I love to understand the history of a holiday. It leads to so much understanding. My family history is English unsure if that is Irish.. I would hope so. Besides watching leap year which is the cutest movie, and Darby O’Gill and the little people. Where I had no clue that most american mythology was in reality Irish. 

 

St Patrick was a Roman citizen slave that was sold into slavery his birth name Maewyn Succat, in 386 AD his birthplace of origin is debated. He loved Ireland left became a priest and came back he died on March 17 461 AD. The Irish in the homeland celebrate his blue colored knighthood in a very religious way. On st Patrick’s day in us they celebrate like New Orleans celebrate Mardi Gras with alcohol.

In Ireland they would never celebrate with eating foods that are green because of the history of the Irish having to eat grass when they were starvation.

 

 

 

Why shamrocks? Celts used the shamrock symbolizing rebirth in the spring as Catholicism took up the Irish land and replaced English instead of Celtic by the 17th century the shamrock was a symbol that they would never forget their  roots.

 

As the Irish were oppressed in forgetting there language the people like many oppressed people took up music to remember important history and language. Queen Elizabeth l tried to kill all the musicians to oppress them.

St Patrick supposedly banished all the snakes off the island more representative of banishing paganism off the island as Christianity was there for 200 years. Or is the epic history that the garden of Eden was in Ireland.

 

One icon of the Irish holiday is the Leprechaun. The original Irish name for these figures of folklore is “lobaircin,” meaning “small-bodied fellow.” Belief in leprechauns probably stems from Celtic belief in fairies, tiny men and women who could use their magical powers to serve good or evil. 

In Celtic folktales, leprechauns were cranky souls, responsible for mending the shoes of the other fairies. Though only minor figures in Celtic folklore, leprechauns were known for their trickery, which they often used to protect their much-fabled treasure.

They 3 leaf clover represent the holy Trinity the father, the son and the Holy Ghost.

The 4 leaf clover  is a rare find and apparently has magical properties.

 

Why leprechauns and the rainbow?

 

In Ireland rainbows symbolize blessings from heaven, and this is reflected in some of the wise old words from generations past. Also, St Patrick was Christian it represented his biblical roots of its a promise from God that he would not flood the earth again.

My hubby mentioned to me that all over the Emerald Isle are rainbows. They are illusions that you can chase but never find more.  What more would a leprechaun want then to have a disappearing thing to have his pot of gold at?

 

 

Kissing an Irish person is like kissing the Blarney Stone in Ireland. The Blarney Stone is famous because Lord McCarthy telling the queen that it possesses magic quality people kiss now a days to get the gift of the gab the gift of eloquence.

 

More Irish parties ideas to come.