Jack’s Winning Words 3/16/07
“Grasshopper, grasshopper, skoot, getta outta here.” These are the words St. Urho used when he waved his pitchfork and drove the grasshoppers out of the vineyards in Finland on March 16, many years ago. The Finns now celebrate the date as St. Urho’s Day, and dress in purple and green, recalling the grapes and the dead grasshoppers. Do you have any incantations that you use to drive away evil things? ;-) Jack

FROM S.H. IN MICHIGAN: The only incantation I traditionally use is, because I believe in the power of the Word so much, for quite a few years now I've been putting all the words together in my life with the Word (which means the Word in the church bulletin or sometimes I yank pages from an old Bible), anyway I put all of these words together and carry them around in my pockets, folded up in my shoes, filling up my purses, sleeping with them under my pillow, whatever I can think of and just let all these words/Word fight it out there. The incantation comes from the Word, the questions and the need to figure things out comes from me and the evil of devisiveness and quarreling and dissension and all manner of unpleasant things comes from me, too, and all the people who generate all these other words.

FROM REV. J.S. IN MICHIGAN: I sing "Oh, Wilho boy" on St. Urho's day. It's a beautiful song!!!

FROM L.K. IN OHIO: No.......the poor, the rich, the good, the bad, it/they is/are always with you, I think. A rather lazy attitude perhaps on my part. Reflects my fatigue.

FROM REV. B.L. IN THE U.P.: The devil knocked at the door. I sent Jesus to answer. No one was there.

FROM PR. B.G. IN MICHIGAN: As a half-Finlander, I am proud to celebrate this most holy of days.
In the words of the great saint Urho himself…“Heinisirkka! Heinisirkka! Menetaalta hiiten!” (You have provided an excellent, rough translation of these famous and powerful words, since Finnish is virtually untranslatable J).

FROM M.L. IN ILLINOIS: i will have to forward this on to brother johnny. when we were kids, we would celebrate nordic supremacy on st. patricks day. little did we know that we were honoring our ancestors and not just our egos!

FROM B.S. NEAR ORLANDO: Hi, My granddaughter, Mz Lilly, told the alligators to shoo off the road one day when I was kidding her that this was alligator season, and they travel and hunt for a lady friend during this time of their lives and they might just be along side the road in the water in the ditches. My sweetheart.