Is this St Pat’s day? I think it is. Normally I don’t keep track of such things—I have to be reminded of Thanksgiving Day and such, but I wrote the date for this blog, and saw that it was time to go out for a green beer.
St. Patrick was born around 387 C.E. in Scotland, and turned to God once he was kidnapped by slave traders and brought to Ireland to be a shepherd. He is accredited to bringing Christianity to Ireland and he used the shamrock, a three leafed plant, to explain the trinity to the people.
According to Catholic
Online. St Patrick said, "I prayed in the woods and
on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain."
For decades following
the Great Famine in the mid-nineteenth century, the shamrock was popular among
the Irish as an icon promoting, at least for a day, the rejection of British
rule in Ireland. And because the church lifted the ban on drinking on the Sabbath on that day,
everyone went out for a beer.
But, I wondered, why
has the four leaf clover become associated with St Patrick?
Apparently it was a
mix-up. The luck of the Irish, the green, the shamrock, and the four leaf
clover which is a good luck charm. This is the stuff of myths, and symbolism,
and since we love celebrations, that too. My grandson would call this a “mixel.”
During the gold rush in
America, the most famous and successful miners were Irish or of Irish American
birth. Over time this association with mining fortunes led to the expression, “The
Luck of the Irish.” Of course it could have been that it was not so much luck as brains.
Fascinating, that some
of the most down-trodden people have risen above adversary to become great.
And these once thought to be less-than people are now celebrated.
Ha ha. To life! the ancestors must be laughing.
Picture of Cinderella's Castle, Disneyland Paris France, green for St. Pat's day.
.jpg)