra - the first day of Spring. Christians may call the day "Candlemas" or "the feast of the Purification of the Virgin". Since Brigid represents the light half of the year, and the power that will bring people from the dark season of winter into spring, her presence is very important at this time of year.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">One folk tradition that continues in both Christian and Pagan homes on St. Brigid's Day (or Imbolc) is that of the Brigid's Bed. The girls and young, unmarried women of the household or village create a corn dolly to represent Brigid, called the Brideog ("little Brigid" or "young Brigid"), adorning it with ribbons and baubles like shells or stones. They make a bed for the Brideog to lay in. On St. Brigid's Eve (Jan. 31), the girls and young women gather together in one house to stay up all night with the Brideog, and are later visited by all the young men of the community who must ask permission to enter the home, and then treat them and the corn dolly with respect.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #ffffff;">Brigid is said to walk the earth on Imbolc eve. Before going to bed, each member of the household may leave a piece of clothing or strip of cloth outside for Brigid to bless. The head of the household will smoor the fire and rakes the ashes smooth. In the morning, they look for some kind of mark on the ashes, a sign that Brigid has passed that way in the night or morning. The clothes or strips of cloth are brought inside, and believed to now have powers of healing and protection. On the following day, the girls carry the Brideog through the village or neighborhood, from house to house, where this representation of the Saint/goddess is welcomed with great honor. Adult women - those who are married or who run a household - stay home to welcome the Brigid procession, perhaps with an offering of coins or a snack.</span></p>Samhaintag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2010-10-30:2185477:BlogPost:704992010-10-30T17:35:23.000ZDenise Morgan (Helping Hand)https://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/DeniseRMorgan
<h1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span lang="EN" style="COLOR: white" xml:lang="EN"><font size="5"><font face="Times New Roman">Samhain…</font></font></span></h1>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span lang="EN" style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" xml:lang="EN"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><img alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2220777442?profile=original"></img></font></font></span></p>
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<h1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="COLOR: white" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="5"><font face="Times New Roman">Samhain</font></font></span></h1>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><img alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2220777442?profile=original"/></font></font></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Samhain</span></b> <span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">(</span></font><span class="ipa1"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">/ˈsɑːwɪn/</span></span><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font face="Times New Roman">,</font></span> <span class="ipa1"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">/ˈsaʊ.ɪn/</span></span><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font face="Times New Roman">, or</font></span> <span class="ipa1"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">/ˈsaʊn/</span></span><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font face="Times New Roman">) is a Gaelic festival held on October 31–November 1. The Irish name Samhain is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end". A harvest festival with ancient roots in Celtic polytheism, it was linked to festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and continued to be celebrated in late medieval times. Due to its date it became associated with the Christian festival All Saints' Day, and greatly influenced modern celebration of Halloween.</font></span></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="COLOR: white; FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt">Also called:</span></b> <span style="COLOR: white; FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt">Samhuinn (Gàidhlig): Sauin (Gaelg): Oíche Shamhna (Gaeilge)</span></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="COLOR: white; FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt">Observed by:</span></b> <span style="COLOR: white; FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt">Gaels (Irish people, Scottish people) Neopagans (Celtic Reconstructionists, Wiccans)</span></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="COLOR: white; FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt">Begins:</span></b> <span style="COLOR: white; FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt">Northern Hemisphere: Sunset on October 31; Southern Hemisphere: Sunset on April 30</span></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="COLOR: white; FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt">Ends:</span></b> <span style="COLOR: white; FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt">Northern Hemisphere: Sunset on November 1; Southern Hemisphere: Sunset on May 1</span></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="COLOR: white; FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt">Celebrations -</span></b> <span style="COLOR: white; FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt">Bonfires, Guising, Divination, Apple, bobbing, Feasting</span></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="COLOR: white; FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt">Related to</span></b> <span style="COLOR: white; FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt">- Halloween, Calan Gaeaf, All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day</span></font></p>
