Calendar of events

Shrove Tuesday (known in some countries as Pancake Tuesday) is a day in February or March preceding Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), which is celebrated in some countries by consuming pancakes. In others, especially those (including Louisiana) where it is called Mardi Gras or some translation thereof, this is a carnival day, and also the last day of fat eating or gorging before the fasting period of Lent.

This moveable festival is determined by Easter. The expression Shrove Tuesday comes from the word shrive, meaning absolve. Shrove Tuesday is observed by many Christians, including Anglicans, Lutherans,Methodists and Roman Catholics,who make a special point of self-examination, of considering what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of spiritual growth they especially need to ask God’s help in dealing with.

Being the last day before the penitential season of Lent, related popular practices, such as indulging in food that one sacrifices for the upcoming forty days, are associated with Shrove Tuesday celebrations, before commencing the fasting and religious obligations associated with Lent. The term Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of theLenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday.

The name of the day comes from the custom that churchgoers are marked on the forehead with a cross of ash to symbolise death and regret for past sins. The priest will accompany the marking with a recital of Genesis 3:19 – “Remember that you are dust, and to dust, you shall return”. The tradition of marking with ashes began in the early church as a way for persistent sinners to outwardly show their desire for repentance. By the end of the 10th century, the custom had spread to all the faithful.

Traditionally the ashes are created from burning the palms used in the church on Palm Sunday the previous year. Palm Sunday marked the arrival of Jesus into Jerusalem after his 40 days and nights in the desert.

During the 40 days before Easter, Roman Catholics are supposed to abstain from all bodily pleasures, including the consumption of meat. This is intended to remember the fasting of Jesus, who spent 40 days in the desert before beginning his ministry. In the Catholic Church, Lent gets off to an appropriate start with Ash Wednesday as it is a day of fasting, abstinence from meat and repentance.

St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is a widely known historical figure and arguably the most famous patron saint of a country.

Despite this level of fame, we know surprisingly few details about his life. Interestingly he’s not the only recognised patron saint of Ireland, both ‘Brigid of Kildare’ and ‘Columba’ are officially recognised as such.

Also, St Patrick is a patron saint of Nigeria, Montserrat, and Engineers.

It is generally accepted that St. Patrick was born in Northern England or Southern Scotland to wealthy parents around 385AD. His original name was probably Maewyn Succat. He later adopted Patricius as his Christian/Roman name, which became widely known as Patrick.

While he was only sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner after a band of raiders from Ireland had attacked his family’s estate in Wales. They took him back to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity as a slave. It is said that it was at this time, while he was working as a shepherd on Slemish mountain that he became a devout Christian.

He eventually escaped from his slavery to Gaul (in modern-day France) where he studied for twelve years in the monastery under St. Germain, the bishop of Auxerre. It was during this period of training that Patrick realised his calling in life was to become a  missionary and convert pagans to Christianity.

After his training, he wanted to return to Ireland, to convert the native pagans there to Christianity. But he had to bide his time as St. Palladius was ordained by Pope Celestine and sent to Ireland as their first bishop. It was over two years later when Palladius was transferred to Scotland, that Patrick was appointed as the second bishop to Ireland.

Patrick proved himself to be quite adept at winning converts to Christianity. So much so, that he upset the local Celtic Druids. In fact, he was arrested on several occasions but managed to escape each time. He journeyed extensively across Ireland, establishing monasteries in several locations. In addition, he also set up churches and schools, all of which created the foundations for the whole of Ireland to eventually be converted to Christianity.

His missionary work in Ireland continued for thirty years. After that, Patrick retired to County Down in North-Eastern Ireland. Patrick died on March 17th in 461AD, apparently at the ripe old age of 122, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history.

He was canonised by the local church, as was the practice at the time, thus his elevation to sainthood was never formally granted by a Pope; however, he is in the church’s official list of Saints. The day became a feast day due to lobbying by the Irish-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding in the early part of the 17th century,  though it soon evolved into more of a secular holiday.

Much Irish folklore surrounds St. Patrick’s Day, Some of this lore includes Patrick healing the sick, and raising the dead.

He is said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland. No snakes are know to have existed in Ireland at least since the end of the ice age. Some scholars think the driving away of the snakes may have been a metaphor for the conversion of the pagans.

A more plausible story attributed to Patrick is how he used the Shamrock, a three-leaved clover, to explain the Trinity. In his sermons he would use it to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could be separate elements of the same entity.

Today, St. Patrick’s Day is a day to recognise Irish heritage and celebrated by people of all backgrounds in many parts of the world, such as the United States, Canada, and Australia. Although these are the main overseas populations, St. Patrick’s Day is also celebrated in other locations as far-flung from Ireland as Japan, Singapore, and Russia.

It was first publicly celebrated in the United States of America in Boston in 1737. Surprisingly, the first recorded St. Patrick’s Day parade didn’t actually take place in Ireland, when on March 17th 1762, Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City.

The global spread of the holiday was partly due to the Great Potato Famine of 1845 which forced over a million of the Irish population to emigrate.

World Sleep Day is an annual event, intended to be a celebration of sleep and a call to action on important issues related to sleep, including medicine, education, social aspects and driving.

It is organized by the World Sleep Day Committee of the World Sleep Society and aims to lessen the burden of sleep problems on society through better prevention and management of sleep disorders.

Time and time again, sleep medicine professionals and researchers came up against the belief that sleep was not important enough in personal health and well-being to be a priority. That coupled with society’s 24/7 flow, the founders of this awareness event aim to celebrate the importance of healthy sleep.

World Sleep Day is held the Friday before Spring Vernal Equinox of each year.

March 20th has been established as the annual International Day of Happiness and all 193 United Nations member states have adopted a resolution calling for happiness to be given greater priority.

This campaign is a global celebration to mark the United Nations International Day of Happiness. It is coordinated by Action for Happiness, a non-profit movement of people from 160 countries, supported by a partnership of like-minded organisations.

International Day of Happiness has been celebrated since 2013 to make people aware of the importance of happiness in their lives. The UN has initiated this by including the Right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness in the Internal Law for Human Rights.

“Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.”

The concept of International Happiness Day is based on the Gross National Happiness (GNH) concept of measuring happiness which was started in Bhutan. The report is prepared on indicators such as per capita income, GDP, health, social cooperation, mutual trust, freedom to make life-related decisions, and generosity.

This day was first observed in 2021. It is backed by the Global Rewilding Alliance, an umbrella group for organisations in more than 70 countries that are looking to restore ecosystems by returning land to nature, the day will be celebrated with virtual events to share knowledge, skills and connections.

World Storytelling Day is a celebration of the art of oral storytelling, observed since 2003.. It is celebrated every year on the March equinox, on (or near) March 20th.

On this day, oral storytellers around the world are busy inspiring audiences, and creating community, by telling classical tales, local stories, glorious, horrendous, happy, challenging, spooky, romantic and dramatic epic stories. Some wrapped in music, some staged and others intimate – but every story is told in a unique and compelling way, by a storyteller whose heart is full of great tales to bridge our divides and remind us what it is to be human.

UNESCO proclaimed this date back in 1999.

On 21st March, World Poetry Day is celebrated every year to recognise the unique ability to make poetry and encourage people who are creative enough to capture life poetically.

World Poetry Day gives us a chance to revisit a favourite poem from childhood, exorcise a ghost from a school lesson or dive into some contemporary works.