Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Tidbits on St. Patricks day

I know this is late but as I sat at the doctor's office yesterday I rummaged through my purse and found this.
This come from a little newspaper that is called...TIDBITS.
Here are some interesting facts or fiction about St Patrick's day:

A shamrock
No, the official emblem of Ireland is the harp! The stringed instrument apperears on all goverment documents and decorates the presidential flag.
The shamrock only gained fame as a symbol of Ireland after St Patrick used its three laves as a visual aid to explain the Holy Trinity.

You'll find snakes in almost every country in the world, but the stories are true: there are none to be found in Ireland. Of course,legend has it that St Patrick charmed them all into the sea, but truth is that snakes can't survive anyplace where the ground is frozen year-round. They need to burrow into the ground to keep warm. Snakes can't swim either, and since Ireland is surrounded by water zoos are the only place there where you'll see serpents.

Potatoes are not native to Ireland. This traditional irish vegetable was thought to have first been harvested in Peru and didnt make its way across the Atlantic until 1589.

Ireland was one of the first European countries to assign last names to families. This practice started around the year 1000, when the country's population increased so quickly tat first names alone weren't sufficient to identify individuals, The prefixes "Mac" and "O" were added to the first name of the father or grandfather to creat a surname. So MacDonald means son of Donald, and O'Brian translates to son of Brian.

2 comments:

barman said...

Oh how interesting is that? Now where did I put the four leaf clover. I think you could use a little luck. Once I find it I will send it on its way.

Conchscooter said...

Mac is usually Protestant (Scottish) and O' is usually Catholic but what's in a name? Altogether too much in some places.

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