March 2017 17Th a Religious Holiday
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The Rocket Review Raritan High School’s Official Newspaper 39.6 million people claim to have Irish heritage, The Day of the Irish 127 million people will celebrate the holiday. That By: Thomas Grady is 7 times greater than Ireland’s population! March is a month full of holidays, but one that In Ireland, on the other hand, they did see St. stands out is St. Patrick’s Day. Every March 17th, Patrick’s Day as a religious holiday. In the 1970’s all of America celebrates their Irish heritage. the government would close the pubs in Ireland Though not a national holiday, many people take so they could get the people to go to church and off from work and studies to embrace the Irish pray for St. Patrick. But since the mid-90’s the spirit. The day of St. Pat’s isn’t really a celebra- government made it a joyous holiday, giving it a tion in Ireland, it’s more of a solemn affair. multi day festival in the capital of Dublin. They have festivals, dances, and a parade. Not only Ireland’s patron saint is recognized in America does this happen in Dublin, it happens all around because of Irish immigrants who made March Ireland. Careful because in the first paragraph, 2017 March 17th a religious holiday. The man for whom St. you state that it is serious in Ireland. Patrick’s Day is named was born into an aris- In closing, when you see March 17th coming up tocratic family in Roman Britain around the end in the calendar, grab your leprechaun hat, lucky of the fourth century. As a teenager, he was clover, a green shirt, and embrace your Irish on kidnapped by Irish pirates and taken to Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day. where he was held as a slave for a number of years. He eventually escaped the island, only to Pi Day return later as a missionary and convert part of By: Katherina Contreras the population to Christianity. Centuries after his death, which some sources cite as March 17, Pi Day is coming around the corner on March 461, although the exact date is unknown, Patrick 14th. The day was created in relation to the ac- became the patron saint of Ireland, and March tual number of Pi, 3.14. The actual significance 17th became a holy day of obligation for the na- of Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its tion’s Catholics. diameter. Pi is an infinite number but it is always used the same and will remain the same. Only 39 As children, we were taught that St. Patrick digits past the decimal point is enough to calcu- drove snakes out of Ireland and into the sea, late the spherical volume of the entire universe and that’s why he is celebrated. In fact, there but we only use 3.14 on a daily basis in math. Pi were actually no snakes on the Emerald Isle. He was determined by the idea that the width around is celebrated for converting many Irish men to a circle was a bit more than 3 times. The symbol catholicism and not driving imaginary snakes into that we still used today is a Greek letter and was the ocean. given by William Jones in 1706. Today, we Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s The first time that Pi Day was celebrated was Day in many ways. Many people wear green to in 1988 when a San Franciscan physicist, Larry symbolize Ireland or the shamrock, many people Shaw, decided to eat fruit pies on that day. Pi carry (or try to find) “lucky” four leaf clovers, and Day was officially made a national holiday by the many legal-aged citizens will consume a ton of House of Representatives in 2009. The date that alcohol. On average, 13 million pints of Guinness had the most significance was March 14th, 2015 will be consumed. In Chicago, the city will dye the (3/14/15) at 9:26:53 because it was the most ac- Chicago River green in celebration. Even though curate day that corresponded with pi. The Rocket Review Raritan High School’s Official Newspaper If you were to round pi to the first 5 digits neat thing to watch (at least coming from the then that would have been March 14th, 2016 people of Alaska). (3/14/16). An interesting fact is that Massachu- setts Institute of Technology (MIT) is known to As a testament to how taxing this race can be send application letters on Pi Day. to the dogs, sled dogs in the race eat on average When everyone was younger, Pi day was the 10-12 thousand calories a day. It is almost com- best day in math class. It was an excuse to eat monplace now for dogs to die while racing and different pies and enjoy the day. Students would over the years there have been many tragedies volunteer bringing in their favorite pies that during the race. It is considered quite the ac- ranged from chocolate creme to even cookie complishment to even finish, let alone place first. pies. The last time most people celebrated Pi day In fact, they give out as more of an honor than a was most likely in 6th grade math class. Pi day joke, a red lantern to the last place finisher. They 2017 March isn’t widely celebrated in middle or high school. like to give it to the person because even though Pi is still used widely in math classes throughout they finished last, it is still a feat to finish at all. At high school but nothing is really done. Pi day 10 a.m. on March 4 the race will commence, so should be celebrated more often because we are be ready for this exciting and daring event! so dependent on Pi for solving equations every- time we’re in math class. Daylight Savings Time The Iditarod Sled Race: 2017 By: Caitlynn Hunter By: James Borg Daylight Savings; he event when your mental Beginning in the 1880’s, the Iditarod sled race clock gets knocked off whack because we have is the most iconic sled race in all the world. he to set our clocks 1 hour forward. In the spring and race is over 1,000 miles long, and starts in down- fall, people do Daylight Savings, the time when town Anchorage. Obviously, this race takes place we set our clocks one hour ahead in the spring in the 49th state of America; Alaska. Specially and an hour back in the fall. Why do we use bred Siberian Huskies and other dogs meant for Daylight Savings? To use more sunlight. When cold climates are usually used to pull the sled, everyone is always in lights in their homes, Day- and years of hard work are put in by their trainers light Savings is used so people get out more and to make them the best they can possibly be for get at least an hour of sunlight. Using Daylight performance in the race. Savings reduces the amount of energy needed for artificial lighting during the evening hours. Did Last Year, Dallas Seavey of Alaska took home you know that less than 40% of the countries in first prize and is hoping to win again this year. the world use DST. The light difference is most From all over the world contestants are coming noticeable is with the countries that are near the to compete. Some of the countries include the poles of the earth. Daylight Savings begins on Czech Republic, France, Norway, Hungary, and March 12th and ends on November 5th in 2017. more. If you’d like to track the race they have a Canada was the first country ever to use Daylight GPS tracker on their official website, or you can Savings Time but Germany started the trend to try to contact your TV provider for information. turn your clocks one hour ahead. If you want to track it online however, there is a subscription fee as well. Usually the race takes a span from 9-15 days to complete, and is a very The Rocket Review Raritan High School’s Official Newspaper Kemp, and Spencer Wattenberg as Victor von It’s Alive! It’s Alive! It’s Alive!!! Frankenstein/ The Hermit, along with a great en- By: Alexandra Varga semble to bring life to the stage. Vocals are per- fected by Mr. Dan Neff, alongside the wonderful Each year, Raritan High School presents a pit conducted by Mr. Ray Lahaye. The wonderful spring musical along with their fall play. In the sets are being built by Mr. Kyle Santopadre and past three years, our musicals have been Beauty choreography is provided by the amazing Ms. and the Beast, Shrek: the Musical, and A Funny Ashley Seidel. The show will run on March 30th, Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. This 31st, and April 1st at 7pm, including a matinee year, the musical is a dark comedy known as at 2pm on Saturday. Tickets are $10 for general Young Frankenstein. This Mel Brooks musical is admission and $6 for students/seniors. Be sure to March 2017 March based on the 1974 movie starring Gene Wilder come out for a freakishly good time! and Marty Feldman. The musical opened on 2017 March Broadway on November 8th, 2007, and ran for Madness is Upon Us 30 previews and 484 performances. The show By: Thomas Grady starred actors such as Roger Bart (Doctor Fred- erick Frankenstein), Megan Mullally (Elizabeth When we see March coming up on the calendar, Benning), Christopher Fitzgerald (Igor), Sutton some of us think of St.