Have a safe St Patrick ’s Day weekend

“Saint Patrick's Day or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, "the Day of the Festival of Patrick") is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated annually on 17 March, the death date of the most commonly-recognised patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461).”

“Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early seventeenth century and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland),^[4] the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland,^[3] as well as celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general.^[5] Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, céilithe, and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks.^[6] Christians also attend church services,^[5][7] and the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol are lifted for the day, which has encouraged and propagated the holiday's tradition of alcohol consumption”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick's_Day

Some loose facts:

• St. Patrick, contrary to popular belief, was not Irish. He was British -- born in Britain -- and didn't lead a religious life in the beginning. He transitioned to a religious way of life during his teenage years. 
• When St. Patrick was around 14 years old, he was captured and taken to Ireland. There, he was kept in slavery for six years and made to herd sheep. After he was freed, St. Patrick returned to Ireland in his 30s when he was a part of a missionary of Celtic pagans.
• Did you know that green was no the original color associated with St. Patrick? In Ireland, green was traditionally considered to be an unlucky color and the hue that was associated with St. Patrick was blue!
• St. Patrick’s Day was first publicly celebrated in Boston in 1737 where a large population of Irish immigrants resided.
  Irish-American history expert Timothy Meagher said Irish charitable organizations originally celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with banquets in places such as Boston, Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C.
• Until the 1970s, St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland was a minor religious holiday. A priest would acknowledge the feast day, and families would celebrate with a big meal, but that was about it.
  St. Patrick’s Day was basically invented in America by Irish-Americans (I call this amateur drinking hour).

Please be safe this weekend, and if you insist on getting wasted this weekend please do not drive and run me off the road.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam