{"id":15695,"date":"2019-03-13T14:56:45","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T14:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=15695"},"modified":"2019-03-14T00:06:36","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T00:06:36","slug":"the-truth-about-st-patricks-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/the-truth-about-st-patricks-day\/","title":{"rendered":"The truth about St. Patrick’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Farrelly<\/a>, University of Dayton<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

In 1997, my students and I traveled to Croagh Patrick, a mountain in County Mayo, as part of a study abroad program course on Irish literature I was teaching for the University of Dayton. I wanted my students to visit the place where, each July, thousands of pilgrims pay homage to St. Patrick, who, according to lore, fasted and prayed on the summit for 40 days.<\/p>\n

While there, our tour guide relayed the story of how St. Patrick, as he lay on his death bed on March 17 in A.D. 461, supposedly asked those gathered around him to toast his heavenly journey with a \u201cwee drop of whiskey\u201d to ease their pain.<\/p>\n

The mention of whiskey left me wondering if St. Patrick may have unintentionally influenced the way most of the world celebrates the holiday today: by drinking.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t always this way. The Festival of St. Patrick began in the 17th century<\/a> as a religious and cultural commemoration of the bishop who brought Christianity to Ireland. In Ireland, there\u2019s still an important religious and cultural component to the holiday, even as it has simply become an excuse to wear green and heavily drink in the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

The legend of St. Patrick<\/h2>\n

Because historical details about St. Patrick\u2019s life remain shrouded in speculation, scholars are often stymied in their attempts to separate fact from legend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In his spiritual memoir, \u201cConfessio<\/a>,\u201d St. Patrick describes how he was brought to Ireland as a slave. He eventually escaped, rejoining his family in Britain, probably Scotland. But while there, he had a recurring dream, in which the \u201cVoice of the Irish\u201d called to him to return to Ireland in order to baptize and minister to them. So he did.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A stained glass image of St. Patrick in St. Benin\u2019s Church in Kilbennan, County Galway, Ireland.<\/span>
\nAndreas F. Borchert\/Wikimedia Commons<\/a>, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Irish revere the account of this dream described in the \u201cConfessio\u201d; they accept the simplicity and fervor of his words and feel a debt of gratitude for his unselfish commitment to their spiritual well-being.<\/p>\n

St. Patrick\u2019s efforts to convert the Irish to Catholicism were never easy. Viewing him as a challenge to their power and authority, the high kings of Ireland<\/a> and the pagan high priests, called Druids<\/a>, resisted his efforts to make inroads with the population.<\/p>\n

But through his missionary zeal, he was able to fuse Irish culture into Christianity, whether it was through the introduction of the Celtic Cross<\/a> or the use of bonfires<\/a> to celebrate feasts like Easter.<\/p>\n

Again, many of these stories could amount to no more than myth. Nonetheless, centuries after his death, the Irish continue to show their gratitude for their patron saint by wearing a spray of shamrocks on March 17. They start the day with mass, followed by a daylong feast, and prayer and reflection at night.<\/p>\n

St. Paddy\u2019s Day goes global<\/h2>\n

From 1820 to 1860, almost 2 million people left Ireland<\/a>, many due to the potato famine in the 1840s and 1850s. More followed in the 20th century to reunite with relatives and escape poverty and joblessness back home.<\/p>\n

Once settled, they found new ways to celebrate St. Patrick\u2019s Day and their Irish identity in their new homes.<\/p>\n

Irish-Americans, especially, were quick to transform March 17 into a commercial enterprise. The mandatory \u201cwearin\u2019 of the green\u201d in all its garishness is a far cry from the original tradition of wearing a spray of shamrocks to honor St. Patrick\u2019s death and celebrate Irish solidarity. Parades famously sprung up \u2013 especially in New York and Boston \u2013 revelry ensued and, sure enough, even the beer became green<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Spectators decked out in green watch the St. Patrick\u2019s Day Parade in South Boston, Mass.<\/span>
\nDominick Reuter\/Reuters<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Children of Irish-Americans in the United States have absorbed Irish culture at a distance. Many probably know that St. Patrick is Ireland\u2019s patron saint. But they might not fully appreciate his mythic stature for kids growing up on the emerald isle.<\/p>\n

Ask children of any age in Ireland what they know about St. Patrick, and they will regale you with stories of his magical abilities, from his power to drive the snakes out of Ireland to his use of the three leaves and one stem of the shamrock to demystify the Trinity doctrine of the Catholic Church<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They see St. Patrick as a miracle worker, and as adults, they keep the legends alive in their own ways. Some follow St. Patrick\u2019s footsteps<\/a> all around Ireland \u2013 from well to hill to alter to chapel \u2013 seeking his blessing and bounty wherever their journeys take them.<\/p>\n

Raising a glass<\/h2>\n

Of course, in America, the holy day is really a party, above all else.<\/p>\n

This year, Americans are expected to spend US$5.61 billion<\/a> celebrating, with 13 million pints of Guinness<\/a> consumed. Some parts of the country plan a pre-celebration on Sept. 17 \u2013 or, as they call it, \u201cHalfway to St. Patrick\u2019s Day<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where all of this leads is anyone\u2019s guess. But beginning in the 1990s, Ireland seemed to grasp the earning potential of the Americanized version. Today, March 17 remains a holy day for the natives and a holiday for tourists from around the world, with pubs raking in the euros on St. Patrick\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve always wondered: What if St. Patrick had requested a silent prayer instead of \u201ca wee drop of whiskey\u201d to toast his passing? Would his celebration have stayed more sacred than profane?\"The<\/p>\n

James Farrelly<\/a>, Professor of English, University of Dayton<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Farrelly, University of Dayton In 1997, my students and I traveled to Croagh Patrick, a mountain in County Mayo, as part of a study abroad program course on Irish literature I was teaching for the University of Dayton. I wanted my students to visit the place where, each July, thousands of pilgrims pay homage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":15693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293],"tags":[2620,3180,4961,388,537,625],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15695"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15695"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15701,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15695\/revisions\/15701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}