St. Patrick's Day is almost here!

It’s Friday! There’s a sense of euphoria running through the office at the prospect of having the weekend stretching in front of us. However today it’s just a wee bit heightened. And of course, it’s because St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow. So we’re throwing on our party hats and green apparel a day early to celebrate with all of you! And what kind of blogger would I be if I didn’t first give you some historical knowledge to go with that green Guinness? So, let’s dispel a few myths, and revel in some lore, here we go! 

Starting at the very beginning, Patrick is arguably one of Ireland’s most famous native sons… or not. It turns out that St. Patrick was born in Britain to a wealthy aristocratic family who owned a townhouse, country estate and a passel of slaves. And furthermore, not only was St. Patrick a wealthy man, he wasn’t even religious! Not exactly saintly material there is it? Well, the saintliness came later, after Patrick’s world was turned upside down at the age of 16. He was kidnapped by a few ne’er do wells who dragged him to the Emerald Isle where he was sold into slavery and spend the next seven years as a lowly shepherd, which is a bit of a step down from being waited on hand and foot in my opinion, but hey it was good enough for Jesus.  Wait a minute; is anyone else seeing the whole religious shepherd correlation? I sure am, especially when you factor in Patrick’s conversion to the faith during his years of servitude. Maybe shepherding is the key to getting a direct link to God’s holy extension number, because in a twist of fate that could have come straight out of the Old Testament, Patrick started hearing a voice in his dreams. The voice told him to run away from his captors and flee back to Britain. So, like any normal person, Patrick immediately went and talked to his psychiatrist, or not, he listened to the voice and ran away where he quickly found a pirate ship that would take him back to Britain. We’re just going to take the hospitable pirate story at face value and not delve into how ridiculous that sounds, k? 

So Patrick is back in the fold of his family for a while, until he starts hearing those pesky voices again. As you probably guessed, it was God again telling Pat to high tail it back to Ireland and spread the faith. (Ireland was predominantly a polytheistic society at the time). So of course, Patrick left his family and probably found a nice wholesome group of Vikings to take him back to Ireland. Now, my question is, why couldn’t God have just told Patrick to run away from his captors and start spreading the word? Why drag him all the way back to Britain, just to send him packing all the way back again? It seems like a colossal waste of time to me. Anyways, St. Patrick spent the rest of his life spreading the Christian faith to the people of Ireland, which is where those four leaf clovers come in. Or not, again, legend has it that Patrick used the common three leaf clover or shamrock as a tool to educate the Irish people about the Holy Trinity. Now for those of you who aren’t familiar, the Trinity is a belief that God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all God in three persons, just like the clover has three leaves, but it’s all one clover. So Patrick ran around the country, telling people about a mysterious God who apparently suffers from multiple personality disorder who tells people to spread the faith with weeds. Don’t smite me God; it’s just funnier when you think about it that way! Patrick continued his ministry until his death at the ripe old age of 71 when he died on March 17 461 CE. His death was openly mourned by the nation and his sainthood was immediate. Or not… It seems that ol’ Patrick was forgotten about entirely for about 1000 years. By then, nobody really remembered a whole lot about the dude, and that’s fertile breeding ground for myths and legends. These myths grew and grew until St. Patrick was not only a saint but had super natural powers, not unlike Harry Potter. Yep, it’s the whole snake thing. Which is also, according to National Geographic, and they should know, a big fat lie. Apparently St. Patrick couldn’t possibly have rid the Emerald Isle of snakes for the simple fact that there were no snakes there to begin with! That’s right, no snakes, at all, ever. My world has been shaken. And what’s even crazier is that St. Patrick’s Day myths are still out there, forming away as I type this. For example, the trivia question from earlier in the week. Everyone knows that green is the color of St. Patrick’s Day. I mean, the whole country is green, it makes perfect sense. Except for the fact that it doesn’t. The official color for St. Patrick was, blue. Well no offense to Patrick, but I look much better in green, so I’m going to embrace the new color and shower you with my very  own version of a pot of gold. We’re not even going to touch leprechauns etc. in this post; we just don’t have the time, but maybe next year!

Anyways, back to what you all really come here for. I like to pretend that you’re all here for my witty repartee, but deep down I know that you’re all just here for the bling. But it’s ok; I like the bling part too. And what better way to start than with a Peridot ring that brings to mind summer grass on a sunny day. It’s an impossibly beautiful color that makes me want a picnic and sour apple jolly ranchers. And that green apple color is perfectly offset by a gorgeous halo of white diamonds which sits on a delicate split shank with even more diamonds. This is one of those pieces where there is the utmost attention to detail including a delicate pierced design on the sides of the basket with a central heart shape. This is the perfect ring to give as a gift to your Irish sweetheart. 

Or perhaps you want a green that evokes the emerald hues of the Emerald Isle itself. Look no further than this striking oval tourmaline. It’s deeply, and vividly green but as it turns and moves the light hits the facets bringing out hidden notes of blue. It’s a perfect symbol of the blue to green transition for St. Patrick’s Day. And the ring that it’s set in doesn’t hurt either. I’ve always loved when pieces of jewelry have different shaped stones working together in harmony and this setting does that exceedingly well. A central row of baguette stones is flanked on each side by tiny round brilliants. This pairing gives so many types of sparkle from the bright pin-flashes of the rounds to the slower and more deliberate sparkle from the baguettes. 

Now, both of the previous rings have been high on flash with vivid colors and lots of diamonds, which is great! But sometimes you want something a bit more demure, like the old adage, a piece that leaves a little bit to the imagination. Which these earrings are to a T. They have a size and a presence that is made delicate by the crisp lightness of their shade of green. They don’t shout their beauty from across the room; rather, they slowly draw the viewer in. And when they have you in close is when they really start to shine, because that’s when you notice, that these are no ordinary earrings. Where most stones would be content to sit in plain four prong backs, these earrings go the extra mile with a diamond inlaid leaf motif. Again, no attention to detail has been overlooked, even to the design of the clasp which is designed to keep the earrings high on the lobe so that they always look their best.

So, now the hard part. Which piece will you choose? Well, don’t worry, because I have the answer. I’ve thought long and hard about it, and I can say without a doubt that you should buy all of them. But you’d have to fight one of my coworkers for the earrings. They’re her favorite piece in the showroom. Oh, and don’t forget that each and every piece is endowed with a wee bit o’ Irish luck. How do I know? Well just take a peek at what showed up outside our window! 

So don’t let another St. Patrick’s Day go by without a little bit of green sparkle, and a good dose of luck!