在本栏目我们回顾历史上本周发生的历史事件——爱尔兰国庆节，听听下面的短文，做做下面的练习，学习一些相关的英语表达形式。
本周是3月19日至3月25日历史上发生的事件。 | | The 17th March is celebrated all over the world; it is the national day of Ireland and green, the colour of the "emerald isle", is everywhere. Due to the important Irish presence and influence in the USA it has become an international party and a good excuse to drink a few pints of Guinness. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland but how much do we know about him? |
| It is known that he was born in Britain to wealthy parents around the end of the fourth century. Saint Patrick is most known for driving the snakes from Ireland. It is true there are no snakes in Ireland, but there probably never have been as the island was separated from the rest of the continent at the end of the Ice Age. As in many old pagan religions, serpent symbols were common and often worshipped. Driving the snakes from Ireland was probably symbolic of putting an end to that pagan practice. As Christianity spread the old religions were forced out or adapted. But some things like mistletoe have survived to this day despite the church's hostility.
A saint is a person who, in the Catholic religion, was so exceptionally good and holy in his or her life that the church grants them the honour of being made a saint after their death.
In the Spanish language the word "saint" is "san" and that is why we get place names such as, San Francisco or San Diego in California from the time of the original Spanish colonisation.
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