What? Green Eggs and Ham? Snake less Ireland? Blarney?
by About St. Paddy, and why we celebrate his day, wear green, and kiss the blarney stone.
St. Patrick’s Day celebrates the death of the patron saint of Ireland, Maewyn Succat, around March 17, 461 AD. He was born in Britain, kidnapped from the Roman British Isles by a band of pirates, and sold into slavery around sixteen years of age. He worked as a slave shepherd for six years until he escaped to Gaul, where he studied in a monastery for about twelve years and changed his name to the more Christian one, Patrick of Patricus. At the age of sixty, he was sent back to Ireland as a Christian missionary to ‘convert the pagans’, and used the triple-leaved shamrock to explain the trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to them. In Ireland, Patrick’s run-ins with the pagan priests, the druids, sparked many intriguing stories—realities, as well as myths.
He promoted the written word of documents of history, the Bible, and literature, discarding the usual handing down of that information from generation to generation. Patrick’s mission lasted for thirty years, which would have made his death occur around ninety years of age. There are stories that credit St. Patrick with ridding Ireland of its snakes. Whether this is true or not, the fact that Ireland is snake-free is well known.
The modern version of the feast of St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday of the Roman Catholic Church and the Irish Church, and is celebrated all over the world by the Irish (and non-Irish). It usually falls on a Friday of Lent (except Good Friday or other holy days). When it falls on one of the holy days, church officials move it to another day around March 15 to 17. History’s first recorded parade occurred March 18, 1763, when an English-Irish soldiers’ band marched through the streets of New York City, playing their instruments and dancing Irish jigs.
The Irish will tell you that if you want the powers of eloquence, persuasion, and the “gift of gab” you must kiss the Blarney stone, which is in the wall of the Blarney Castle (built in 1446, with walls eighteen inches thick at the base) in the Irish village of Blarney. What they won’t tell you, however, is that in order to kiss the stone, you must lie on your back, bend backward and downward, while hanging over the edge about two feet and holding onto supporting iron bars to keep from falling to the ground. To make matters harder, the stone is between an overhang of the main castle wall and the parapet on the battlement of the castle. This famous stone (four feet X two feet) may be half of the ‘Stone of Scone’, which was given, in 1314, to Cormac McCathy (their family owned the castle at that time) for his support in the Battle of Bannockburn, by Robert the Bruce.
Since Ireland is touted as The Emerald Isle, being verdant, lush, and green, it is associated with the color green and the shamrock, as well as all other Irish things, such as drink, food, etc. Celebrants wear something green (in earlier times, this color was blue and was changed to green later), eat green eggs (and Irish foods), drink Irish beverages, including green beer, sing Irish songs, and throw parades as a way to show their patriotism. The leprechaun (an Irish fairy), the shamrock, and the blarney stone are the symbols of the modern St. Paddy’s Day. This holiday takes place all over the world, and is one of the most popular celebrations of all.
Happy St. Paddy’s Day, and if you do not want to get pinched, don’t forget your green.
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