The Truth About St Patrick, What's up with the snakes and druids?
Soon it will be St Patrick's Day and Irish folks will be wearing shamrocks and drinking green beer and having parades and talking to leprechauns..... ;-P
I keep seeing notices on Pagan lists and on Pagan forums that say that we should all boycott St.Patrick's Day.
Many of these say things like: "On March 17, many people in this country will celebrate a holiday that has nothing to do with their ethnic background or their current country of residence, and everything to do with an historical religious event. On this day, genocide was committed upon a Nation. On this day the leaders, healers, teachers and priesthood of the various Celtic nations died, those who were still alive by then. On this day, the Christian church claims that St. Patrick drove all the snakes from the shores of Ireland. Most of these people did not leave those shores alive. Snakes are the symbol used by the Christian church to symbolize Pagans. The legend of the removal of all the snakes from Ireland (which never had any snakes to begin with) stems from the symbol of the snake to represent Paganism. As was the way with those lands and cultures conquered by the Christian church, all records of the former religions practiced by the people of the land were wiped out to the best of the abilities of those who usurped authority from the rightful leaders, both civic and religious.
On March 17, I will not wear green.
On March 17, I will not wear a shamrock.
On March 17, I will not honor the man who lead the conquest of Ireland.
On March 17, I will wear black.
On March 17, I will wear snakes.
On March 17, I will mourn the deaths of my spiritual ancestors."
I keep asking myself: what's up with the snakes and druids?
Now then, I'm gonna be upfront about this and state that I'm not all that interested in Ireland, beyond the fact that I appreciate that Irish guys sometimes wore/wear kilts and I LOVE guys in kilts --- and I also will freely admit that I normally spend St Patrick's Day honoring the color green by drinking absinthe and hoping that some of those fine kilted Irish dudes will walk by me. ;-P
However, I do know a bunch of folks who take the whole Irish history thing seriously enough that they **demand** that the history of Ireland is presented totally accurately, and they all tell me **emphatically** that the whole idea of St Patrick chasing the Pagans out of Ireland is "myth" (i.e. BS) and not fact. They and I, now that I think about it, chalk the myth about St Patrick chasing the Druids out of Ireland up to many Pagans wanting to play the martyr thing -- you know, that whole "OMG teh Christians are so MEANNNNNNNNNNNNN to us poor pathetic Pagans cuz look at how they chased the Pagans out of Ireland and stole our holidays and burnt 9 gazillion of us and and and and....".
Anyway, being curious I decided to do some research for myself this year into the claims that are being made against St Patrick and here is what I came up with :
No historical proof exists that St. Patrick had anything to do with real live snakes OR that the legend of St Patrick and the snakes has anything to do with Paganism or Druids. To be specific, there are several very early sources about Patrick (specifically the early "vitae" of Patrick from Ireland; the "Confessio", which is Patrick's own words from the 5th century; and a number of later medieval "vitae" and legends from various places - see below for specific source list) that have survived and that can be read today -- and NONE of these have any "snakes" story in them that claim that Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland, let alone stories that claim that the "snakes=Pagans/Druid".
People like Giraldus Cambrensis (see below for source list) said that if poisonous animals like snakes and toads are brought to Ireland, they die, and that soil from Ireland likewise has either poison-healing or poisonous-creature-repelling properties. Apparently, at some stage (most certainly post-medieval), someone decided that this separate tradition of Ireland being toxic to snakes and St. Patrick doing great things (and being responsible for eveything good in Ireland) were "the two tastes that go great together" and ZAP suddenly they began to claim that Patrick chased the snakes from Ireland.
As for the Snakes=Pagan/Druid thing, the Snakes=Pagan/Druid thing is a modern invent that has become unfactual "NeoPagan Mythology" much in the same way that "The Burning Times" have also become one big inaccurate mess of a myth...
Detailed Resource list:
A note about Internet sites: To be fair to Wikipedia and some of the other sources, I have no problem if they present the idea that Patrick chased snakes out of Ireland and that the snakes may be a symbol for Paganism/Druidism as **mythology or legend**. I do though have problems if they present that Patrick did this as **fact**. It has been suggested to me, and it makes good sense, that in order to be historically accurate, a person has to be able to separate myth from non-myth and separate legend from fact. In the case of Patrick, who did leave his own writings by the way, it just seems silly to me to believe myths and legends when his own words remain, eh?