<h2 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Overview</span></span></font></h2>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Samhain marked the end of the harvest, the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half". It was traditionally celebrated over the course of several days. Many scholars believe that it was the beginning of the Celtic year. It has some elements of a festival of the dead. The Gaels believed that the border between this world and the otherworld became thin on Samhain; because some animals and plants were dying, it thus allowed the dead to reach back through the veil that separated them from the living. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual, and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The Gaelic custom of wearing costumes and masks, was an attempt to copy the spirits or placate them. In Scotland the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white. <i>Samhnag</i> — turnips which were hollowed-out and carved with faces to make lanterns — were also used to ward off harmful spirits.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The Gaelic festival became associated with the Christian All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, and has hugely influenced the secular customs now connected with Halloween, a name first attested in the 16th century as a Scottish shortening of the fuller <i>All-Hallows-Even</i>. Samhain continues to be celebrated as a religious festival by some Neopagans.</font></font></span></p>
<h2 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Etymology</span></span></font></h2>
<p><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">In Modern Irish the name is</span> <i><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: GA" lang="GA" xml:lang="GA">Samhain</span></i> </font><span class="ipa1"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">[ˈsˠaunʲ]</span></span><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">, In Scottish Gaelic,</span> <i><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: GD" lang="GD" xml:lang="GD">Samhain</span></i> </font><span class="ipa1"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">[ˈsaũ.iɲ]</span></span><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font face="Times New Roman">, in Manx Gaelic <i>Sauin</i> and Old Irish <i>Samain</i></font></span> <span class="ipa1"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">[ˈsaṽɨnʲ]</span></span> <font face="Times New Roman"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">— roughly translated as "summer's end".</span> <i><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: GA" lang="GA" xml:lang="GA">Samhain</span></i> <span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">and</span> <i><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: GD" lang="GD" xml:lang="GD">an t-Samhain</span></i> <span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">are also the Irish and Scottish Gaelic names of November, respectively.</span></font></font></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The Modern Irish word <i>Samhain</i> is derived from the Old Irish <i>samain, samuin,</i> or <i>samfuin</i>, all referring to 1 November (<i>latha na samna</i>: 'samhain day'), and the festival and royal assembly held on that date in medieval Ireland (<i>oenaig na samna</i>: 'samhain assembly'). Its meaning is glossed as 'summer's end', and the frequent spelling with <i>f</i> suggests analysis by popular etymology as <i>sam</i> ('summer') and <i>fuin</i> ('sunset', 'end'). The Old Irish <i>sam</i> ('summer') is from Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) <i>*semo-</i>; cognates are Welsh <i>haf</i>, Breton <i>hañv</i>, English <i>summer</i> and Old Norse language <i>sumar</i>, all meaning 'summer', and the Sanskrit <i>sáma</i> ("season").</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">In 1907, Whitley Stokes suggested an etymology from Proto-Celtic <i>*samani</i> ('assembly'), cognate to Sanskrit <i>sámana</i>, and the Gothic <i>samana</i>. J. Vendryes concludes that these words containing <i>*semo-</i> ('summer') are unrelated to <i>samain</i>, remarking that furthermore the Celtic 'end of summer' was in July, not November, as evidenced by Welsh <i>gorffennaf</i> ('July'). We would therefore be dealing with an Insular Celtic word for 'assembly', <i>*samani</i> or <i>*samoni</i>, and a word for 'summer', <i>saminos</i> (derived from <i>*samo-</i>: 'summer') alongside <i>samrad</i>, <i>*samo-roto-</i>. The Irish <i>samain</i> would be etymologically unrelated to 'summer', and derive from 'assembly'. But note that the name of the month is of Proto-Celtic age, cf. Gaulish <i>SAMON[IOS]</i> from the Coligny calendar, and the association with 'summer' by popular etymology may therefore in principle date to even pre-Insular Celtic times.