St. Patrick’s Day is one of those fun holidays that practically everyone celebrates in some fashion or another. To get us into the Spirit of Ireland, the Sedona Community Center will be serving up corned beef and cabbage on Friday, March 17th and, of course, things will be green!
Whether or not you can honestly claim the green blood of the Irish, the world as a whole has benefited in many interesting, important and often amusing ways from the Irish culture, including:
- An Irishman named James Hoban built the White House after winning the competition to do so. He was born and studied architecture in Ireland and not only designed it but built the White House—twice—rebuilding it after it was destroyed by fire in 1814.
- The Earls of Rosse in Ireland, studied photography, engineering and science. They were great inventors and built the Rosse Telescope in the 1800s—the largest telescope in the entire world for almost 100 years.
- Bram Stoker, famous author of the novel Dracula, was born in Ireland and raised in Dublin. A common belief is that the work was modeled after the life of Vlad the Impaler, but Irish legend indicates an Irish chieftain by the name of Abhartach, considered a vampire king in Irish folklore, was the true inspiration for this chilling story.
- And then, of course, there are the snakes, or lack of them as the case may be. One of St. Patrick’s claims to fame is that he cleared the Emerald isle of snakes. Researchers say that, if at all, the last time Ireland would have seen snakes would have been prior to the great ice age, and that snakes would not have existed along with people at any time.
- 10% of Ireland’s population is redheads. While it doesn’t sound like much, they come in second behind Scotland as having the most red hair worldwide. Across the globe, only 2% of the world’s population is redheaded.
- Mary Robinson, who served as the first female President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, was followed by Mary McAleese from 1997 to 2011, the only instance in the world where one female president replaced another woman.
- There are more Irish people living outside of Ireland than inside Ireland. Are you one of them?
There’s a popular saying that on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish. At the Sedona Community Center we will be celebrating March 17th with a ‘Wear-your-Green’ contest/raffle during the noon to 1 p.m. lunch hour along with good food and great friends. Lunch guests will enjoy an Irish menu and green beverages. To join our festivities please call 928.282.2834 to make your lunch reservation. The suggested contribution for lunch is $5 for people 60 and over or who have a disability and $6 for all others. Contributions help support the Community Lunch and Meals on Wheels service so vital to many of our neighbors.
