Yes, St. Jurho's Day (St. John) is today. He was supposed to be the patron
saint of Finland. The origins of the legend of St. Urho are buried deep in
the mists of antiquity--like 1956. This "celebration" was started by an
Italian in Wisconsin who probably tired of hearing about St. Patrick and
decided to compete for some of the attention. Jurho was suposed to have
chased the grasshoppers out of Finland to save the grape harvest (snicker).
There was a missionary named John who was maryred in Finland at a relatively
late date for this kind of thing. But things modern were late in arriving
in Finland...
This is (ha) the way the Finns celebrated in olden day...
"At sunrise on that date Finnish women and children, dressed in royal purple
and Nile green, gather around the shores of the many lakes in Finaland and
chant the chant that St. Urho Chanted many many years ago: "Heinasirkka,
heinasirkka, mene taalta hiiteen! (grasshopper, grasshopper go away!)
Adult males, dressed in green costumes, gather on the hills overlooking the
lakes, listen to the chant and then--kicking out like grasshoppers--slowly
disappear to change costumes from green to purple.. The celebration ends
with singing dancing to polkas and schottisches (no tangos??) and drinking
grape juice."
(below is the "supposed" Ode to St. Urho. (there is no "b" sound in the
Finnish language so they substitute "p" instead --thus poy is the word boy;
ch =s Chase=sase
OoksiKooksie coolama vee (one, two now hear we)
Sainti Urho is ta poy for me!
He sase out ta hoppers as pig as pirds
Neffer peefor haff I hurd dose words!
He reely told dose pugs of kreen
Prafest Finn I effer seen!
Some celeprate St. Bat unt his snakes
Put Urho poyka (boy in Finnish) got what it takes
He got tall unt trong from fiilia sour (fiilia is a tart stuff like yogurt)
And ate every mojakka (?) every hour.
Tat's why dat guy could sase dose peetles
What crew as thick as chack (jack) bine neetles
So let's give a seer (cheer) in hower pest way
on the 16th of March, St. Urho's day.
(thanks Nestor for the info)
So who knows in another 100 years, people may really believe this drivel
just as they do about St. Patrick and the snakes and 4 leaf clovers, red
hair on a little pointed eared elf in a tailored green suit with buckles on
his shoes. HA and double Ha. It just takes someone with some imagination
to start such a story. Then others add to it quickly to complete the
so-called "legend" that then gets incorporated into a nation or family
history as truth. How many of you have a "drummer boy" in the Rev.or Civil
War? My family's drummer boy was just such a fiction. I don't know why it
was thought that being a drummer boy was a better story than the truth of
being a Rev. scout, etc. So beware of some of the St. Clair/Sinclair
legends and stories just as in any of your family lines.
Patricius Magonus Sucatus (about 372-492 or 389-461) was a Roman (black
or brown hair wearing toga-like clothing except that far north they would
have wrapped up in fur robes, etc.) citizen whose parents and grandparents
came as wealthy and well educated immigrants to the west coast of Britain
somwhere close to Hadrian's wall--possibly near Dumbarton. His grandfather
was a priest in the Christian Celtic church. The family never had ties to
the Roman church. After his escape from slavery in Ireland he received
further training in Auxerre in Gaul and on St. Honorat Isle (can't find it).
He was about 40 when he finally was allowed to go to Ireland. There is much
much more to his story. He used the 3 leafed shamrock to illustrate the
Trinity. He battled the ideas of Luck as part of the Druid beliefs all his
30 years in Ireland. Since then this has been corrupted into the idea of
luck as associated with the 4 leaf clover. He started more than 200
churches and convered over 100,000 people from their Druid beliefs. Some
of the facts about his life maybe be mixed up with those of St. Ninian. It
was at the Council of Witby 664 that Patrick was cannonized, the Celtic
church changed the date of Easter, etc., etc. and was merged into the
Catholic church.
Laurel
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