“Happy St. Paddy’s Day!”
Someone responded to me this morning with “Happy Religious Persecution Day” and I got to thinking. I had never really done any research on one of my favorite holidays.
I have Irish Heritage. I can trace my ancestry back to a Patrick Murray who arrived in Elis Island and settled in New York in the 1890s. So I feel that I have a connection to this holiday. And well, I really do like the color green.
So first, I set off to do a little research, admittedly not particularly scholarly research, but enough to get a general idea of where the holiday came from and why we celebrate. And between History.com and several news articles, I think I have a fairly good idea about this holiday that I had celebrated since I was in kindergarten.
St. Patrick, an Englishman, was sold into slavery in Ireland at 16. Later in life, he was able to return to England and went into the service of the Church. He eventually went back to Ireland and proceeded with a campaign to Christianize the people of Ireland.
This was actually common practice during the early centuries of Christianity. Catholic priests and monks would go into an area that was predominately occupied by people of Pagan religions and Christianize the practices in order to help people convert. This is why there are many parallels between Christian holidays and traditions and ancient pagan ones.
Documents state that St. Patrick died on March 17th 492 and the Feast Day on March 17th was developed in his honor. At first this was particularly a normal Feast Day, much like others within the Catholic Church. Later, particularly in the 15th and 16th centuries, as the Irish left Ireland, either through religious persecution or famine, their traditions were spread around with world with them. St. Patrick, being the patron saint of Ireland, grew in popularity with the Irish in countries abroad. Celebrations on this day were an attempt to show people in these new worlds, that the Irish were a proud race; that they were cultured and unafraid to show their religious beliefs.
So I guess in some ways, it can be argued that today, March 17th, is Happy Religious Persecution Day. St. Patrick did convert Ireland to Christianity, eliminating the majority of the nature based pagan religion that was there previously. Also, the day gained popularity due to the persecution of Catholics in England, Ireland, and even after the moved to the United States.
However, I will point out that is true for most holidays. Christmas and Easter are a massive synthesis of pagan traditions that were used to help convert the pagan population to Christianity. In addition, many holidays increase in popularity due to oppression or distance from their country of origin.
Therefore, I say, wear your Green. Celebrate the Irish. Too often they are a forgotten nationality, not only in America but around the world. Use this day, and the entirety of Irish History month (march) to learn more about Ireland, and Irish Heritage, both in Ireland, and after their immigration to America.