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Confusingly, Gaulish <i>Samonios</i> (October/November lunation) corresponds to <i>GIAMONIOS</i>, the seventh month (the April/May lunation) and the beginning of the summer season. <i>Giamonios</i>, the beginning of the summer season, is clearly related to the word for winter, Proto-Indo-European <i>*g'hei-men-</i> (Latin <i>hiems</i>, Latvian <i>ziema</i>, Lithuanian <i>žiema</i>, Slavic <i>zima</i>, Greek <i>kheimon</i>, Hittite <i>gimmanza</i> ), cf. Old Irish <i>gem-adaig</i> ('winter's night'). It appears, therefore, that in Proto-Celtic the first month of the summer season was named 'wintry', and the first month of the winter half-year 'summery', possibly by ellipsis, '[month at the end] of summer/winter', so that <i>samfuin</i> would be a restitution of the original meaning. This interpretation would either invalidate the 'assembly' explanation given above, or push back the time of the re-interpretation by popular etymology to very early times indeed.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Samhain was also called the <b>Féile Moingfhinne</b> (meaning "festival of Mongfhionn"). According to Cormac's Glossary, Mongfhionn was a goddess the pagan Irish worshipped on Samain.</font></font></span></p>
<p><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><i><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Bealtaine</span></i><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">, <i>Lúnasa</i> and <i>Samhain</i> are still today the names of the months of May, August and November in the Irish language. Similarly, <i>an Lùnastal</i> and <i>an t-Samhain</i> are the modern Scottish Gaelic names for August and November.</span></font></font></p>
<h2 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">History</span></span></font></h2>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The Gaulish calendar appears to have divided the year into two halves: the 'dark' half, beginning with the month <i>Samonios</i> (the October/November lunation), and the 'light' half, beginning with the month <i>Giamonios</i> (the April/May lunation). The entire year may have been considered as beginning with the 'dark' half, so that the beginning of <i>Samonios</i> may be considered the Celtic New Year's Day. The celebration of New Year itself may have taken place during the 'three nights of <i>Samonios'</i> (Gaulish <i>trinux[tion] samo[nii]</i>), the beginning of the lunar cycle which fell nearest to the midpoint between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. The lunations marking the middle of each half-year may also have been marked by specific festivals. The Coligny calendar marks the mid-summer moon (see Lughnasadh), but omits the mid-winter one (see Imbolc). The seasons are not oriented at the solar year, viz. solstice and equinox, so the mid-summer festival would fall considerably later than summer solstice, around 1 August (Lughnasadh). It appears that the calendar was designed to align the lunations with the agricultural cycle of vegetation, and that the exact astrological position of the Sun at that time was considered less important.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">In medieval Ireland, Samhain became the principal festival, celebrated with a great assembly at the royal court in Tara, lasting for three days. After being ritually started on the Hill of Tlachtga, a bonfire was set alight on the Hill of Tara, which served as a beacon, signaling to people gathered atop hills all across Ireland to light their ritual bonfires. The custom has survived to some extent, and recent years have seen a resurgence in participation in the festival.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Samhain was identified in Celtic literature as the beginning of the Celtic year and its description as "Celtic New Year" was popularised in 18th century literature. From this usage in the Romanticist Celtic Revival, Samhain is still popularly regarded as the "Celtic New Year" in the contemporary Celtic cultures, both in the Six Celtic Nations and the diaspora. For instance, the contemporary calendars produced by the Celtic League begin and end at Samhain.</font></font></span></p>
<h3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Gaelic folklore</span></span></font></h3>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The Samhain celebrations have survived in several guises as a festival dedicated to the harvest and the dead. In Ireland and Scotland, the Féile na Marbh, the 'festival of the dead' took place on Samhain.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The night of Samhain, in Irish, <i>Oíche Shamhna</i> and Scots Gaelic, <i>Oidhche Shamhna</i>, is one of the principal festivals of the Celtic calendar, and falls on the October 31. It represents the final harvest. In modern Ireland and Scotland, the name by which Halloween is known in the Gaelic language is still <i>Oíche/Oidhche Shamhna</i>. It is still the custom in some areas to set a place for the dead at the Samhain feast, and to tell tales of the ancestors on that night.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Traditionally, Samhain was time to take stock of the herds and grain supplies, and decide which animals would need to be slaughtered in order for the people and livestock to survive the winter. This custom is still observed by many who farm and raise livestock because it is when meat will keep since the freeze has come and also since summer grass is gone and free foraging is no longer possible.