Today is St. Patrick\u2019s Day and time for my annual St. Patrick\u2019s Day blog. Obviously I\u2019ll probably wind up repeating stuff from past years, because there\u2019s only so much one can know, or not know, about a day that is celebrated annually. But if you\u2019re like me and don\u2019t remember what i wrote last year, it won\u2019t matter\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I though this year we\u2019d focus on some of the things that are not true about St. Patrick\u2019s Day, such as\u2026.
St. Patrick wasn\u2019t Irish \u2014 even though he\u2019s the patron saint of Ireland, he was born in Scotland. His real name was Palladius. He was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Ireland when he was a teenager. Later he escaped, went back to Scotland and joined a monastery. He returned to Ireland as a missionary, where he lived for 40 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A saint\u2019s feast day marks the day that they died \u2014 not their birthday. 2021 is the 1,560th anniversary of St. Patrick\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though green is the color most associated with Ireland, it\u2019s not St. Patrick\u2019s color. Members of the Order of St. Patrick used blue as their symbolic color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many St. Patrick\u2019s Day traditions that we assume are traditionally Irish actually originated in the United States. The first St. Patrick\u2019s Day parade occurred in New York City in 1782 \u2014 it became an annual event in 1848. It wasn\u2019t until 1931 that Ireland held an official St. Patrick\u2019s Day parade. And the drinking\u2026 alcohol consumption was not a staple of the holiday in Ireland. In fact, until the 1960s, pubs in Ireland were closed on March 17, in observance of the religious holiday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Legend has it that St. Patrick gave a rousing sermon that sent all of Ireland\u2019s snakes slithering off into the ocean. Most historians think Ireland owes its lack of snakes to the Ice Age and geography, not St. Patrick. The slipping glaciers of the last Ice Age left Ireland surrounded by water, making it impossible for snakes to reach it. Before then, the land that would become Ireland was far too cold for the cold-blooded creatures to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
St. Patrick\u2019s Day is a feast day for a Catholic saint \u2014 best known for converting native Irish people to Christianity. Until the 1700s, it was a day on the Catholic calendar in observance of a saint important to, and popular in Ireland \u2014 and not much anywhere else. In Ireland, Catholics honored St. Patrick with prayer and quiet reflection. St. Patrick\u2019s Day, as we know it today, started in America in the late 19th and early 20th century, when the large numbers of newly arrived Irish immigrants began using the day as a way to celebrate their Irish heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The process of officially canonizing saints didn\u2019t become common practice in the Church until long after St. Patrick\u2019s death. During his lifetime, \u201csaint\u201d was not an official title bestowed only on those whom the Pope deemed worthy. It was more of a general title that would be assigned to people who lived especially holy lives or performed acts of martyrdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though he gets credit for it, it\u2019s unlikely that St. Patrick introduced Christianity to Ireland. In the fifth century AD, the Pope sent Palladius to Ireland with the mission of preaching to \u201cthe Irish believing in Christ.\u201d So he didn\u2019t introduce Christianity to Ireland \u2014 he really just helped it along. As far as St. Patrick using the shamrock as a symbol to demonstrate Christianity\u2026. he may well have used it to represent the Holy Trinity, but the shamrock already had symbolic significance in pagan traditions. Green was an important color to paganism because it represented rebirth, and the number three was as much a staple of paganism as it is of Christianity \u2014 many pagan religions have three primary gods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is really no relationship between St. Patrick\u2019s Day and leprechauns, except they\u2019re both Irish. However, more people don red beards and green hats on St. Patrick\u2019s Day than on any other day of the year. Leprechauns didn\u2019t become a staple of Irish literature until many years after St. Patrick\u2019s death. And even though many decorations around St. Patrick\u2019s Day show female leprechauns, traditional leprechauns are only male. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But none of this \u201cfake news\u201d about the day detracts from the celebration\u2026. my favorite Irish saying is still, \u201cI\u2019m Irish! When I feel well I feel better than anyone, when I am in pain, I yell at the top of my lungs, and when I am dead I shall be deader than anybody.\u201d
Happy St. Patrick\u2019s Day!!
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Today is St. Patrick\u2019s Day and time for my annual St. Patrick\u2019s Day blog. Obviously I\u2019ll probably wind up repeating stuff from past years, because there\u2019s only so much one can know, or not know, about a day that is … Continue reading