What is St Patrick’s Day? What is the meaning of St Patrick’s Day?

St. Patrick’s Day started as a Christian holiday and changed into a feast day in the 1600s, thereafter becoming a secular holiday celebration of Ireland and Irish culture.

St Patrick’s Day didn’t become a celebration of Irish culture until the last two centuries. Historians contend St Patrick’s Day was initially a break from 40 days of fasting for Lent, a one day break allowing for alcohol and feast.

Reportedly “Saint Patrick’s feast day was finally placed on the universal liturgical calendar in the Catholic Church due to the influence of the Waterford-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding in the early 1600s. Saint Patrick’s Day thus became a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics in Ireland.”

But it became a secular, public holiday in Ireland in 1903 due to the Money Bank Act. Last that century, in the :mid-1990s that the Irish government began a campaign to use Saint Patrick’s Day to showcase Ireland and its culture.”

The Festival was established to:

” — Offer a national festival that ranks amongst all of the greatest celebrations in the world and promote excitement throughout Ireland via innovation, creativity, grassroots involvement, and marketing activity.
— Provide the opportunity and motivation for people of Irish descent, (and those who sometimes wish they were Irish) to attend and join in the imaginative and expressive celebrations.
— Project, internationally, an accurate image of Ireland as a creative, professional and sophisticated country with wide appeal, as we approach the new millennium.”

For more on St Patrick’s Day 2010 on LALATE, click here: http://news.lalate.com/category/holidays.

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Cut yourself a piece of pie for Pi Day with Pi Day Jokes on the side. Pi Day Jokes for 3 14 day are prompting some students to hunger for Pi.

Pi Day for 3 14 is being celebrated nationally today among students and math buffs. Anyone armed with Pi Day jokes will be the star of any math party and the object of every girl’s geeky love affection. Women love a man of numbers … even if his bank account only has .. $314 … in it.

Some Pi Day jokes include:

Mathematician: “Pi r squared”
Student: “No teacher! Pies are round, cakes are square!”

Q: What do you get when you take green cheese and divide its circumference by its diameter?
A: Moon Pi.

* Q:What do you get when you take the sun and divide its circumference by its diameter?
* A: Pi in the sky.

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Here are some Pi Day Jokes. Pi Day Jokes 2010 heat up as Pi Day is celebrated by math fans today. Some of these Pi Day Jokes are quite good, some are a bit corny, and some are even funnier than Kathy Ireland’s Oscars show performance.

Some Pi Day jokes include the following:

* Q: What do you get when you take green cheese and divide its circumference by its diameter?
* A: Moon Pi.

* Q:What do you get when you take the sun and divide its circumference by its diameter?
* A: Pi in the sky.

* Mathematician: Pi r squared”
* Baker: No! Pies are round, cakes are square!

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MARDI GRAS! Today is Fat Tuesday and Fastnacht Day aka Paczki Day aka Fausnaught Day. Fastnacht Day, Paczki Day, Fausnaught Day all derive from Fat Tuesday celebrations, versions of deserts that combine flower, sugar, fat and butter.

Walmart calls them Paczki. In some states they carry the Kinklings name. And in others, fasnachts derive from potato ingredients.

The ingredient core remains functionally the same with some modifications. Paczki are filled Polish donuts carrying often preserves usually sugared or glazed.

Forget your diet … at least for today.

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This week marks 2010’s Random Acts of Kindness Week. Random Acts of Kindness Week is being celebrated by Hershey’s chocolate in various great forms.

Among them is the ability to send a virtual candy bar to friends telling them thank you.

“Visitors to the website, www.thehersheylegacy.com, are encouraged to deliver a virtual Hershey’s® “thank you” bar to friends and family. Once on the homepage users can click on the button that reads “connect with Facebook.”  Once you have logged in, a window will pop up with a Hershey’s® bar allowing you to send the treat to a friend or post it to your Facebook wall.”

Then real candy bars will also get a special marking.

“In celebration of the 100 years of support for Milton Hershey School, every standard and king-size Hershey’s® Milk Chocolate Bar and Milk Chocolate Bar with Almonds contains a special “Thank You” message. The back of each bar states, “Every Hershey’s® product you’ve enjoyed has helped support children in need through Milton Hershey School. Thank You for making a difference!”"

More online here: thehersheylegacy.com.

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Are banks open on Presidents Day 2010? Are banks open on Presidents Day, ever?

No, they are not.

Presidents Day on the list of Federal Holidays for 2010. Saying the OPM:

“Federal law (5 U.S.C. 6103) establishes the following public holidays for Federal employees. Please note that most Federal employees work on a Monday through Friday schedule. For these employees, when a holiday falls on a nonworkday — Saturday or Sunday — the holiday usually is observed on Monday (if the holiday falls on Sunday) or Friday (if the holiday falls on Saturday).”

Friday, January 1 New Year’s Day
Monday, January 18 Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Monday, February 15* Washington’s Birthday
Monday, May 31 Memorial Day
Monday, July 5** Independence Day
Monday, September 6 Labor Day
Monday, October 11 Columbus Day
Thursday, November 11 Veterans Day
Thursday, November 25 Thanksgiving Day
Friday, December 24*** Christmas Day

Today IS a federal holiday. So banks are closed. But malls, mass transit, and grocery stores are open and generally NOT subject to shorter hours.

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Is there mail on Presidents Day? Do we get mail on Presidents’ Day?

No we don’t. There is no mail on Presidents Day. Today is one of the designated post office closure dates of 2010

“This holiday is designated as “Washington’s Birthday” in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees. Though other institutions such as state and local governments and private businesses may use other names, it is our policy to always refer to holidays by the names designated in the law.”

The OPM explains February 15 2010 is a Federal Holiday as Washington’s Birthday. But the holiday often gets different names.

Here are your remaining 2010 Post Office Holidays.

Monday, February 15* Washington’s Birthday
Monday, May 31 Memorial Day
Monday, July 5** Independence Day
Monday, September 6 Labor Day
Monday, October 11 Columbus Day
Thursday, November 11 Veterans Day
Thursday, November 25 Thanksgiving Day
Friday, December 24*** Christmas Day

For Federal employees, July 5th will be their holiday this year:

“** July 4, 2010 (the legal public holiday for Independence Day), falls on a Sunday. For most Federal employees, Monday, July 5, will be treated as a holiday for pay and leave purposes. (See section 3(a) of Executive order 11582, February 11, 1971.)”

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