Happy Saint Patrick's Day! ??? WHAT?

Posted in Holidays

Hmmmm, I've been seeing a lot of "happy St. Patrick's Day" commenting going around on the social sites - of course, since it is St. Patrick's Day today. BUT, I am seeing this from a lot of Pagans as well and I just wonder, why? Do they not know the history of this day? Ignorance is bliss! Do they know but just don't care? I mean, this holiday has gotten about as secular as Christmas so maybe it just has no impact?

If you don't know the history, I'll get you up to speed: St. Patrick is responsible for driving the Pagans (or snakes) out of Ireland, abolishing the old ways and bringing in Christianity. Yes snakes...what many people don't realize is that the serpent was actually a metaphor for the early Pagan faiths of Ireland.

So basically celebrating St. Patrick's Day honors the elimination of the old religion in favor of a new one. You may see Pagans who know this history, wearing some sort of snake symbol on St. Patrick's Day, instead of a shamrock. Oh, here's more history! Saint Patrick taught the Irish about the concept of the Christian Trinity by showing people the shamrock, using it to explain the Christian belief of “three divine persons in the one God”.

So, yea....another 'holiday' I won't be participating in...

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 17, 2012 at Saturday, March 17, 2012 and is filed under Holidays . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

5 comments

Salem Witch Child

I celebrate it as a way to honor my Irish ancestors. Not to celebrate the Saint. So I guess you can say I celebrate St. Patricks in a secular way. As do most other people I know.

March 17, 2012 at 8:43 PM

tmlo

there are many good articles on this, But I feel that this one brings most of them together.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2012/03/saint-patrick-druids-snakes-and-popular-myths.html

March 19, 2012 at 1:29 AM

Anonymous

It is my daughter's birthday so we celebrate that. We include several traditions using colors and symbols but don't include the Saint, himself. Thank you for this information, I appreciate the lessons.

March 19, 2012 at 3:33 PM

*star.mama*

Thanks for bring this up! This has been chapping my hide for years now. Our family has a day of mourning for the loss of the Old Ways in Celtic lands and our lack of knowledge today resulting from that loss. We're Scots and aren't much for the stereotypical portrayal of the Celtic as drunken partyers out to start a fight or as little men dressed in green or plaid with red hair carrying shillelaghs. Nor do I appreciate secular St Pat's celebrations that are usually a thinly veiled excuse for American adults to imbibe too much. Neither are we trying to start a debate about celebrating St. Pat's just that we don't want our Pagan children to consider celebrating the domination of one religion/culture over another or celebrating to the point of drunken excess as a normal and acceptable thing to do. Sure, they'll figure out how acceptable society thinks it is to drink later but while they are at home I get to brainwash them all I want.

March 23, 2012 at 2:26 PM

Chrys

Whoa! Indeed, I was unaware of this history. Thanks for sharing!

March 27, 2012 at 3:31 PM