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lights, and that the Church simply employed its usual tactic of appropriating the date and customs for its own use. |
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4.) Saint Valentine's Day. The date of "Saint Valentine's Day" is celebrated on 14 February of the year. Valentine, the Bishop of Terni, a small town about 80 miles from Rome, was, according to legend, martyred between A.D. 270 and A.D. 273. Some traditions say that a second man, a Roman priest also named Valentine, was also martyred at the same place on the same month and day, whereas others insist that only one person was involved. The issue is complicated by the fact that Terni lies within the administrative area of Rome. The custom of giving cards, and the general association of lovers with the day seems to be related to the Roman idea that birds paired for nesting during this season and is not related to any legend peculiar to church history. |
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5.) Saint Patrick's Day. The date for "Saint Patrick's Day" is celebrated on 17 March of the year. |
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Saint Patrick was born in Britain, of Roman stock, around the year A.D. 389. Kidnaped by Irish raiders as a youth, he was carried off to Ireland, where he escaped six years later, and fled to Gaul. After about 15 years of monastic life, he returned to Ireland to Christianize the land of his captors. Saint Patrick is reputed to have confronted King Laoghaire at Tara, confounded the Druids, and converted the King's daughters. He is credited with driving all of the snakes from Ireland. The shamrock is associated with his day, for it is said that he used the plant to explain the concept of the Trinity. |
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Ironically, the day is celebrated with a good deal more fanfare in the United States than it is in Ireland. |
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6.) Annunciation. The date for The Day of the Annunciation is celebrated on 25 March of the year. |
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This is the day nine months before Christmas when the Archangel Gabriel is traditionally held to have revealed to Mary that she would bear the Christ. This date was regarded in the traditional Roman calendar as the date of the vernal equinox and is thus associated with birth legends for the various cults that originated in the Middle East and became popular in the early days of the Roman Empire. |
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In Sweden, the day is called "Varfrudagen", literally "Our Lady's Day." Common pronunciation became "vafferdagen", which eventually became "vaffeldagen'', or "waffle day", and it became customary to eat waffles on that day. |
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7.) Transfiguration. The date for The Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ is celebrated on 6 August of the year. |
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The feast celebrates the appearance of a vision of Christ, together with Moses and Elijah on Mount Tabor, witnessed by the saints Peter, James, and John. |
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The feast originated in the East, at first on a local and unofficial basis, and was widely adopted before A.D. 1000. In the West, the day was not introduced until later. The general observance dates to 1457, when Pope Callistus III ordered its universal celebration in commemoration of a victory over the Turks at Belgrade on 6 August 1456. |
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