So St. Patrick’s Day is coming (March 17, next Wednesday); and if you’re curious about its origins, as I was, you can find out here that it has marked the death of St. Patrick (in 461 AD), patron saint of Ireland, for over 1000 years. Originally a religious holiday, this has mostly evolved to celebrating Irish culture and green (St. Pat’s color was blue, but there was the shamrock legend and Ireland referred to as the Emerald Island). Although occurring during Lent, the Lenten restrictions on meat are waived for the day, and people eat accordingly. America, with our usual hodgepodge and confusion, began holding Irish culture parades with the playing of bagpipes (which are of course Scottish). My recipes for a corned beef dinner are here.
What does this have to do with the WOW, you ask? Welp, legend has it that St. Patrick had a small role in women’s rights. St. Brigid of Kildare complained to St. Patrick that men took too long to propose. And that was the start of the leap year tradition that women can propose to men. As for those 77 women mentioned at the previous linky, there were actually more than 300 of them and you might enjoy their stories here, but the anniversary of the Irish uprising is actually in late April.
In Depth: How the Irish women’s movement has done and is doing, fighting what had been a patriarchal and Catholic society. Hint: Much like us, some steps forward, some back, still fighting, engaging younger women.