Saint Patrick's Day is on Sunday.
Saint Patrick was actually a Roman by the name of Maewyn Succat, born in 387 AD in either Kilpatrick, Scotland or Banwen, Wales.
At the age of 16 Maewyn was captured by Irish raiders and sold as a slave to the Irish chieftan Milchu of Dalriada.
For the next six years Maewyn tended his Irish slave master's sheep and pigs in the Braid valley of Ireland, where he worked the dogs and learned the Celtic language.
After six years of forced service, Maewyn ran away from his master and his flocks, heading 200 miles to the coast. There he stumbled on a ship from Gaul that was loaded with large dogs assembled by dog dealers bent on shipping them to the continent, where they were to be used against wild animals and gladiators in the Roman arenas.
Maewyn convinced the dog dealers that he had a way with dogs and could be of use, and he shipped with them, first to Scotland and then to Spain, where the poorly outfitted expedition nearly starved to death.
At long last, and after selling the dogs, Maewyn was allowed his freedom and a small stipend, and he headed to Tours, France (Gaul) where he joined St Martin's Monastery. There he became a devout Christian and was renamed Patricius by Pope Celestine I. In 432 he was sent back to Ireland to convert the heathens to Christianity.
Patricius, now called Patrick, landed with his companions at the mouth of the Vantry River close to Wicklow Head, and through a series of fabled exploits converted a great number of Pagans to Christianity before he died in 461 AD.
Despite his common name, St. Patrick has never been formally canonised by the Catholic Church.
Despite his common name, St. Patrick has never been formally canonised by the Catholic Church.
As for the notion that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland, it's simply not true; there were never any snakes in Ireland. What St. Patrick did was begin to rid Ireland of the influence of Paganism, which was often associated with twisted snake-like celtic line-drawings of animals.
One final note: In Ireland the bars were traditionally closed on St. Patrick's Days, as it was considered a religious holiday. A drunken St. Patrick's Day is an American fabrication that came to Ireland after 1970.
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6 comments:
Why is it that all the stores have green beer and drunken leprecauns? Beer steins are German not Irish and as you said, it is a religious holiday. St Patrick was NOT know to be a drunkard or a fighter. Hey, he didn't wear a kilt or a Tam either.
Why is it that we lost Frito Bandito and Uncle Tom but having a drunken Irishman is NOT RACIAL PROFILING!! In fact, you can buy al the green plastic crap you want at Wal-Mart for $1.99
This strikes me as predjudice in the worst way. Everyone can call Irish people Mick and potato eaters etc., but heaven forbid any one should say the N word or the S word or even the I word.
Talk about double standards. Yeesh! Or at least if you're going to say things like that, we should demand the right to return the favors.
Or I have an even better idea, how about we get over ourselves and just laugh at all the jokes together.
fedup Debi and the indignant TX JRTs.
Most of the Irish are not too easily insulted.... true for most other groups of people too.
Dutch Treat is a slur on the dutch, but the dutch don't care, so long as you pay your half of the meal. ;-)
Scotch Tape is named that way because it was created by 3M as an autobody paint over-spray trim cover, but the sticky stuff was a bit light and it did not stick too well, so it was sent back to the 3M factory with a note about "getting your Scotch boss to put more glue on it." A Scotsman is not insulted by being called tight though. It's not a liability, it's a feature!
Now the people with a real right to be pissed off are the Welsh, as they are supposed to "Welch" on all their deals, promises and bets. The good news is that all the Welshmen I know owe me money on the bets they've lost, so I feel pretty safe they won't be coming around to defend their honor ;-)
P
I wear a kilt and drink on St. Pat's day. I think that this is one place the Americans can rightfully claim to have improved upon the original idea.
Sean O'Quinn
It is a "mock" religious holiday not a real one.
In Ireland it was a day of respect.
In USA it was yet another excuse to party. Then a way to raise profits by promoting the party. Then broaden the market by diversifying to green beer and "stuff".
It ain't broke, don't try to fix it.
I think the sting of Irish stereotyping started to disappear as the Irish began to make their way in America - of course it helped being white and mostly speaking English. So let's be tolerant and generous with those who came here and continue to do so after us. Have a great holiday my friends and terrier fans!
referring to comments above, i didn't know irish wore kilts..i thought that was a scottish thing...
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