Ah, St. Patrick’s Day. The day when everyone wears “Kiss Me
I’m Irish” shirts, decorates their offices in shamrocks, eats corned beef and
cabbage, and drinks green beer.
But why do we do the things we do?
Where do these traditions come from?
And does any of it actually relate to the Irish or St.
Patrick?
Let’s explore some myths and misconceptions of St. Patrick’s
Day!
1. Is it true St. Patrick banished the snakes from
Ireland?
Most likely not. According to fossil
records, climate history, and animal migration analysis (email needed),
there weren’t (and still aren’t) any snakes in Ireland. It’s just too cold for
them. Also, the land bridges connecting Ireland to Britain and Britain to
Europe were covered ling ago by water as glaciers from the last Ice Age melted,
so snake didn’t even have a chance to migrate there.
2. But Leprechauns were an Irish invention, right?
Maybe? They might be even older than the Irish. Some
historians believe they were adapted from the even-older-than-Ireland Celtic mythological
fairies, meaning leprechauns (in one form or another) may have been around
since at least 1200 B.C.
3. Shamrocks… surely shamrocks are 100% Irish….
Again, we have the Celts to thank for the iconic shamrock.
To them, it was a sacred plant which heralded the coming spring. St. Patrick,
as the legends go, used the three-leafed clover to help teach and spread
Catholicism throughout Ireland. So, much like the leprechaun, shamrocks were
adapted and adopted in Ireland from those who came before.
4. How about corned beef and cabbage? They ate a lot of
that in Ireland, didn’t they?
Nope. The customary dish in Ireland is ham and cabbage. But
Irish immigrants living in the US in the late 1800s found that corned beef was
much less expensive than ham. So in the US, it became corned beef and cabbage, and
then our myopic view of history (combined, most likely, with some marketing
efforts somewhere) convinced us it had always had been that pair.
5. And the parade?
Yet another American invention. Or, rather, something that
first occurred in the Americas, since the first St. Patrick’s parade was
recorded as happening in 1601! Of course, St. Patrick’s Day was already being
celebrated in Ireland, but this seems to be the first actual parade. Funny that
it took place in the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine, Florida.
But it almost doesn’t matter what was, because St. Patrick’s
Day (along with its current customs and celebrations) is now a truly global holiday.
It’s even celebrated on the International
Space Station!