Issue #12

Top of the Morning to You!


I have celebrated St. Patrick´s Day only once before and that was in Montreal. At the time I appreciated the irony of attending festivities for the patron saint of Ireland in the heart of francophone Canada. Here I am once again paying homage to that priest, this time in Spain. According to The News, one of the English-language newspapers available on the Costa del Sol, St. Patrick´s Day was officially celebrated for the first time on March 17th, 1753.

Little is known of Patrick's early life, though it is known that he was born in Roman Britain in the fifth century to a wealthy family. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest. In 432, he says that he was called back to Ireland by God, though as a bishop, to save the Irish, and indeed he was successful at this, focusing on converting royalty and aristocracy as well as the poor. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of teaching and spreading God's Word he died on 17 March, 461 AD, and was buried at Downpatrick.
In hopes of making a political statement, during the 1798 rebellion, Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on the 17th of March. The phrase "the wearing of the green", meaning to wear a shamrock on one's clothing, derives from the song of the same name. St. Patrick´s Day was also believed to have served as a one-day break during Lent, the forty day period of fasting before Easter. This would involve drinking alcohol; something which became a tradition.

I always thought that everyone is a little bit Irish on St. Patrick´s Day but judging by the surprised looks on the faces of my Spanish neighbours, I was wrong. My assumption probably was based on the fact that the 2006 census by Statcan, Canada's Official Statistical office revealed that the Irish were the 4th largest ethnic group with 4,354,155 Canadians with full or partial Irish descent or 14% of the nation's total population.

And whether or not you are Irish or of Irish descent,

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.