Monday 17 March 2008

Three Leaf Clover (Shamrock) - St. Patrick's Day

Three-leafed Clover (also called a Shamrock)
St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick's Clover - Bright green three-leafed clover

March 17th - St. Patrick's Day. Today I thought I'd share with you a short history of St. Patrick. Some of you might know this already, but a lot of people haven't actually heard the reason we remember him on this day.
Patrick was born in Roman Britain. When he was about sixteen he was captured by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. He entered the church, as his father and grandfather had before him, becoming a deacon and a bishop. He later returned to Ireland as a missionary, working in the north and west of the island. Legend credits Patrick with teaching the Irish about the concept of the Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a 3-leaved clover, using it to highlight the Christian belief of 'three divine persons in the one God'. St. Patrick died in 493, and by the eighth century he had become the patron saint of Ireland.
In Australia we celebrate St. Patrick's day by wearing a Shamrock or green clothes, as many of the early inhabitants of Australia were from Ireland. If you come from another country, do you celebrate St. Pat's day as well?

This photo taken with the Kodak C330 digital camera.

7 comments:

  1. A nicely detailed shot and a bit of history, too. Good post! I wasn't even aware of the date until I came here this morning. :)

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  2. Hi Sandpiper,

    I'm glad you like the history, I was interested myself in the background of St. Patrick's day when I searched for this. It's easy to lose track of the date though - I only remembered because my mobile phone told me the date! :)

    Cheers,

    David

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  3. Oh I missed you for St. Patrick day too, sorry. Its been week, first week of spring, and still lot of snow on the groud. On top of that been fighting really bad flu all week, and its all started with St. Patrick day, lol. Well not giving up. This is really nice photo of the clover leaf. Anna :0

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  4. Hi Anna,

    Congratulations on your start of Spring. I look forward to seeing some "fresh" photos from now on! :) Sorry to hear about your sickness, I hope you get over it really soon.

    Happy belated St. Patrick's Day,

    David

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  5. it was very interesting to read, i got a whole lot out of it, i love the part about the three leaf clover, about the trinity, Father, son, and holy spirit, i didn't even know that, ty for shareing it with me

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  6. No. A shamrock and a clover are two different things. a Shamrock has three leaves, only three. no two, not four, not 735. only three. each leave is heart-shaped with a white line going through it. a clover doesn't have those features!!!

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  7. wow, i'm happy to be born on the 17th of March and named Patricia too. nice history. absolutely fantastic!

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