Dwain Northey (Gen X)

March 17^th and here we are its St. Patrick’s Day just another excuse to drink… on this hallowed day everyone is Irish so lets partake in the social stereotype that all the Irish do is drink and fight.

I am pretty sure that not many know a damn thing about Bonnie St. Patrick, so first let’s dispel some of the myths about the Saint and the Holiday that is celebrated in his name.

Among the legends associated with St. Patrick is that he stood atop an Irish hillside and banished snakes from Ireland, prompting all serpents to slither away into the sea. .…buzz… that is false. In fact, research suggests snakes never occupied the Emerald Isle in the first place. There are no signs of snakes in the country’s fossil record.

The shamrock, a three-leaf clover, has been linked with Ireland for centuries. It was historically called “seamroy” by the Celts and was considered a sacred plant that symbolized the arrival of spring. According to legend, St. Patrick used the plant as a visual guide when explaining the Holy Trinity. There is not historical evidence that this is factual but it’s fun to consider. Now a four-leaf clover is supposed to symbolize luck. (Not an Irish thing, just wanted to through it in.)

In Celtic folklore, leprechauns were cantankerous souls, responsible for mending the shoes of the other fairies. Though only minor figures in Celtic mythology, leprechauns were known for their trickery, which they often used to protect their legendary pots of gold. Leprechauns have their own holiday on May 13, but are also celebrated on St. Patrick’s, with many dressing up as the wily elves.

You’ll be invisible to leprechauns if you wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. The Irish countryside may be many shades of green, but knights in the Order of St. Patrick wore a color known as St. Patrick’s blue. So the tradition of wearing green I am assuming is an American bacterization, green beer, dying the river green were just fun things to do.

The meal that became a St. Patrick’s Day staple across the country—corned beef and cabbage—is an American innovation. While ham and cabbage were eaten in Ireland, corned beef offered a cheaper substitute for impoverished immigrants. Irish-Americans living in the slums of lower Manhattan in the late 19th century and early 20th, purchased leftover corned beef from ships returning from the tea trade in China. The Irish would boil the beef three times—the last time with cabbage—to remove some of the brine. The Americanized version with corned beef surely has more flavor than the historical boiled beef that would have been served in Ol’ Ireland.

So those are the fun, although not historically accurate storied, is there a real truth about the Drunkin’ Holiday?

Historians generally believe that St. Patrick was born in Britain, not Ireland, near the end of the 4th century. At age 16 he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and sold as a slave to a Celtic priest in Northern Ireland. After laboring for six years as a shepherd, he escaped back to Britain. He eventually returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary. St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity’s most widely known figures. But for all of his prevalence in culture—namely the holiday held on the day of his death that bears his name—his life remains somewhat of a mystery.

Every saint has a lore about what they protect the faithful from St. Patrick protects, against false laws of heretics, against craft of idolatry, against spells of women and smiths (blacksmith/metal workers) and wizards, against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.

Wow it doesn’t seem like his protection is working. It is insane that a Saint that is the protector from idolatry (extreme admiration, love, or reverence for something or someone), spells of women, and knowledge the corrupts the body and soul has been relegated to a drunkin’ carnival of a holiday. Now that I have soundly destroyed your version of the day, we all feel the need to wear GREEN…go have a pint of Ale and kiss the Blarney Stone find a redheaded lass and celebrate