March 19th is Father’s Day - “El Dia del Padre”

Since the Catholic Church holds a significant influence on Spanish culture, Father’s Day, known in Spanish as ´El día del padre´ is celebrated in Spain on St. Joseph's Day, which falls on March 19. St. Joseph's Day is a Roman Catholic feast day designated to commemorate the life of the patron saint of carpenters – Joseph - who set the example of fatherhood and good husband as the foster father of Jesus and husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Until very recently, Father’s Day was a non-working holiday in Spain. This holiday is considered to be extremely important in Spain as it helps acknowledge the contribution of fathers to individual families and to societies as large. It is also the time to honour those family members and friends who fulfil the role of father-figures. Usually the whole family gets together for a big feast and to give small gifts to their father figure. In some parts of Spain it is celebrated in conjuction thefiesta of Las Fallas.

According to history, a woman from the Washington State area in the United States named Sonora Smart Dodd decided upon the death of her beloved father in 1909, to honor him for caring, protecting and raising 6 children on his own after he was widowed. She chose to celebrate his effort and love for his kids in the month of June, (her father’s birthday) as a way of saying thank you. Little did she know that fifteen years later, in 1924, her initiative would lead American president Calvin Coolidge, who liked the idea of a national holiday, to proclaim the third Sunday in June as Father's Day.

The holiday was adopted by countries around the world over the course of the years. Today, countries celebrate this holiday on different days: Spain, along with the majority of European countries celebrate this day on March 19, while Latin America follows the U.S. tradition of the third Sunday of June. Other countries have their own individual dates. Though the date and manner of celebrations differ in several countries, what remains the same is the spirit of the family celebration. Father's Day is celebrated with lots of enthusiasm and people everywhere take this opportunity to express appreciation for their dad and to tell him how much he is loved.

We must all take this opportunity to express our gratitude for fathers. The best way to do so is to hug him and say “Te quiero, papá”... and not just on Father’s Day. However, on this day, many sons and daughters opt to gift their dads with a token they know he will like such as a jamón, taking him out to a restaurant or spoiling him with his (well-deserved) latest and often technological whim. Schools in Spain begin gearing up for Father’s day a week before the holiday. Children begin crafting cards, ties, picture albums and other artistic creations to bring home for dad. They are also encouraged by their mothers at home to help out in making dad his favorite food or to wrap his gifts.

Father´s Day is almost here, so don’t forget to wish your dad a ¨¡Feliz Día del Padre!¨

 

    St. Patrick Day


 



 

When is St. Patrick's Day?
St. Patrick's Day takes place each year on March 17, the traditional religious feast day of Saint Patrick.

In 2012, St. Patrick's day falls on a Saturday.


St. Patrick's Day Celebration
Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional St. Patrick's Day dish. In 2009, roughly 26.1 billion pounds of beef and 2.3 billion pounds of cabbage were produced in the United States.
Irish soda bread gets its name and distinctive character from the use of baking soda rather than yeast as a leavening agent.
Lime green chrysanthemums are often requested for St. Patrick's Day parades and celebrations.


St. Patrick's Day Parade
The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place in the United States on March 17, 1762, when Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City.
More than 100 St. Patrick's Day parades are held across the United States. New York City and Boston are home to the largest celebrations.
At the annual New York City St. Patrick's Day parade, participants march up 5th Avenue from 44th Street to 86th Street. Each year, between 150,000 and 250,000 marchers take part in the parade, which does not allow automobiles or floats.


Places to Spend St. Patrick's Day
There are seven places in the United States named after the shamrock, the floral emblem of Ireland including Mount Gay-Shamrock, WV; Shamrock, TX; Shamrock Lakes, IN; and Shamrock, OK.
Sixteen U.S. places share the name of Ireland's capital, Dublin. With 44,541 residents, Dublin, CA, is the largest of the nice, followed by Dublin, OH, with 39,310.
Other towns with the luck of the Irish include Emerald Isle, North Carolina and Irishtown, Illinois.


Facts about Irish Americans
There are 34.7 million U.S. residents with Irish ancestry. This number is more than seven times the population of Ireland itself.
Irish is the nation's second most frequently reported ancestry, ranking behind German.
Across the country, 11 percent of residents lay claim to Irish ancestry. That number more than doubles to 23 percent in the state of Massachusetts.
Irish is the most common ancestry in 54 U.S. counties, of which 44 are in the Northeast. Middlesex County in Massachusetts tops the list with 348,978 Irish Americans, followed by Norfolk County, MA, which has 203,285.
Irish ranks among the top five ancestries in every state except Hawaii and New Mexico. It is the leading ancestry group in Delaware, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
There are approximately 144,588 current U.S. residents who were born in Ireland.




Who Was Saint Patrick?









Even though Saint Patrick the patron saint of Ireland and one of the most celebrated religious figures around the world, the factual information about his life and times is quite vague. Most information about St. Patrick has been twisted, embellished, or simply made up over centuries by storytellers, causing much ambiguity about the real life of St. Patrick. However, there are a some elements of his story about which most scholars accept to be true.

