Faith and Begorra!

At the stroke of midnight, as the days rolled over into today, March 17th, a host of revellers raised their adult beverages in exaltation of an excuse to consume copious amounts of what ever ails them, all in celebration of the patron Saint of Ireland, St Patrick, for driving the snakes out of Ireland. 

What? That's not true? But that's what I was taught ... I think. I decided to look around the Internet for some info and what I found was a bit of a shock ... for me, at least. Many thanks to all of those sources for enlightening me.

When we think of St. Patrick’s Day, we generally think of green stuff, Ireland, Shamrocks, Leprechauns, and partying. We consume all things green, be it beer or treats, and feel perfectly justified in getting inebriated. That’s all well and good, but I bet you don’t know the truth behind the Saint and where all of these traditions came from.

Brace yourself ... You're about to get educated.

Ireland's patron Saint, St. Patrick, was actually born in a town in Roman Britain, sometime in the late 300s AD. Yep, good ol' Patrick wasn’t Irish ... and he wasn't born as Patrick ... but he curiously adopted a number of different names. History records his birth name as Maewyn Succat, but he didn’t dig that so he arbitrarily changed it to Patricius. TBH, he had many monikers throughout his life, being known by many as Magonus, by others as Succetus, and to some as Cothirthiacus. I guess he really liked Patricius because that's the one that stuck and why we celebrate his day each year as St Patrick's Day. St Magonus' Day is just too hard to do.

Paticius' father, Calpurnius, was a big deal in the early Christian church, but Patrick started out as not much of a believer. The obnoxiously religious might believe that is why he was captured by Irish pirates at the age of 16 and enslaved for six years as a shepherd. During this time, he chose to convert to Christianity, learned the Irish language and culture, and attempted to escape back home. It would turn out that Patrick wasn’t very good at escaping because he was captured again ... this time by the French. During his captivity, he learned about monasticism, and continued to study Christianity when he was finally sent back home in his late 20's. Like any pious cleric of that time, he claimed he had a vision that instructed him to bring Christianity to Ireland, in an attempt to cure them of their predominantly pagan and druidic ways of the time. Typical of that time in history, if you weren't Christian, you had to change because you were wrong.

When Patrick arrived back in Ireland, he found that his preaching ways were not welcomed, and he was he driven away, landing on some small islands off Ireland's coast. It was then he slowly gained followers, eventually returning to the mainland to convert the heathens for many years to come. There's no beating around the bush ... Patricius got busy baptizing, ordaining, guiding and converting ... not the least of which were sons of the region's Kings, which gave him the clout to assist in the formation of over 300 churches.

Not sure where the beer and Irish patriotism comes in? Keep reading.

St Patrick is credited with banishing all the snakes from Ireland, but as miraculous as that sounds, there were never actually any snakes on the island to begin with. 

Ol' Patricius was likely the one responsible for popularizing the brilliant green, three-leafed indigenous plant that you're so familiar with. According to legend, it was used to teach the Irish the concept of the Christian Holy Trinity ... The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Irish pagan and druid beliefs already regarded the number 3 as special and using the Shamrock to reinforce the idea was a big hit with the locals.

Patricius is known to most as Saint Patrick, although, technically, he not a canonized saint in the Catholic Church. Then, why the holiday and why always March 17? What’s with the green, and why do we think of a non-Irish, non-snake charmer as a symbol of Ireland?

St. Paddy’s Day was as a religious celebration, starting in the 17th century to commemorate the life of Saint Patrick, and his import of Christianity. The day, celebrated with a feast, always took place on the anniversary of the Patricius' death, believed to be March 17, 461 AD. With emigration to the colonies in America, early during the 18th century, travellers brought the tradition with them, and it was there that the celebration started to become the symbol of Irish heritage and culture that it is today. With more immigration, the Feast Day celebration slowly gained in popularity. The first ever St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in Boston in 1737. Fleeing the Great Famine in the mid 19th century, a large influx of Irish immigrants fuelled the explosion of the celebration, drawing in both patriots and non-Irish alike. Fast forward to today, St Paddy's Day is celebrated in more countries than any other national festival, transforming from a mass + meal to one of the biggest parties of the year.

The colour green, as previously stated, started with the Shamrock, but goes back to the Irish Rebellion, when Irish soldiers wore green as they fought off the British in their trademark red, instead of the traditional blue. During the war of 1798, "The Wearing of the Green" was adopted as the soldier's anthem, solidifying green as their national colour. When Chicago dyed a river green in 1962, the Americans embraced the wearing and decorating in green as a part of their pop culture.

So, how did the binge drinking grow out of a religious family meal that was tied to lifting Lent restrictions for a day? Irish pubs were actually forced, by law, to shut down for the day since drinking alcohol was frowned upon until the late '70s. In true American capitalism, a massive marketing campaign by Budweiser in the '80s convinced thirsty revellers that drinking beer and St. Patrick’s Day needed to be married for ever.

The rest is history nobody seems to remember (bad joke ... inebriation?), but, at least now you can take a swig of your Guinness in pride because you know the real story.

Sláinte!
(Irish/Scottish toast to health in Gaelic)