Onondaga Central
Irish-Americans all across the nation celebrate St. Patrick’s Day as a tribute to their heritage. The holiday evolved from Irish culture with parades, food, music, dancing and green! However, many people do not know who St. Patrick really is nor do they know why they participate in the parades and feasts. On that note, who is St. Patrick and how did he get his own holiday? St. Patrick: The life of St. Patrick remains quite a mystery in the eyes of historians. In truth, many of the stories telling of St. Patrick’s great feats, such as banishing all snakes from Ireland are all false and are brought to us by the generations of exaggerated storytellers. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. St. Patrick actually was not Irish, in fact, he was born in Britain near the end of the 4th century. It is believed he was born in Scotland or Wales. His parents were wealthy Romans and Catholics. St. Patrick’s Day is held on the day St. Patrick died, which is believed to be March 17th 460 A.D. St. Patrick’s father was a Catholic deacon. However, it is believed that he took that role for tax incentives, considering Patrick’s family was not particularly religious. At 16 years old, Patrick was held as a prisoner by a group of Irish raiders, who were attacking his family home. He was transported to Ireland and spent the next six years in captivity. During his time in captivity, he worked as a shepherd, alone and far away from people. Throughout his agonizing time of hardship and loneliness, he began finding himself turn towards religion and he became a devout Christian. It is believed that during his time in captivity he began aspiring to convert the people of Ireland to Christianity. Irish legend says that Patrick used the shamrocks as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when he was first introducing Christianity to Ireland. After escaping to Britain, an angel told him to return to Ireland as a missionary so he studied 15 years before his ordination into the priesthood. Saint Patrick wasn’t originally named Patrick. His birth name was Maewyn Succat, but he changed his name to Patricius after becoming a priest. This is when he was sent to convert the Irish to Christians. Patrick incorporated traditional rituals that were done by the pagans like bonfires on Easter since the Irish used bonfires to honor gods. He also created the powerful Irish symbol known as the Celtic Cross. When St. Patrick arrived in Ireland, most people were pagan. Interestingly enough, Patrick was actually never officially declared a saint. It is likely he was bestowed this title by popular acclaim. Until the potato famine, most Irish immigrants were Protestants. The Great Potato Famine caused 1 million Irish to migrate to the US, most of these were Catholic. The Shamrock: The shamrock was a sacred plant in ancient Ireland meaning the rebirth of spring. The plant is also called “seamroy” by the Celts. By the seventeenth century, the shamrock had become a symbol of Irish nationalism. As the English began to conquer Ireland and make laws against the use of the Irish language and the practice of Catholicism, many Irish began to wear the shamrock as a symbol of their pride for their heritage and their disgust with English rule. Legend says that each leaf of the clover has a meaning: Hope, Faith, Love and Luck. St. Patrick's Day Parades: Since around the 9th or 10th century, people in Ireland have been observing St. Patrick’s. The first parade held to honor St. Patrick’s Day took place in NYC. On March 17, 1762, Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City. The parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as connect with fellow Irishmen serving in the army. Over the next 35 years, Irish patriotism among American immigrants flourished, prompting the creation “Irish Aid” societies like the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick and the Hibernian Society. Each group would hold annual parades. In 1848, several of the societies decided to unite their parades to form one official NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Today, the parade is the world’s oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States, with over 150,000 participants. Each year, nearly 3 million people line the 1.5-mile parade route to watch the procession, which takes more than five hours. In Dublin, Ireland, pubs were closed on St. Patrick’s Day until the 1970s, meaning it was a dry holiday! In the 1950s, the parade promoted Irish industries but by the 1970s it had become a more standard procession, used as entertainment. In the mid-1990s, the Irish government, in an effort to boost tourism, created a multi-day St. Patrick’s Day Festival. The annual parade now attracts more than half a million spectators. Corned beef: Thousands of Irish Americans sit down and feast on corned beef for St. Patrick’s Day. Although it is thought to be traditional food, corned beef only became associated with St. Patrick’s day at the turn of the century. Irish immigrants living on NYC Lower East Side substituted corned beef for their traditional dish of Irish bacon to save money. The original meal consisted of bacon. This trick was picked up from Jewish immigrants in nearby communities. Leprechauns: Originally in Irish folklore, leprechauns were known as “lobaircin”, meaning “small-bodied fellow”. The belief in leprechauns probably stems from Celtic belief in fairies, who used their magical powers to perform good or evil acts. In Celtic folktales, leprechauns were cranky souls, responsible for mending the shoes of the other fairies. Leprechauns were known for trickery done to protect their much-fabled treasure. Irish Music: After being conquered by the English, the Irish were forbidden to speak their own language. The oppressed Irish men and women turned to music to help them remember important events and hold on to their heritage and history. The music was outlawed by the English. During her reign, Queen Elizabeth I even decreed that all artists and pipers were to be arrested and hanged on the spot. This is the reason the music is such a large part of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. This music is important to the Irish. A Snake Free Ireland: As tales recount, St. Patrick stood on a hill with a wooden staff in one hand and he banished all snakes from Ireland. This simply is a false tale, considering the fact that due to Ireland’s climate it was never home to any snakes. The “banishing of the snakes” was actually a metaphor for the elimination of pagan ideology from Ireland and the triumph of Christianity. Within 200 years of Patrick’s arrival, Ireland was completely Christianized, in the form of Catholicism. Why Green? Green is one of the colors in Ireland’s tri-color flag, and it has been used in the flags of several Irish revolutionary groups throughout history. Ireland is the “Emerald Isle,” because of its lush green landscape. Green is also the color of spring and the famous shamrock. In fact, green is liked to Irish independence, not St. Patrick since St. Patrick’s color was blue.
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