Today is Sheelah’s Day. Also known as Sheelagh’s Day, (Ir. Lá ‘le Síle) it is an Irish cultural holiday celebrated on 18 March. Traditionally, Sheelah’s Day (Lá ‘le Síle) was celebrated the day after the Feast of Saint Patrick and coincided with the Christian festivities. According to Irish folklore and mythology, Sheelah / Síle (Old Ir. Sighile) was either the wife or mother of Saint Patrick, (Naomh Pádraig) and the holiday served to commemorate her life.
Irish antiquarian journals and newspapers from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries mention a wife of Saint Patrick. Freeman’s Journal referenced Sheelah’s Day in 1785, 1811, and 1841. Australian press from the nineteenth century recorded observances of Sheelah’s Day, including the consumption of large amounts of alcohol. Sheelah’s Day is no longer officially celebrated in Ireland, but continues to be celebrated in Newfoundland, Canada after Irish immigrants arrived in the late seventeenth century.
In Newfoundland the holiday may also be connected to the legend of the Irish princess Sheila NaGeira.
Jesus must have been here…
Today is the birthday, in 1941, of American singer and songwriter Wilson Pickett, who recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100. Among his best-known hits are ‘In the Midnight Hour’ (which he co-wrote), ‘Land of 1,000 Dances’, ‘Mustang Sally’, and ‘Funky Broadway’. Pickett died of a heart attack on 19 Jan 2006 aged 64. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4w0kyYmYVo
