The best thing about being a teacher is that St. Patrick's Day, the holiest of drinking holidays, nearly always falls during March Break. This ensures that I have the day off to hit the pub and the next day off to recover. I'm not saying this is why I chose my career, but it was definitely on the list of things I considered. This year I started to panic because March 17th falls on the first Monday back to school after the break and I was worried I'd miss my traditional festivities.
Worried that is until His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI stepped in to score a point for Irish Catholics everywhere! With March 17th also falling during "Holy Week" (the week leading up to Easter), the church was faced with moving the official celebrations for St. Patrick's Day. The last time this happened was in 1940 when March 17th fell on Palm Sunday. This year the church has chosen to move the saint's day to the Saturday, March 15th, allowing us to revel, celebrate and then recuperate on Sunday. Go Pope!
Saturday, March 15th 2008. St. Patrick's Day. Slainte.
PS. Alright I've done some extensive research (on google) and it appears that, as usual, the Western World is thumbing it's collective nose at the pope. Various St. Paddy's Day events and parades are being scheduled from anywhere's as early as March 9th to the 17th. So don't cross March 17th off your calendars yet....I might be calling in sick that day.
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