The Voice
March, in the twelve-month calendar, would go unnoticed each year if it weren’t for St. Patrick’s Day.
What else does March have to offer? Sure, the first day of spring falls in this month, but that is about it. Most people look at St. Patty’s Day as a drinking holiday with massive parties in cities like Savannah. In Savannah River Street, the most popular street by the water, is closed off and crowds of thousands drink and flash others for beads. Some people think this is fun.
However, the meaning behind this holiday gets lost in what America has transformed it into St. Patrick, the originator was a phenomenal man.
St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity’s most widely known figures. But for all his celebrity, his life remains somewhat of a mystery. Many of the stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, including the famous account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland, are false, the products of hundreds of years of exaggerated storytelling.
It is known that St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century. He is believed to have died on March 17, around 460 A.D. At the age of sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family’s estate. They transported him to Ireland, where he spent six years in captivity. During this time, he worked as a shepherd outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian.
After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to his writing, a voice, which he believed to be God’s, spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland. To do so, Patrick walked nearly 200 miles from County Mayo, where it is believed he was held, to the Irish coast. After escaping to Britain, Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation, in which an angel in a dream tells him to return to Ireland as a missionary.
Soon after, Patrick began religious training, a course of study that lasted more than fifteen years. After his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland with a dual mission, to minister to Christians living in Ireland and to convert the Irish. Online, www. historychannel.com continues to address the issue this month.
Another figure associated with this holiday is a three-leafed clover; called the shamrock, which is the national emblem of Ireland. Although it is widely believed that St. Patrick used the shamrock to illustrate the Christian doctrine of the trinity, this idea cannot be proven. In fact, the first written mention of this story did not appear until nearly a thousand years after Patrick’s death.
The shamrock, which was also called the “seamroy” by the Celts, was a sacred plant in ancient Ireland because it symbolized the rebirth of spring. By the seventeenth century, the shamrock had become a symbol of emerging Irish nationalism. As the English began to seize Irish land and make laws against the use of the Irish language and the practice of Catholicism, many Irish began to wear the shamrock as a symbol of their pride in their heritage and their displeasure with English rule.
I know this sounds as if it is a history lesson, but what we as a staff want is for you to be safe as college students if you partake in celebrating St. Patrick. Have a great spring break.
Please feel free to contact The Colonnade in response to “The Voice.” We want to hear what you are doing this St. Patty’s Day. I will be celebrating my 23rd birthday. Send your signed letters to the editors, and your voice will be heard.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Mar 8 2002. Filed under Our Voice.
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