October 21 - St. Ursula's Day in the British Virgin Islands

Posted October 21, 2018

Today is the feast day of a Catholic Saint, Saint Ursula.

Why do the British Virgin Islands celebrate this day? Well, Christopher Columbus sailed around the previously unknown-to-the-Old-World islands, giving out Spanish names like candy (and of course not caring a bit that these places already had names in various Native American languages!).

Ursula with just a few of her virgins...
When he came across one particular group of islands, he named the entire group Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Virgenes. That means "Saint Ursula and her 11,000 Virgins."

And now you see where the name "Virgin Islands" comes from!

The British Virgin Islands include more than 60 islands, about 15 of which are inhabited. 

St. Ursula's Day is celebrated by some people with a yacht race. And some people celebrate with religious services, although few people on the islands are Catholic.


Check out the British Virgin Islands - their location, their beaches, their shipwrecks, their coral reefs, their marinas, their loveliness:










No comments:

Post a Comment