The man known as St. Patrick was born in Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland where he served as a Sheppard to the king. He was a religious man and began praying to God about his situation. God gave him a dream and told him to leave Ireland. He went back to Britain where he began studying as a priest. As a priest he took on the name Patrick. He later returned to Ireland on a mission to bring Christianity to Ireland. As someone who is part Irish I was shocked to find this out. And guilty of not knowing my own heritage.
Legend is that he is famous for driving the snakes from Ireland, actually this is a metaphor. Snakes represent the Pagan aspect. As a Pagan myself I can respect the fact that although he did convert a lot of the pagans to Christianity, his methods were to blend the two cultures. He created the Celtic cross by combining the the Pagan symbol of the Sun with the Christian cross. The Irish Shamrock is another symbol, Pagan symbol for luck and prosperity and Christian symbol for the Trinity. He did not try to eradicate the Pagan beliefs but incorporate them into something new.
We began celebrating St. Patrick's day in America in 1970, the Irish later adopted it as a holiday to promote tourism in Ireland. A lot of Irish people had immigrated to America during the famine. So it makes sense that it started here. Also some of the things that we have thought about Irish tradition is all wrong. Mainly the food they ate. Although the Irish had cattle, they were used mainly for milk and not for meat. They made a lot of dairy products and Beef was too expensive to eat. That type of meat was reserved for nobility and kings.
The Irish people being a simple folk, ate pork and especially loved bacon and fried cabbage. If you didn't have a slab of bacon you could use a chunk of salt pork, thrown in with some fried cabbage and boiled potatoes. Potatoes also being a main staple of Ireland. The traditional drink is Guinness Beer and the idea of green beer came from green food coloring being dumped into a lake that stayed green colored for 2 days.
A GAELIC BLESSING:
May the roads rise to meet you.
May the wind be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
The rain fall soft upon your fields
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Resources:
Historical reference
http://www.history.com/content/stpatricksday/who-was-st.-patrick
www.marcgunn.com/articles/2005/11/brief-history-of-st-patricks-day.shtml
Traditional Irish Food
http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/2Kitch/aCBeefCabge.html
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