What do I know? - - - - - - Not Much !

Just when I begin to think I know it all, I am brought down quickly. I did a little research about St. Patrick. I had written a short poem to send to all of you to wish you good health on this day and Google Land enlightened me with a bit of Irish lore.

St. Patrick was not Irish, he was born in Britain around A.D. 390 to an aristocratic Christian family and had little or no interest in Christianity. When he was sixteen he was kidnapped and sent to tend sheep as a slave in the chilly, mountainous countryside of Ireland for seven years.

Due to this he became a very deeply believing Christian and, according to folklore, a voice came to Patrick in his dreams, telling him to escape. He found passage on a pirate ship back to Britain, where he was reunited with his family. He began to hear a voice telling him to return to Ireland. That's something he should have thought twice about because he found himself constantly beaten by thugs, harassed by the Irish royalty, and admonished by his British superiors. He died on March 17, 461 and was largely forgotten. BUT, slowly, mythology grew up around Patrick and centuries later, he was honored as the patron saint of Ireland. There were no snakes in Ireland as the ocean waters keep the land much too cold to allow snakes. Snakes represent evil and Patrick drove the old evil pagan ways out of Ireland and brought in a new age.

Until 1970 St. Patrick's Day in Ireland was a minor religious holiday celebrated by having a big dinner. The Irish charitable organizations originally held banquets in places such as Boston, Savannah and Charlestown. Irish immigrants started to parade in order to keep in touch with their Irish roots, and wearing green became a show of commitment to Ireland. The well meaning monks used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity, and of course the Irish Travel Companies found a great way to bring tourists to Ireland and one more good reason to celebrate.

In my early childhood a green shamrock, a real one, was mailed to our house from Ireland. It was well received and placed under the glass of a small table for everyone to look at it . . . but not to touch. It wasn't sacred or anything like that, but it was something from the old sod and treasured.

The article went on to say that on any given day 5.5 million pints of Guinness, the famous Irish stout, are consumed around the world. On St. Patrick's Day, that number more than doubles to 13 million pints.

So now you know some of what I know. I can hardly wait to Google about something else I think I know....and do not... as for my poem which I wrote before I googled -------

A thousand welcomes the Irish say

wishing you health and cheer

New York parades, and Boston too

celebrate with green beer

Corn beef and cabbage or Irish stew

brown bracken and Irish brew

In honor of a special saint

who chased the snakes away

giving us this special date

so we can dance and play.

Erin Go Braugh !