- St Patrick is believed to have driven the snakes from Ireland, but there were really no snakes on the island. The snakes were a metaphor for eradicating Ireland of pagan ideology.
- St Patrick himself was believed to be a pagan before becoming a Christian.
- The shamrock is the day's symbol because St Patrick used the 3-leafed shamrock to describe the Holy Trinity to non-Christians.
- St Patrick's Day will not fall during Holy Week again until 2160.
- The first St Patrick's Day parade was held not in Ireland, but in the USA! It was held on March 17, 1762 in New York City. Irish soldiers in the British army marched through the streets of the city, playing music.
- Leprechauns are a part of Celtic folklore and originally had nothing to do with St Patrick's Day. They were seen in the Celtic tales as cranky little people who were responsible for mending the soles of fairy shoes, and they used their trickery and magic to protect their fortune. The positive spin on leprechauns--cheery, happy little men--came from a 1959 Walt Disney movie called "Darby O'Gill and the Little People." Since then, leprechauns have been associated with St Patrick's Day and Ireland in general.
So now that you all have a little more information about the day, you can go impress your friends at the local pub while drinking a green beer and eating corned beef and cabbage. Ha! Or you can just hang out at home and have green-colored, shamrock shaped pancakes like we're going to do!
3 comments:
You know as a good Irish American girl I did actually know all those. I feel so proud! ;) Yes we had our corned beef and cabbage and more for lunch today and shamrock pancakes too. Can't get too much of a good thing!! We make green shamrock pancakes a lot though, or Mickey Mouse pancakes in Red and Blue!! Shamrocks are for anytime!
So, did Alayna put you to the research? We were talking about St Patrick's Day a while ago, and I told her about the snakes story - and she couldn't quite figure out how the leprechauns worked into that story! Just show how diluted "tranditions" become through the years.
PS: I hear "green" pancakes taste even better than regular ones!
Mom
Those pancakes sound really neat! I'll have to use that idea for another day. Maybe egg shaped multicoloured ones for Easter? I've never really known much about St. Patrick's Day so I really enjoyed reading that. P.S. I love that pic at the top of the blog of your girls. So adorable!!
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