'Tis time to honor St. Patrick, whose green holiday livens up the grayish month of March and is the cause for a week-long festival in Dublin.
Patrick almost singlehandedly transformed Ireland from a heathen outpost into the stronghold of Christianity that it is today. An unlikely candidate to play such a pivotal role, he was born the son of a tax collector in fifth-century Roman Britain when the Roman Empire was crumbling.
As a teenager, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish raiders and spent six years enslaved in Ireland as a shepherd. His isolation drove him to seek God, who spoke to him in his dreams and commanded him to escape and study for the clergy in Gaul (present-day France). He eventually returned to Ireland as Patrick, Bishop for the Irish, on a mission from Rome to convert the natives to Christianity.
St. Patrick had the gift of gab and his powers of persuasion were legendary. He used the three petals of a shamrock to convey to a hostile local chieftain the concept of the Holy Trinity. Patrick's formal education had been stunted by his time in slavery, but he had come to understand the Irish in ways that no scholars could match.
Rather than force Christianity down the throats of the feisty Irish, Patrick and the monks who came after him made the new religion more palatable by blending the new faith with the old pagan icons. The native Irish had worshipped the sun, so the dramatic new Irish high crosses that appeared had a circle at their center to represent the sun. Sacred sacrificial ponds for pagan offerings were turned into holy wells devoted to saints such as Brigid (who may have originally been a Celtic goddess named Brid). The cultural savvy of these missionaries made Ireland the only country to have converted to Christianity without bloodshed.
Patrick's experience as a slave filled him with sympathy for the unfortunate. His were the first written records in history to denounce the institution of slavery. He also spoke out about raising the role of women from second-class citizens to equals in the eyes of God.
Perhaps the most famous story of St. Patrick tells of him driving the snakes out of Ireland. He is said to have spent 40 days and nights fasting and praying on a mountaintop, known today as Croagh Patrick. It was from this peak that he boldly rang his bell, chasing the serpents into the sea. Now Ireland never had any snakes, of course, but the symbolic lesson is that he rid Ireland of pagan beliefs.
Croagh Patrick can be visited and climbed by modern-day pilgrims as well as travelers looking for a hardy hike with great sea views (allow two hours each way). Rising almost 2,500 feet above the northwest coast of Ireland, the summit draws thousands of pilgrims each year, especially on "Reek Sunday" (the last Sunday in July), when Mass is said continually in the little chapel on top. The fanatically penitent attempt the climb barefoot.
Although to many, St. Patrick's Day means wearing green and drinking beer, it sprang from much more. With a shamrock and a mission, a man converted a country.
People, bearing the colors of Ireland, smile during the St Patrick's Day parade
St. Patrick's Day in Dublin
Dubliners revel for the week up till March 17, enjoying street theater, concerts, fireworks, and amusement rides. You can go on a treasure hunt (searching for that pot of gold), wind your way through a huge inflatable maze of light and color, and marvel at giant nightlights at the hot-air balloon glow (imagine tethered ballons lit from within). The grandest event is the parade on St. Patrick's Day, with a cast of 3,500, including bagpipers, stiltwalkers, marching bands, a prancing dragon, and a clowny carnival troupe of jellyfish, mermaids, and "monsters" that consider everyone a dessert.
Pat O'Connor, co-author of Rick Steves' Ireland
Rick Steves (www.ricksteves.com) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at rick@ricksteves.com and follow his blog on Facebook.
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Pat O'Connor, co-author of Rick Steves' Ireland, uses his own gift of gab to tell the tale of Saint Patrick, a man with a mission.
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