Vernal Equinox
St. Patrick’s Day
St Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17 in many parts of the world, especially by Irish communities and organizations. Many people wear an item of green clothing on the day. Parties featuring Irish food and drinks that are dyed in green food color are part of this celebration. It is a time when children can indulge in sweets and adults can enjoy a “pint” of beer at a local pub. Many restaurants and pubs offer Irish food or drink.
Some people plan a pilgrimage to St Patrick’s Purgatory, which is commonly associated with penance and spiritual healing since the early 13th century. It is on Station Island in Lough Derg in County Donegal where St Patrick had a vision promising that all who came to the sanctuary in penitence and faith would receive a pardon for their sins.
St Patrick is one of the patron saints of Ireland. He is said to have died on March 17 in or around the year 493. He grew up in Roman Britain, but was captured by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland as a slave when he was a young adult. After some years he returned to his family and entered the church, like his father and grandfather before him. He later returned to Ireland as a missionary and worked in the north and west of the country.
According to popular legend, St Patrick rid Ireland of snakes. However, it is thought that there have been no snakes in Ireland since the last ice age. The “snakes” that St Patrick banished from Ireland, may refer to the druids or pagan worshipers of snake or serpent gods. He is said to be buried under Down Cathedral in Downpatrick, Ireland.
Symbols
The most common St Patrick’s Day symbol is the shamrock. The shamrock is the leaf of the clover plant and a symbol of the Holy Trinity. Many people choose to wear the color green and the flag of the Republic of Ireland is often seen in St Patrick’s Day parades around the world. Irish brands of drinks are popular at St Patrick’s Day events.
Religious symbols include snakes and serpents, as well as the Celtic cross. Some say that Saint Patrick added the Sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross. Other Irish-related symbols seen on St Patrick’s Day include the harp, which was used in Ireland for centuries, as well as a mythological creature known as the leprechaun and a pot of gold that the leprechaun keeps hidden.
Man and Woman by Victor Hugo
Simone De Beauvoir
Man is the most elevated of creatures,
Woman the most sublime of ideals.
God made for man a throne; for Woman an altar.
The throne exalts; the altar sanctifies.
Man is the brain; Woman, the heart.
The brain creates light; the heart, love.
Light engenders; love resurrects.
Because of reason Man is strong.
Because of tears Woman is invincible.
Reason is convincing; tears, moving.
Man is capable of all heroism.
Woman of all martyrdom.
Heroism ennobles; martyrdom sublimates.
Man has supremacy; Woman, preference.
Supremacy is strength.
Preference is the right.
Man is a genius; Woman, an angel.
Genius is immeasurable; the angel indefinable.
The aspiration of man is supreme glory.
The aspiration of woman is extreme virtue.
Glory creates all that is great; virtue, all that is divine.
Man is a code; Woman a gospel.
A code corrects; the gospel perfects.
Man thinks; Woman dreams.
To think is to have a worm in the brain.
To dream is to have a halo on the brow.
Man is an ocean, Woman a lake.
The ocean has the adorning pearl; the lake, dazzling poetry.
Man is the flying eagle; Woman, the singing nightingale.
To fly is to conquer space; to sing is to conquer the soul.
Man is a temple; Woman a shrine.
Before the temple we discover ourselves; before the shrine we kneel.
In short, man is found where earth finishes, woman where heaven begins.
Spring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-dYNttdgl0
Botticelli’s Allegory Of Spring, also known as La Primavera was painted in 1482 and has ever since cast its spell, enchanting viewers and mystifying critics. In remains one of the most enduring images of youth in art history. In Botticelli’s allegorical reproduction of a spring scene, the gods of the season frolic in a forest clearing, enacting their pagan rituals. Venus, the goddess of love, is joined by Three Graces and Cupid, as the serenity and majesty of the season of renewal and rebirth suffuse this early Renaissance masterpiece with a moving sense of optimism. La Primavera is unique in the fact that it is one of the few surviving paintings from the post-classical period depicting semi-nude pagan gods. Botticelli’s moving reproductions of classical sculpture are embellished with the artist’s own idiosyncratic approach to the human form. Unusual to modern eyes are the rounded bellies of the women which sets this classical scene firmly in the present day of late fifteenth century Italy, conforming to Botticelli’s societal idea of beauty.
