As someone with Irish heritage, you would think I would know a little about the St. Patrick's Day holiday. Unfortunately, all I know is that my great-grandfather used to dye his beard green, drink green beer, and eat cabbage on this holiday. I have no idea why we drink green beer and eat cabbage and wear green on this holiday, other than the fact that it is what we are "supposed to do". But, while doing some research for another class, I happened upon this website: www.theresurgence.com. While exploring I found a very interesting article about St. Patrick. As it turns out, Patrick wasn't a Saint and he wasn't even Irish, he was a Roman-Britain. He was a rebellious teen, born in 390 A.D., who was captured by pirates when he was 16. He was taken to Ireland and sold into slavery and spent the next 6 years as a shepard in the wilderness, alone. After spending all that time alone, Patrick became a "born-again" Christian by praying to Jesus Christ 100 times every day and 100 times every night. Patrick had a dream one night where God spoke to him and told him to flee his masters. He made a 200 mile journey on foot which led him to a ship that was about to set sail for his homeland. Patrick made it back to his home and went to seminary school. Several years later God spoke to him in a dream and told him to go to Ireland to preach the gospel to the Pagans who lived there. The Roman Catholic church had given up on the Celtic peoples of Ireland. These people were illiterate, drunken, fighting, perverted pagans who would have sex with just about anyone and worshiped anything.
This population of pagans numbered anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000 and was made up of 150 clans who fought against anyone for any reason. They were known to show up to battles naked and have wild orgies before battle. Patrick made it his mission to help these people see the light of God. He sold all of his belongings to fund his missionary trip to Ireland. He had a unique way of communicating the gospel to these demon-possessed tribes. He would use a three-leafed clover to teach them the gospel. By the time he died, he had converted 30-40 of the pagan tribes to Christian groups. He trained 1000 pastors and erected 700 churches and was the first noted person in history to take a stand against slavery.
So even though most of us think of the St. Patrick's Day holiday as one where we wear green and drink green beer, there is actually a lot more behind the story of St. Patrick's Day.
I really, really, really want to believe that he drove the snakes out of Ireland. I feel like it is somewhere between biography and legend, LOL.
ReplyDeleteI had an English teacher who scolded us for wearing green on St. Patrick's day, saying she never would do such a thing. As a woman of Irish descent, she always wore black on St. Patrick's Day as a symbol of her mourning for the religious unrest in her country. Sad, how hundred of years later, Ireland is still somewhat known as a place of religious confusion and ugly battling.
Wow! So all this time we thought that Saint Patricks day was all about the Irish and supporting the Irish culture and it turns out that Patrick first was not a Saint and he also was not an Irish? What! That is mind blowing. It is crazy how people will take a holiday and do things like drink beer and wear green, even when that has nothing to do with what really happened back then. I am so glad you decided to research this and I would have never thought that it would be about a man who wanted to convert angry irish men into christians, and that he actually succeeded with some groups of people! This was such an outstanding story, I guess we will still be celebrating by drinking beer and wearing green because it is a good excuse for people to drink right? Thank You so much for your post it was awesome and it taught me something which I always like.
ReplyDeleteChelsey Meyer
The is a great blog, love the facts you found shared about St. Patrick's day. It is strange that throughout the years we as a society have forgotten the struggles of those from our past. Actually many people don't forget they just don't know! I can only imagine how many other 'Holidays' we celebrate under false pretenses. The word holiday used to mean something special. Here are some examples of how much the word has lost its meaning, did you know that 01/31 is Backward Day; 03/28 is Something on a Stick Day; 07/10 is Cow Appreciation Day; and my favorite 09/19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day (I actually walked around doing this last year) Arrrr Matie!!!
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