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• Frequently Asked Questions
• Aliens and Irishmen!
• Attack of the Plastic Patty's
• Beyond Green Beer and Leprechauns
• Celebrating the Saint of Ireland - St. Patrick
• Celtic Cats - Magical Mystery Purr!
• Celtic Love, nothing short of Epic!
• An Interview with a Faerie in the 21st Century
• Five Miracles of Storytelling
• Halloween, the Celtic American Holiday!
• Irish Standard Time
• Kerns + Galloglass. Scariest Team on Earth!
• One old Biddy you don't mess with
• The Problem with Fairies.... NEW!
• Saint Preserve Us
• Shaggy Dog Stories - a Celts best friend!
• St. Patrick's Day: A story of celebration and survival
• Storytelling for Kids
• A Tough Act To Follow - Mystic, Legend, Saint,… Patrick.
• Tying the Knot, Celtic Style

St. Patrick's Day: A story of celebration and survival

by True Thomas the Storyteller

On March 17th, many Americans will dress in green; enjoy "beverages" and meals of corned beef and cabbage. It's a uniquely American tradition, celebrated on the anniversary of the passing of St. Patrick. In fact, it was until recently, it was mainly a religious holiday back in Ireland, although that has been changing. So how did a quiet religious holiday become a rowdy secular holiday here in the states? Therein lies the tale….

First, let's look at St. Patrick. St. Patrick was the son of a Roman Decurion (deacon) named Calpornius. The title was religious and autocratic as he was a landowner and tax collector. Celibacy was not required of the priesthood back then, and Patrick had 5 sisters. (Had celibacy been required, Ireland would not have its patron saint!) Patrick, probably had two names, one Roman, the other was Sucat or Maewyn in the local British language.

Thus leading us to one of our first ironies; we Celts in America are celebrating the life of an English born, Roman educated priest. St. Patrick himself was not Irish!

Most scholars put his birth in Wales, or on the western coast of England. At 16 Patrick himself considered himself somewhat pagan or rustic, although he was having a formal Roman education. That year, Irish Raiders (Possibly led by Niall of the nine hostages) hit the coast, looting and pillaging, and taking slaves of which Patrick was one. At 16, Patrick was taken to Ireland as a slave.

He had six long and bitter years of loneliness, cold and depravation as a sheep herder. During this time he learned to speak Irish fluently. Patrick started praying devotedly, up on his cold mountain in County Antrim, and then he heard a voice telling him to catch a ship. He escaped his captivity, and went two hundred miles, where he managed to convince a ship to take him to France.

In France, he went to monastery where he studied under St. Germain, bishop of Auxerre for a period of twelve years. During his training he became aware that his calling was to convert the pagans to Christianity. But before the church would let him go forth he needed official approval. And many of the priests considered him not well educated enough. So the very act that gave him the ability to speak Irish, almost kept him from becoming a priest to Ireland!

During this time the Christian Church was rife with internal conflict as many factions were trying to decide what exactly the message of the church was, and who got to control what. Patrick himself, tried his best to avoid any of these controversies, and was able to avoid some of them.

In 432, Patrick and 24 of his followers went back to Ireland. At this time there had been other Christian missionaries, but they had met with limited success. Patrick was different, and a powerful force to be reckoned with. His simple doctrines and persuasive speeches made many converts. By spring, Patrick went to confront the high king himself in Tara.
There, he convinced the High King to give him free rein to travel and convert, despite the protests of the local Druids. But Patrick, himself went on to "fight the good fight" for 30 years, during which time he was imprisoned twice, and had many confrontations with Druids, and the Celtic Warrior culture.

"There is a story that while converting one of the lesser kings, Patrick's accidentally had put the sharp point of his crosier (bishop's staff) on the foot of the warrior chieftain. The Chieftain said nothing, while his foot bled. As the ceremony went on, the chieftain had was turning white and starting to sway. Finally Patrick noticed and said "Why didn't you say something?" Replied the chieftain "I thought it was part of the ceremony, and did not want to show dishonor!"

Patrick went on to become not the first Christian priest in Ireland, but probably the most effective. He converted, established monasteries, and laws that made Ireland one of the first countries to convert to Christianity, not at sword point, but because of the message. He died on March 17th AD 461, and we honor his passing to this day.

He was worshipped for many years, and was proclaimed a Saint, even before the Catholic Church had been formed. A huge body of folklore and legends sprang up around his story, including the story of where he had picked up a Shamrock (a symbol of spring), and used its three leaves to educate people on the Christian holy trinity (Father, Son, Holy Ghost.) Another popular legend is that he scared the snakes out of Ireland. Scientist now say that there probably weren't any snakes in Ireland (even in his day) and what is implied by this is that Patrick was winning against priests of other religions.

So how does this all tie into the St. Patrick's Day of Green Beer and Leprechauns?

Many of the first Irish immigrants were from the Protestant middle class, educated, and fairly well to do. Since St. Patrick was the patron saint of Ireland, the religious observance and feast after made it a good time to have speeches. And later, parades. In fact, the first recorded American St. Patrick's day parade started in Boston, in 1737. Soon there were Irish parades in many of the major cities.

But the big immigration had not happened yet. The Great Potato Famine hits Ireland from 1845-1851. In about 3-4 years of wet weather, type of fungus they called "the black rot", destroys the main food source of the Irish peasant class. A nation is devastated. For the record, some English and American organizations did try to help, but due to bad planning and luck, hundreds of thousands of Irish died of starvation before anything could be done. For those of you interested, there are actual photos of this time period available on the internet.

Close to a million uneducated, starving, Catholic Irish pour into the United States. They are met with closed doors, prejudice and outright hatred. And they are shoulder to shoulder with poor immigrants and the African-American community, fighting for what jobs could be had. "Gangs of New York" indeed.

Another Irony; the Leprechaun cartoons that we see everywhere, had their genesis in Anti-Irish drawings portraying the Irish as drunken, lazy, murderous, monkeys. Complete with shamrocks, shilleaghly (a type of club), and knives. Less than 100 years later, the film "Darby O'Gill and the little people" is released by Disney, and cartoon Leprechauns are forever linked to the holiday.

Many Irish are impressed into the military, the sweatshops, and the outright dangerous jobs like dynamiting, etc. But compared to the last two hundred years of their own history, this new wave of Irish were up for the challenge. Within a vary short time, these Irish immigrants saw themselves as part of the great destiny of the US, building railroads, businesses, and more importantly, voting coalitions. The Irish dig in, become part of the American dream. And in 1960, John F. Kennedy, an Irish Catholic American, is elected president. This is something that would have been undreamed of less than 30 years before.

So this St. Patrick's day, everyone will be "a-wearin' o the green" (in Irish folklore, an unlucky color. Ireland's first national color was sky blue.) Putting up Shamrocks,(apocryphal) and Leprechauns (notoriously grumpy, and no one had anything to do with the fairies in Ireland, if they were sane.) And probably eating Corned beef (a tradition borrowed from their Jewish neighbors in New York, because they couldn't afford Irish bacon), and potatoes (Not native to Ireland) and talking with a lilt (usually fake) But the truth is that St.Patrick is a good choice as a Saint to Celebrate. He was much like the Irish American character, tough, thought to be a bit crazy, persuasive, determined, and not afraid of challenge.

Here's a traditional Irish toast for you to raise your glasses to.

"May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and a road downhill, all the way to your door!"