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Bonfires played a large part in the festivities celebrated down through the last several centuries, and up through the present day in some rural areas of the Celtic nations and the diaspora. Villagers were said to have cast the bones of the slaughtered cattle upon the flames. In the pre-Christian Gaelic world, cattle were the primary unit of currency and the center of agricultural and pastoral life. Samhain was the traditional time for slaughter, for preparing stores of meat and grain to last through the coming winter.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">With the bonfire ablaze, the villagers extinguished all other fires. Each family then solemnly lit its hearth from the common flame, thus bonding the families of the village together. Often two bonfires would be built side by side, and the people would walk between the fires as a ritual of purification. Sometimes the cattle and other livestock would be driven between the fires, as well.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Gaelic custom of wearing costumes and masks, was an attempt to copy the evil spirits or placate them. In Scotland the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white. Candle lanterns (Gaelic: <i>samhnag</i>), carved from turnips were part of the traditional festival. Large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces, placed in windows to ward off evil spirits.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Guisers — men in disguise, were prevalent in 16th century in the Scottish countryside. Children going door to door "guising" (or "Galoshin" on the south bank of the lower Clyde) in costumes and masks carrying turnip lanterns, offering entertainment of various sorts in return for food or coins, was traditional in 19th century, and continued well into 20th century. At the time of mass transatlantic Irish and Scottish immigration that popularized Halloween in North America, Halloween in Ireland and Scotland had a strong tradition of guising and pranks.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Divination is a common folkloric practice that has also survived in rural areas. The most common uses were to determine the identity of one's future spouse, the location of one's future home, and how many children a person might have. Seasonal foods such as apples and nuts were often employed in these rituals. Apples were peeled, the peel tossed over the shoulder, and its shape examined to see if it formed the first letter of the future spouse's name. Nuts were roasted on the hearth and their movements interpreted - if the nuts stayed together, so would the couple. Egg whites were dropped in a glass of water, and the shapes foretold the number of future children. Children would also chase crows and divine some of these things from how many birds appeared or the direction the birds flew.</font></font></span></p>
<h3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Ancient Ireland</span></span></font></h3>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The Ulster Cycle is peppered with references to Samhain. Many of the adventures and campaigns undertaken by the characters therein begin at the Samhain Night feast. One such tale is <i>Echtra Nerai</i> ('The Adventure of Nera') concerning one Nera from Connacht who undergoes a test of bravery put forth by King Ailill. The prize is the king's own gold-hilted sword. The terms hold that a man must leave the warmth and safety of the hall and pass through the night to a gallows where two prisoners had been hanged the day before, tie a twig around one man's ankle, and return. Others had been thwarted by the demons and spirits that harassed them as they attempted the task, quickly coming back to Ailill's hall in shame. Nera goes on to complete the task and eventually infiltrates the sídhe where he remains trapped until next Samhain. Taking etymology into consideration, it is interesting to note that the word for summer expressed in the <i>Echtra Nerai</i> is <i>samraid</i>.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The other cycles feature Samhain as well. The <i><u>Cath Maige Tuireadh</u></i> (Battle of Mag Tuired) takes place on Samhain. The deities Morrígan and Dagda meet and have sex before the battle against the Fomorians; in this way the Morrígan acts as a sovereignty figure and gives the victory to The Dagda's people, the Tuatha Dé Danann.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The tale <i>The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn</i> includes an important scene at Samhain. The young Fionn Mac Cumhail visits Tara where Aillen the Burner, one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, puts everyone to sleep at Samhain and burns the place. Through his ingenuity Fionn is able to stay awake and slays Aillen, and is given his rightful place as head of the fianna.</font></font></span></p>
<h2 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Related festivals</span></span></font></h2>
<h3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Brittany</span></span></font></h3>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">In parts of western Brittany, Samhain is still heralded by the baking of kornigou, cakes baked in the shape of antlers to commemorate the god of winter shedding his 'cuckold' horns as he returns to his kingdom in the Otherworld. The Romans identified Samhain with their own feast of the dead, the Lemuria. This, however, was observed in the days leading up to May 13. With Christianization, the festival in November (not the Roman festival in May) became All Hallows' Day on November 1 followed by All Souls' Day, on November 2. Over time, the night of October 31 came to be called All Hallow's Eve, and the remnants festival dedicated to the dead eventually morphed into the secular holiday known as Halloween.</font></font></span></p>