A note about Human resources: I'm no Celtic scholar so I rely upon people who I've communicated with and who I respect for supplying me with information and/or sources. I guess I'd have coffee with them if they lived near by , but most of them are folks who I've met, and come to respect highly, on the net, and many of them live in places that I probably will never get to. I guess the net is like real life, it doesn't take long before an intelligent person can figure out who is full of sh*t and who isn't by talking to them and following their advice in looking for sources. I meet lots of folks... some say things like "Nine million Wiccans were burned by the evil Christians during the Burning Times and I know this because Silver RavenWolf says so" ... and other folks say things like, "You know, it's really sad that mankind is capable of doing terrible things to each other, and if you'd like to check out some articles on the subject of what is called the Burning Times, might I suggest that you go read the article "Who Burned the Witches?" By Sandra Miesel @ http://www.crisismagazine.com/october2001/feature1.htm or "Recent Developments in the Study of The Great European Witch Hunt" by Jenny Gibbons @ http://www.draeconin.com/database/witchhunt.htm..." After I do some research, of course I am going to take the latter sort of person much more seriously than I will the former because I am going to respect well researched articles that are accurate much more than I am going to respect ummmm Witchcrap. The same is true of how I sort out people to listen to when they start talking about St Patrick. Who am I going to believe? A person who wants to believe legends and myths as reality... or am I going to believe someone who can send me places to check out legitimate sources for things? Again, I'm going to go with the latter.
A note about Books: I'm only looking at sources that I was given that speak of life of Patrick in a way that is factual (or as factual as one can get when dealing with a figure who lived a long time ago and who has been so thoroughly "legendized") rather than speaking of Patrick as totally legendary or mythological. So here are some books on the subject:
* "Vita Tripartita" - The Irish-Latin Bethu Phatric (Vita VII), which is called the Vita Tripartita, is a late medieval, huge collection of information and lore and various lives and legends of St. Patrick in Irish - you can access the Latin version on line and maybe a translation also. see: The Tripartite life of Patrick : with other documents relating to that saint @ http://www.archive.org/details/tripartitepatrick00stokuoft. You can also purchase Whitley Stokes' edition of the "Vita Tripartita" at Amazon.com in two volumes The Tripartite Life Of Patrick V1: With Other Documents Relating To That Saint and The Tripartite Life Of Patrick V2: With Other Documents Relating To That Saint (you could also try the library because neither book is cheap (ekkk)).
* "Confessio" (written by Patrick himself) (Note: You would think, wouldn't you, that IF Patrick had chased real snakes out of Ireland, or chased the Druids out of Ireland, or chased the Druids out of Ireland and also referred to them as snakes, that he would have mentioned this in writings that he wrote about himself? Especially in writings that he wrote as a PR event for himself?) see http://www.robotwisdom.com/jaj/patrick.html
* "Topographica Hiberniae" and "Descriptio Cambriae" by Giraldus Cambrensis, published in the 1100/1200s). See http://www.standingstones.com/giraldus.html for some interesting information on Giraldus Cambrensis.
* "The Triadis Thaumaturgae" or "Acta Triadis Thaumaturgae" (i.e. the Triad of Miracle-Workers, which is about Patrick, Brigid, and Columcille) by John Colgan (published in 1647) (includes a Latin version of Vita Tripartita that represents a different text from that was edited by Stokes) - it looks like this book has been re-published, see http://www.deburcararebooks.com/colgan.htm.
* Letter to Coroticus" or "Epistola ad Coroticum" by Patrick himself (Coroticus apparently was an Irish warlord whom Patrick was forced to excommunicate) (again, how about basing the facts on what the man wrote, rather than on legend?) see: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/L201061.html for the Latin and for an English translation see: http://www.joyfulheart.com/stpatrick/coroticus.htm
* "Acallam na Senórach" (The Colloquy of the Ancients) (12th century) which are legends and myths about Fionn mac Cumhaill and his travels with Patrick. Note: these are legends, but are interesting if someone wants to see how easy it is to lose facts over time . This book has been translated and republished in modern times as "Tales of the Elders of Ireland"
* It also was suggested that for further study on this, do a search for Irish Hagiography books. Hagiography is the study of early saints' lives and the good Hagiography books on Ireland will include "examination of the collections of early Irish saints' Lives, the manuscript traditions and the continually vexed question of the dating of the texts"...These Hagiographical works were suggested as being helpful:
"Saint Patrick, AD 493-1993", ed. David Dumville, et. al. (a collection of essays to commemorate the 1500th anniversary of the death of St Patrick that explores the problems of the 'historical' St Patrick in relationship to Church mythology)
"Saints d'Irlande: Analyse critique des sources hagiographiques (VIIe-IXe siècles)" by Nathalie Stalmans (deals with the saints and their cults as becoming increasingly popular and localized in the seventh and eighth centuries (with the three major 'national' saints, Patrick, Brigit and Columba)
"Saint Patrick's World: The Christian Culture of Ireland's Apostolic Age" (Dublin, 1993) by Liam de Paor (provides translations of several documents and Lives associated with St Patrick)
"Vitae Sanctorium Hiberniae" (two volume) by C Plummer (published 1910) "Medieval Irish Saints' Lives: An Introduction to Vitae Sanctorium Hiberniae" by Richard Sharpe
By the way, if anyone out there in Internet land has any additional scholarly and accurate sources, or better sources than those that I have quoted, let me know. I'm sure that the "OMG!!!!TEHCHRISTIANSARESOMEANNNNN" clamor is only going to get louder the closer it is to the 17th of March.