According to Coilin Owens, Irish literature expert and Professor Emeritus of English at George Mason University, Saint Patrick is traditionally thought to have lived "between 432-461 A.D., but more recent scholarship moves the dates up a bit." At the age of sixteen he was kidnapped from his native land of the Roman British Isles by a band pirates, and sold into slavery in Ireland. Saint Patrick worked as a shepherd and turned to religion for solace. After six years of slavery he escaped to the Irish coast and fled home to Britain.

While back in his homeland, Patrick decided to become a priest and then decided to return to Ireland after dreaming that the voices of the Irish people were calling him to convert them to Christianity.

After studying and preparing for several years, Patrick traveled back to Ireland as a Christian missionary. Although there were already some Christians living in Ireland, St. Patrick was able to bring upon a massive religious shift to Christianity by converting people of power. Says Prof. Owens, "[St. Patrick] is credited with converting the nobles; who set an example which the people followed."

But Patrick's desire to spread of Christianity was not met without mighty opposition. Prof. Owens explains, "Patrick ran into trouble with the local pagan priesthood, the druids: and there are many stories about his arguments with them as well as his survival of plots against them." He laid the groundwork for the establishment of hundreds of monasteries and churches that eventually popped up across the Irish country to promote Christianity.

Saint Patrick is also credited with bringing written word to Ireland through the promotion of the study of legal texts and the Bible, says Prof. Owens. Previous to Patrick, storytelling and history were reliant on memory and orally passing down stories.

Patrick's mission in Ireland is said to have lasted for thirty years. It is believe he died in the 5th century on March 17, which is the day St. Patrick's Day is commemorated each year.

The first year St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in America in 1737 in Boston, Massachusetts. The first official St. Patrick's Day parade was held in New York City in 1766. As the saying goes, on this day "everybody is Irish!" Over 100 U.S. cities now hold Saint Patrick's Day parades.

Good Friday in Philippines


The Black Nazarene (Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno) that has came all the way from Mexico through a galleon is a life-sized, dark-colored, wooden sculpture (carver is an Aztec carpenter) of Jesus Christ which has been known to be miraculous by majority of the people, especially its Filipino devotees. The black Nazarene is currently enshrined in the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila, Philippines where novena celebrations are held every Friday throughout the whole year. Roman Catholic tradition holds that the Black Nazarene came from a boat that caught fire, turning it from its original white into black or burnt complexion. For almost 200 years, the Black Nazarene is carried into the streets for procession in a "Caroza" or golden red carriage pulled through the streets of Quiapo by male devotees clad in maroon. Every 9th of January, the feast of the Most Holy Black Nazarene is celebrated while novena masses begin on the first Friday day of the year, in honor of its weekly novena mass held every Friday. This also celebrates the Translacion or the transfer of the image to its present shrine in Quiapo. The devotion to the miraculous Black Nazarene (Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno) has attracted huge following among the public. Its popularity, which initially spread to the northern and southern provinces of Luzon, spread over time throughout the country. Devotees pay homage to the Santo Cristo Jesus Nazareno by clapping their hands in praise at the end of every Mass performed at the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene. On its feast during January 9, people believed that whoever touched the Nazarene sometimes has been healed of their diseases. Catholics come from all over Manila for the chance that they will be able to get close enough to touch the image and perhaps even receive a miracle. Some devotees also throw towels or handkerchiefs to the people guarding the statue and ask them to rub them on the statue in anticipation of carrying some of that power away with them.


History of the Black Nazarene Festival

The Black Nazarene statue was brought to Manila by the first group of Augustinian Recollect friars on May 31, 1606. The image was originally housed in the first Recollect church in Bagumbayan (now part of the Rizal Park), which was established on September 10, 1606, and placed under the patronage of Saint Juan Bautista Saint John the Baptist.

In 1608, the image of the "Nazareno" was transferred to the second, bigger Recollect church dedicated to San Nicolas de Tolentino (Saint Nicholas of Tolentine). The Recollect Fathers dynamically promoted devotion to the Suffering of Our Lord represented by the image that in fifteen short years, the Cofradia de Santo Cristo Jesús Nazareno was established on April 21, 1621. The confraternity obtained Papal approval on April 20, 1650, from Pope Innocent X.

Sometime in the year 1787, then Archbishop of Manila, Basilio Sancho de Santas Junta y Rufina, ordered the transfer of the image of the Nazareno to the church in Quiapo, again providently placed under the patronage of Saint John the Baptist. The Black Nazarene made a lot of miraculous things. These are the survival of the image from the great fires that destroyed Quiapo Church in 1791 and 1929, the great earthquakes of 1645 and 1863, and the destructive Bombing of Manila in 1945 during World War II. Today the head and the cross stay on the Altar Mayor of the Minor Basilica, and the originalbody image of the Black Nazarene is used in the processions. Other, even smaller replica can be found in other churches.