<h3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Wales</span></span></font></h3>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The Welsh equivalent of this holiday is called <i>Nos Galan Gaeaf</i>. As with Samhain, this marks the beginning of the dark half of the year and it officially begins at sunset on October 31.</font></font></span></p>
<h3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Isle of Man</span></span></font></h3>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The Manx celebrate Hop-tu-Naa, which is a celebration of the original New Year's Eve. The term is Manx Gaelic in origin, deriving from <i>Shogh ta’n Oie</i>, meaning "this is the night". Traditionally, children dress as scary beings, carry turnips rather than pumpkins and sing an Anglicised version of Jinnie the Witch and may go from house to house asking for sweets or money.</font></font></span></p>
<h3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Cornwall</span></span></font></h3>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">The Cornish equivalent of this holiday is known as Allantide or in the revived Cornish language Nos Calan Gwaf.</font></font></span></p>
<h2 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Neopaganism</span></span></font></h2>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Samhain is observed by various Neopagans in various ways. As forms of Neopaganism can differ widely in both their origins and practices, these representations can vary considerably despite the shared name. Some Neopagans have elaborate rituals to honor the dead, and the deities who are associated with the dead in their particular culture or tradition. Some celebrate in a manner as close as possible to how the Ancient Celts and Living Celtic cultures have maintained the traditions, while others observe the holiday with rituals culled from numerous other unrelated sources, Celtic culture being only one of the sources used.</font></font></span></p>
<h3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Celtic Reconstructionism</span></span></font></h3>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans tend to celebrate Samhain on the date of first frost, or when the last of the harvest is in and the ground is dry enough to have a bonfire. Like other Reconstructionist traditions, Celtic Reconstructionists place emphasis on historical accuracy, and base their celebrations and rituals on traditional lore from the living Celtic cultures, as well as research into the older beliefs of the polytheistic Celts. At bonfire rituals, some observe the old tradition of building two bonfires, which celebrants and livestock then walk or dance between as a ritual of purification.</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">According to Celtic lore, Samhain is a time when the boundaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead become thinner, allowing spirits and other supernatural entities to pass between the worlds to socialize with humans. It is the time of the year when ancestors and other departed souls are especially honored. Though Celtic Reconstructionists make offerings to the spirits at all times of the year, Samhain in particular is a time when more elaborate offerings are made to specific ancestors. Often a meal will be prepared of favorite foods of the family's and community's beloved dead, a place set for them at the table, and traditional songs, poetry and dances performed to entertain them. A door or window may be opened to the west and the beloved dead specifically invited to attend. Many leave a candle or other light burning in a western window to guide the dead home. Divination for the coming year is often done, whether in all solemnity or as games for the children. The more mystically inclined may also see this as a time for deeply communing with the deities, especially those whom the lore mentions as being particularly connected with this festival.</font></font></span></p>
<h3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><font face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Wicca</span></span></font></h3>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Main article: Wheel of the Year</font></font></span></p>
<p><span style="COLOR: white; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang="EN" xml:lang="EN"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Samhain is one of the eight annual festivals, often referred to as 'Sabbats', observed as part of the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. It is considered by most Wiccans to be the most important of the four 'greater Sabbats'. It is generally observed on October 31 in the Northern Hemisphere, starting at sundown. Samhain is considered by some Wiccans as a time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on, and it often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets and other loved ones who have died. In some rituals the spirits of the departed are invited to attend the festivities. It is seen as a festival of darkness, which is balanced at the opposite point of the wheel by the spring festival of Beltane, which Wiccans celebrate as a festival of light and fertility.</font></font></span></p>
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