This is a repost from March 17th, 2008, but I wanted to add a link from National Geographic that I found today, that discussed the TRUE history of St. Patrick ;)
Today is the traditional day for people to wear green, drink green beer, and eat corned beef and cabbage. Why? All in celebration of a man named St. Patrick who is said to have driven the snakes out of Ireland.
Problem with this "historical" accounting is, there were no snakes in Ireland at the time (or at ANY TIME in the past!). What St Patrick did, was convert the leaders of the time, including King Loegaire to catholisim, and then systematically began destroying the native religion of the Irish people!! He drove the Druids out of Tara, their historical holy ground! By converting the leaders of the people, he subjected all the Irish people to conversion or persecution! The native religion of the people was forced to go underground or disappear all together! And for this reason we celebrate? We should mourn the loss of another piece of Irish culture and history!!
I am just tired of everyone wearing green, decorating with shamrocks and leprechaun, and not even taking a moment to think about the true history of this holiday. We do tend to do that don't we. The TRUE history of Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, and heck, even Christmas is lost on most people. If it was the other way around, and the Druids had strung St Patrick up by his shamrocks, I am pretty sure we won't be celebrating World Tree Day and all wearing Sun Wheels!
Okay, rant over, and if you see anyone wearing all black today, now you will know why...
4 comments:
I do not think that the old Religion has disappeared... it must be living:)
I agree that the real meanings of holidays often get passed over in favor of the decorations, tv specials, and themed dinner plans. I've even been guilty of drinking a green beer or two in my day! I try to look at the bright side though - since we can't really avoid all the hoopla, I'm making sure that my ds learns about what lies underneath the gloss and hubbub of any given holiday in hopes that he can truly appreciate them. Great post.
This was me yesterday. Wearing black and telling people to piss off with their pinching! LOL
If asked, I told them that St. Patrick's Day is a day of mourning for me. ;)
Most folks who celebrate the day really have no idea who St. Pat was or what he did. It's more of a traditional excuse to get plowed and paint the streets of Boston with your breakfast. In that manner I get a bit of a chuckle at the idea of it being a somewhat religious holiday. Good on ya for knowing the facts about Eire's history
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