The first person that comes near me attempting to pinch me gets punched in the neck!
I refuse to wear green on March 17th. I hardly EVER wear green anyway! A few years ago this girl at work runs over and pinches me real hard and yells that I wasn’t wearing green. She grabbed muscle tissue man! It hurt bad! I yelled back that I’m not Irish, I’m not Catholic and if she pinched me again I’d tear her arm off. I don’t think she talked to me again for a month.
The Catholics wear green but the Protestants wear orange. I’m neither. I’m one of the snakes that he drove out.
St. Patrick (Maewyrn Succat) was born in North Britain or South Scotland around 385CE. His village was raided and he was sold into slavery and grew up in Ireland. He prayed to the Christian god and received visions on how to escape. He became a monk in France and requested to return to Ireland as a missionary. So far, pretty reliable facts. From here it’s open to interpretation and many different versions.
When he returned to Ireland, he met with the king and was laughed at by the king’s advisers when he told them of the Christian “trinity” concept. That’s where the shamrock story comes in to play (in the 1800′s). According to legend, he picked up a shamrock and showed them that it has one stem with three leaves. This impressed the king who allowed him to preach Christianity throughout Ireland. For 30 years Patrick set up churches and schools and converted the Irish to Christianity, dying on March 17th around 461CE.
The snakes he’s know for driving out? They’re the pagans. There are no native snakes in Ireland. Around 18,000 years ago an ice cap covered north Europe and the British Isles. All snakes in the area died. 15,000 years ago, the ice melts and the 12 mile gap between Scotland and Ireland has been there ever since. The only snake you’ll find in Ireland (or New Zealand) have been brought over by man.
The snake is a symbol of fertility and was common in the pagan religions of Ireland at the time. Although some say Ireland was the only nation to Christianize peacefully, others say that as St. Patrick gained power, he used intimidation, fear and murder to “drive the snakes into the sea”.
So go drink your crappy green beer and pretend you’re Irish. I’m gonna go get me a pet snake.
This is about as Irish as I get. Well, them and Guinness beer
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