This is St. Patrick’s Day… St. Patrick’s Day wasn’t a particularly big deal where I grew up, at least not so much as it is in other places. I remember that St. Patrick supposedly drove the snakes out of Ireland and everyone was supposed to wear green on that day or someone/everyone could “pinch” you. The dish of the day was corned beef and cabbage and all the places that sold beer always had green beer on St. Patrick’s Day. There were never any St. Patrick’s Day parades anywhere in Oklahoma, or the neighboring states — at least that I knew of.
We all think of St. Patrick as Irish but, in fact, he wasn’t… he was born to Roman parents in Scotland or Wales in the late fourth century. He introduced Christianity to Ireland in the year 432. And — not only was he not Irish, his name wasn’t even Patrick. His birth name was Maewyn Succat…. he changed his name to Patricius when he became a priest.
Even though his name isn’t Patrick and he’s really British, not Irish, St. Patrick’s Day is a big deal to the Irish and in the land where he became famous. Today is a national holiday in both Ireland and Northern Ireland.
If not even being Irish isn’t enough to discourage you — green wasn’t really his color. His color was “Saint Patrick’s blue” that is, a light shade of blue. The color green only became associated with St. Patrick’s Day after it was linked to the Irish independence movement in the late 18th century. Want more? For most of the 20th century, St. Patrick’s Day was considered a strictly religious holiday in Ireland and that meant that the nation’s pubs were closed on March 17.
Now how about the snakes… surely St. Patrick really did perform that feat. Well, it’s true that St. Patrick gets credit for driving all the snakes our of Ireland — but — it probably wasn’t much of an accomplishment given that scientists indicate that Ireland has never been home to any snakes. Through the Ice Age, Ireland was too cold to host any reptiles and the surrounding seas have staved off snakes ever since.
When I was growing up in Oklahoma, we referred to the three-leaved plants that sprouted up in our grass as clover. I don’t think they’re exactly the same, but something that looks very similar, called shamrocks, is associated with St. Patrick. According to Irish legend, St. Patrick used the three-leafed plant as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when he was first introducing Christianity to Ireland.
A lot of people say that on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish; and… if you’re lucky enough to really be Irish…. you’re lucky enough!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
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