I am one of those people that tries to look at the bigger picture of things. I think that most modern holidays are terrible. And the next holiday is called St. Patrick's day. Now the customs and traditions of this event are simple enough. A person must wear green, you try to talk with an Irish accent, you drink green beer, and you get loud. It is used as an excuse for millions of people to get stupid. Something that I am not a fan of.
So what made this St. Patrick guy so dang special? He was a catholic missionary that wanted to stamp out paganism. He is said to have drove all the snakes from Ireland, those snakes being Celtic pagans. This was done during the time of the great spread of Christianity. St. Patrick caused great trouble in Ireland during his crusade against pagans. The story I remember most is about the Irish King's fire. On this day all fires across Ireland were put out, then the king would lite a large bonfire and from this fire all fires in Ireland would be re lit. However on an adjacent hill St. Patrick lit a fire before the Irish King to cause trouble. St. Patrick insulted the king and Irish tradition.
When Christianity was converting the Irish from Paganism, the Christians were adapting Irish traditions and trying to pass it off as christian. The female saint of Ireland is St. Brigit. The Catholic church realized that this goddess was so beloved that they couldn't tell the pagans to shun her. So they adapted the story and turned a goddess into a saint. There are stories that Brigit was the handmaid of the virgin Mary at Jesus's birth. I find such actions and lies to be very disturbing.
One of the most common misconceptions of the Celts is that they didn't write anything down. There are were a few druid books. Caesar stated that the Gauls were using Greek and Latin script. The Ogham that is linked to the Celts was mostly in Ireland and was meant for tree and stone inscriptions. St. Patrick is said to have burned druid books. I have done some research that says laws and judgements were recorded, and maybe that is what St. Patrick burned. If you can remove all historical proof of something, it will fade into memory. And that was the goal of St. Patrick.
St. Patrick is given credit for the creation of the Celtic Cross. It was written that to help in the conversion of the sun worshipping pagans that he started to impose the sun on the christian cross. That is why there are 2 types of Christian crosses. The cross with 3 equal length arms and a longer base with a circle at the intersection is a christian Celtic cross. However, the cross with 4 arms of equal length with a circle the intersection is a true pagan Celtic cross. And it is that symbol that the pagans used originally to represent the sun. Another case of Christians adapting pagan themes.
Maybe Pagans were like snakes during this time. I say this because snakes will hide deeper if threatened. It would have been impossible for everything pagan to be destroyed or removed by the christian church. Paganism survived at great loss, but it did survive. St. Patricks mission was not a complete success, for which I am very happy.
I call this event St. Hatred's day. I see the hate that the christian religion and it's followers have for other people's life style and beliefs. I think of all the missionary work that the christian religion has done all over the world. How many other cultures has it wiped out? To me this is just like Thanksgiving day to the Native Americans. People are honoring a person that was full of hate and hostility toward others. I know many other people that call it "bring back the Snakes" day. The snakes never completely left Ireland. We need to use this terrible salute to remind people what they are actually promoting.
I find my example to be very extreme, but I do want to mention it, so that you have a concept on how terrible this event actually is. St. Patrick's day is used as an excuse for millions to drink. But why do you need a reason to drink? Do these people look for an excuse to be louder and possibly more destructive? Then why don't they celebrate date of other people that sought the destruction of human cultures. April 20th is Adolf Hitler's birthday and he tried to remove the Jewish culture from the planet. They could call it swastika day.
We as a people need to rethink of who we honor and why. There are great minds and history is full of people that have done wonderful things without oppressing anyone to achieve their goals. Why not have Winston Churchill day and drink a couple pints of warm ale. Then there is Maria Curie who is called the mother of Modern Physics, you can eat polish sausages and drink vodka. If we are going to honor someone, make it a worthy person.
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