St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for thousands of years. This is the Saint’s religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century.
Orginally, the color blue was associated with St. Patrick’s Day, but over the years has transformed to green. The use of shamrocks to celebrate and decorate is said to be because St. Patrick used a shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.
Easter
Easter is a Christian holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It is often thought of as Christianity’s most important holiday. Easter is never on the same date, unlike most holidays. It is thought to be the moveable feast because it doesn’t fall on a specific day.
Christian churches celebrate Easter on the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox on March 21. Because of this, Easter can be celebrated anywhere between March 22 and April 25 every year.
Bunnies, eggs and Easter gifts all stem from pagan roots. These tropes were incorporated into the celebration of Easter separately from the Christian tradition of honoring the day Jesus Christ arose.
Daylight saving time (DST)
Daylight saving time (DST) is a change in the standard time with the purpose of getting more efficiency out of the daylight each day. The idea of DST was first thought of in 1784 by Benjamin Franklin.
An essay published by Franklin stated the idea of rising early to make the most out of the morning sunlight. DST was first adopted in an effort to replace artificial light to save money for fuel during World War I in Germany.
Today, DST is accepted in over 70 countries and starts on Sunday, March 10 when we “spring” forward an hour, then ends on Sunday, Nov. 3 when we “fall” back.
April Fool’s Day
April Fool’s Day is celebrated on April first of each year. The origins of April Fool’s day is unclear. Many believe that it stems from ancient cultures celebrating their new year on or around April first. Some theories believe that April Fool’s day started when France switched to the Gregorian calendar which shifted the observance of the new year from the end of March to the first of January.
According to popular lore, some folks, out of ignorance, continued to celebrate the new year at the end of March, thus making them look foolish. People would make fun of them and they were the butt of their jokes. This became an annual tradition of observing the day in which humor reigns and harmless pranks are pulled on friends, family members and co-workers.
Wacky March Holidays:
March 1 – National peanut butter lovers’ day
March 2 – Dr. Seuss day
March 3 – If pets had thumbs day
March 5 – Unique names day
March 6 – National frozen foods day
March 8 – Proof reading day
March 11 – Johnny Appleseed day
March 14 – Potato chip day
March 20 – Corn Dog Day
March 22 – National goof off day
March 26 – National make up your own holiday day
March 29 – National mom and pop business owners day
March 30 – Take a walk in the park day
Leave a Reply