Join Me: St. Urho's Day and St. Patrick's Day 2013

You all know about St. Patrick’s Day and how St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland and the legend of how he chased the snakes out of Ireland but have you heard about St. Urho’s Day? St. Urho’s Day celebrates a legend started by Richard Mattson in Virginia, Minnesota in the 1950s. The legend tells of how St. Urho chased the grasshoppers away from the grape crops in Finland and it takes place on March 16^th, the day before St. Patrick’s Day. I am of both Irish and Finnish descent (I’m a quarter Finn and a quarter Irish) so I enjoy celebrating both days.

Here’s a comparison of St. Urho’s and St. Patrick’s Day and how they are celebrated:

St. Patrick’s Day	St. Urho’s Day
Irish	Finnish
Celebrates the legend of how St. Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland	Celebrates the legend of how St. Urho chased the grasshoppers away from the grape crops in Finland
March 17th	March 16th
Wear green because of the shamrock	Wear purple because of the grapes and green because of the grasshoppers

 Check out the St. Urho's Day and the St. Patrick's Day websites for more information.

Here’s a neat little fact: There is a Gaelic word, “Céilidh”, which is pronounced the same way as my name, Kaylie, and it is a type of party in Ireland and Scotland.

So, I hope you have fun and celebrate both days! People celebrate St. Patrick’s Day even if they’re not Irish so it doesn’t matter if you’re not Finnish, celebrate and join in on the fun! Watch for some Irish and Finnish themed blog posts during the next two weeks!

-Kaylie