After World War 1, also known as the Great War, a two-minute silence was observed every year at 11am on 11th November (Armistice Day), in order to remember and honour those who had died for their country. Part of this remembrance was the fervent wish that never again would we see such a terrible loss of life in such unprecedented numbers on all sides.

However, just two decades later, still recovering from the first World War, we entered into World War 2. The two-minute silence was moved to the Sunday nearest to Armistice Day, so as not to interrupt the renewed ‘war effort’. It was named Remembrance Sunday and it has been held on the second Sunday of November ever since.

All those involved in national warfare gather together at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London to solemnly lay poppy wreaths at its base. Memorial services are held throughout the UK and the Commonwealth to give meditative thanks and regrets for all those who have been killed in wars since 1914. Poppy pins, badges and brooches are worn on coat lapels as a symbol of the dead lying on the battlefield where otherwise there would be beautiful countryside.

(Image: David Dixon at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

St. Patrick’s Day is on 17th March because he died in Ireland on that day in 461. St. Patrick was born as ‘Maewyn’ in northern Britain in 387 but in 403 he was either kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave or he chose to leave home. Maewyn worked as a shepherd for six years, during which time he learnt the Irish language and had a religious awakening.

He returned to Britain, trained as a priest and returned to Ireland as a missionary. He travelled all around the northern half of Ireland setting up churches and converting thousands of people. 17th March was eventually put on the Catholic saints calendar in the 1600s and it can be moved if it clashes with Easter. Over time, St. Patrick’s Day’s religious observance merged with Irish cultural symbols and festivities.

Today, some believe it has become too much of a commercialised portrayal of an Irish stereotype ~ for example, with people wearing leprechaun costumes and drinking to excess. It is a public holiday in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat in the Caribbean, where it has a unique West Indian flavour. The biggest St. Patrick’s Day parade is in New York.

(Image: David Dixon at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)