It's St. Patrick's Day, aka St. Paddy's Day or Paddy's Day (never Patty's Day please), or as I like to call it: Irish Day! Its a day to celebrate all things Irish! I've felt the distinct pull toward Ireland since I was a child and still to this day long to visit there.
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Some people see it as being a negative day because it celebrates the saint who drove the "snakes" out of Ireland. Ironically, there have not been any snakes in Ireland since the last ice age. Snakes were supposedly a euphemism for the Druids or pagans, but the folk spirituality just went underground, much like animals do to get through winter. St. Patrick did not kill the old ways. In fact, his actual historical life was pretty boring and 200 years after he died, the church gave him a media makeover, so to speak and many super saintly deeds were attributed to him. Ireland is one of the places in which the "conversion" to Christianity was rather bloodless because the local pagan folk saw so many similarities in the belief structures. The Church had to add so many pagan beliefs, holidays, and saints to itself to convince the Irish people that it was really the same; so to me, it seems the Church acquiesced to local folklore. All St. Patrick did was spread the word of christ. He was a pretty tame, monkish, passive, and kind priest. So outrage over him driving the pagan believers out of the country, or doing worse deeds, is all hype. I've been trying to convince people of this for years and someone else put all the info in one place. In depth info here: https://lairbhan.blogspot.com/2017/03/saint-patrick-druids-and-snakes.html?m=1&fbclid=IwAR2dgi7XcVEPa7SaXLb1AIdAMRSamLJ8CRUh0e3iknSyZyeVORHS75HO5Sw
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Anyway, steppingoff my little soap box..... Did you know that the Irish saved civilization during the Dark Ages? Its true - the Irish monasteries were the repositories of much world literature. See the book How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill. Did you know Irish immigrants built much of America in its early years and were often treated very poorly? It's true. See The Irish Americans: A History by Jay P. Dolan.
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The shamrock, or three-leafed clover is a symbol of Ireland and represents the Trinity of the 3 realms: physical, mental, spiritual. The four-leaf clover is a rare find & I see it as a representation of the 4-fold realms: body, mind, spirit, soul or the 4 stages of life: Youth, Adventurer, Creator, Wise One.
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So I'll be wearing green this week, and am making gluten-free Irish soda bread muffins and Guinness Irish stew this week. You can find my muffin recipe in an old blog post from a previous St. Paddy's Day. my recipe is here in an old blog post: https://www.blissedbodywork.com/post/bliss-through-food-mindfulness
May your troubles be less and your blessings be more,
And nothing but happiness come through your door.
Happy Irish Day!💚 Slaínte! (" To your health" in Irish Gaelic)
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