St Patricks Day is recognized nearly all over the world and it is the most celebrated national Holiday in the world. The day itself is when St Patrick Died. He is seen as the Patron Saint of Ireland, for his role in helping to introduce Christianity into the country.
I remember being at home in Ireland and all the excitement about the day. Lots of shamrock was to be wore and the your finest green items of clothing. The shamrock is symbolical as it has three leaves and was apparently used by St Patrick himself to explain the holy trinity to the Irish people when he first arrived. Then off to church and after that we would head over to the local hill, which was apparently visited by St Patrick and has a well the other side named after him.
I remember enjoying this day, as everyone would be in high spirits, it is a day of celebration after all. And I got to hang out with my friends at the hill and try and roll down it without staining my clothes, which is not easy if it has been raining. Then it was off to town to watch the parade, listen to some music and dance. It really was a great day.
Depending on your age you celebrate it in different ways. It wasn't until I grew u that I realized how much of a big deal it was in so many different places around the world. I guess that happens when a lot of Irish people where forced out of their country down the ages, whether they were sold into slavery or just rounded up and sailed away. Not the nicest of history, but for a small country there are a lot of people from Irish descent living all over the world.
Today it is seen more as a celebration of Ireland than of St Patrick.
I am all for celebrations, in my eyes we don't celebrate enough. But I really wish, that the one day that Ireland is celebrated was not tied in with Saint Patrick.
Why
Well for one I am not religious and secondly because Christianity has done so much damage within Ireland, the Catholic Church has a long history of violence and abuse in Ireland, a very long history. It is a very dark history, that is being brought to the surface more every year. A dark history of abuse against mainly women and children. I am not going to bring any examples up, of that history, it is very easy to find that online and I don't really want to put a damper on anyone's day of celebration. What I want to do is bring awareness.I really do not wish to offend anyone who is religious but the reality in Ireland is a very dark one because of the church.
A lot of people have probably heard about St Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland, into the sea. And thought nothing of it, but we are not talking about reptiles here. Snakes are a symbol of the creative life force, of femininity and of healing. When St Patrick arrived in Ireland in the 4th century it was mainly women that were the healers. Along with that, is the fact that the Irish people celebrated the earth, the creative force rather than a religion. So St Patrick driving out the snakes out of Ireland,what it really represents is the women, the healers and the creative force being destroyed in Ireland.
Symbols are very powerfuland resonate with us deeply, that is something that the church was aware of and used to their advantage. Today the snake symbol is still used, it is recognized as a medical symbol. Not too far from what it really represented in the first place, but just twisted to fit into today’s society. The shamrock's three leaves are very symbolical, they represent the life cycle in nature , birth, death and rebirth. Or in early spirituality where people celebrated the triple goddess, (maiden, mother, crone) again representing the cycle of nature, as the Goddess is really mother nature . But used by the Christians and changed into the holy trinity. (the father, son and the holy ghost.)
I could write another post about the many other ways that the Church has changed or stolen many sacred celebrations. But that is for another time.
I do not want to turn anyone off their green stout, because as I said we should celebrate, but lets celebrate Ireland for it's many fine arts, it's great culture.
Lets not celebrate a figure that symbolizes the oppression of women, or the introduction of a religion that has done much more harm than good.
I'm all for keeping the 17th of March as a day of celebration, but more for the death of St Patrick, and not the life of him.
If we want to see change then we have to bring that change.
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