St. Patrick's Day: Other than drinking, what is it really all about?

There are a lot of Irish Pubs all over Thailand including at least a half dozen of them in Chiang Mai and their biggest day of the year is today, the 17th of March. I've normally dabbled in attending this parties but since I am not Irish nor do I have any Irish heritage. There is a big party at a nearby pub in Chiang Mai called the Irish Rover - which I've been told is a very common name for an Irish pub because of a song - and I was inviting a Russian friend to go with me to the all-day party and he asked me, "What is this day really about? Is it important to you personally?"

It was then that it occurred to me that I had no idea what this day is about other than the fact that it is one of, perhaps the MOST important Irish holiday of the year. So I dug into it a bit and found out some stuff that other people might fight interesting.

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So the 17th of March is the celebration of St. Patrick's death and even that is a speculation because the guy died well over a thousand years ago so nobody can be really sure about the exact day. I guess they had to choose something and well, this day is as good as any!

He is believed to have died on March 17th, 461 A.D.

One thing I learned that really surprised me is that St. Patrick originally wasn't even Irish. He was British and was actually kidnapped into slavery into Ireland along with a bunch of other people in his seaside village as a teenager. He then spent 6 years in slavery tending sheep in Ireland. It is reported that he would pray all day while toiling away at his slave job and started to hear voices back. One of the times he heard the voice it lead him to a ship that was going back to Britain. He successfully escaped slavery and returned to his home in the north. It was at that point that he became much more religious and lead the church in a variety of places over Europe.

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When you think of St. Patrick or St. Patrick's Day, you probably summon to mind the shamrock, which is also a very popular name for Irish Pubs. This is a topic of some level of controversy with some historians claiming that the saint himself used the clover as a symbol of the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. However, other historians claim that there is no record of St. Patrick ever even mentioning or referring to the Shamrock. Despite this, the shamrock is still associated with the saint every year and I was even taught this in school. Whatever! It's fun.

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Something else I was taught about St. Patrick as a kid was that one of his miracles was to have chased all the snakes out of Ireland upon his return there as an experienced holy man, but this is also something that most historians will almost unanimously agree is a lie. The reason for this is because during the time that he was alive and for a very long time before and after his life, there were no snakes in Ireland at all, lest of all an infestation that would require an act of a miracle to convince them to all drown themselves. Some devoted religious folks will claim that the reason why there are no native snakes in Ireland today is directly because of St. Patrick's actions but historians and archeologists agree that Ireland never had any native snakes in it to begin with or at least it never did after the most recent ice age that was around 10,000 years ago.

One thing I wasn't taught because I wasn't particularly religious growing up, nor am I now, was that St. Patrick is meant to have gone up on a mountaintop and fasted for 40 days until God answered his demands. After 40 days God gave in and sent an angel to grant Patrick's wishes. Those wishes were that he would save more souls from hell than any other saint, that he and he ALONE would be responsible for judging the Irish for their position in the afterlife, and that the English would never conquer Ireland.

As far as the huge celebrations are concerned, they are a tradition with the Irish all over the world where people who are religious are allowed to break from the Lent fasting for a day and party it up. They are meant to go to church in the morning, then spend the rest of the day feasting and partying. These days it seems that most people skip the church part and just get straight to the merriment. I'm ok with that because I don't even know where a church is in Chiang Mai, not that I would go if I did.

St. Patrick's day is celebrated all over the world and it remains one of the largest parades in New York City each year with around 150,000 people participating in it annually. Chicago dyes the city's rivers green in honor of the date and cities around the world have huge parties in the honor of the day. Many years ago I was in Boston, which has a huge Irish population, on St Patrick's day and that was I think the most drunk I have ever been in my life.

I have to hand it to the Irish for one thing: They sure know how to party.