I keep seeing notices on Pagan lists and on Pagan forums that say that we should all boycott St.Patrick's Day.
Many of these say things like: "On March 17, many people in this country will celebrate a holiday that has nothing to do with their ethnic background or their current country of residence, and everything to do with an historical religious event. On this day, genocide was committed upon a Nation. On this day the leaders, healers, teachers and priesthood of the various Celtic nations died, those who were still alive by then. On this day, the Christian church claims that St. Patrick drove all the snakes from the shores of Ireland. Most of these people did not leave those shores alive. Snakes are the symbol used by the Christian church to symbolize Pagans. The legend of the removal of all the snakes from Ireland (which never had any snakes to begin with) stems from the symbol of the snake to represent Paganism. As was the way with those lands and cultures conquered by the Christian church, all records of the former religions practiced by the people of the land were wiped out to the best of the abilities of those who usurped authority from the rightful leaders, both civic and religious.
On March 17, I will not wear green.
On March 17, I will not wear a shamrock.
On March 17, I will not honor the man who lead the conquest of Ireland.
On March 17, I will wear black.
On March 17, I will wear snakes.
On March 17, I will mourn the deaths of my spiritual ancestors."
I keep asking myself: what's up with the snakes and druids?
Now then, I'm gonna be upfront about this and state that I'm not all that interested in Ireland, beyond the fact that I appreciate that Irish guys sometimes wore/wear kilts and I LOVE guys in kilts --- and I also will freely admit that I normally spend St Patrick's Day honoring the color green by drinking absinthe and hoping that some of those fine kilted Irish dudes will walk by me. ;-P
However, I do know a bunch of folks who take the whole Irish history thing seriously enough that they **demand** that the history of Ireland is presented totally accurately, and they all tell me **emphatically** that the whole idea of St Patrick chasing the Pagans out of Ireland is "myth" (i.e. BS) and not fact. They and I, now that I think about it, chalk the myth about St Patrick chasing the Druids out of Ireland up to many Pagans wanting to play the martyr thing -- you know, that whole "OMG teh Christians are so MEANNNNNNNNNNNNN to us poor pathetic Pagans cuz look at how they chased the Pagans out of Ireland and stole our holidays and burnt 9 gazillion of us and and and and....".
Anyway, being curious I decided to do some research for myself this year into the claims that are being made against St Patrick and here is what I came up with :
No historical proof exists that St. Patrick had anything to do with real live snakes OR that the legend of St Patrick and the snakes has anything to do with Paganism or Druids. To be specific, there are several very early sources about Patrick (specifically the early "vitae" of Patrick from Ireland; the "Confessio", which is Patrick's own words from the 5th century; and a number of later medieval "vitae" and legends from various places - see below for specific source list) that have survived and that can be read today -- and NONE of these have any "snakes" story in them that claim that Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland, let alone stories that claim that the "snakes=Pagans/Druid".
People like Giraldus Cambrensis (see below for source list) said that if poisonous animals like snakes and toads are brought to Ireland, they die, and that soil from Ireland likewise has either poison-healing or poisonous-creature-repelling properties. Apparently, at some stage (most certainly post-medieval), someone decided that this separate tradition of Ireland being toxic to snakes and St. Patrick doing great things (and being responsible for eveything good in Ireland) were "the two tastes that go great together" and ZAP suddenly they began to claim that Patrick chased the snakes from Ireland.
As for the Snakes=Pagan/Druid thing, the Snakes=Pagan/Druid thing is a modern invent that has become unfactual "NeoPagan Mythology" much in the same way that "The Burning Times" have also become one big inaccurate mess of a myth...
Detailed Resource list:
A note about Internet sites: To be fair to Wikipedia and some of the other sources, I have no problem if they present the idea that Patrick chased snakes out of Ireland and that the snakes may be a symbol for Paganism/Druidism as **mythology or legend**. I do though have problems if they present that Patrick did this as **fact**. It has been suggested to me, and it makes good sense, that in order to be historically accurate, a person has to be able to separate myth from non-myth and separate legend from fact. In the case of Patrick, who did leave his own writings by the way, it just seems silly to me to believe myths and legends when his own words remain, eh?
A note about Human resources: I'm no Celtic scholar so I rely upon people who I've communicated with and who I respect for supplying me with information and/or sources. I guess I'd have coffee with them if they lived near by , but most of them are folks who I've met, and come to respect highly, on the net, and many of them live in places that I probably will never get to. I guess the net is like real life, it doesn't take long before an intelligent person can figure out who is full of sh*t and who isn't by talking to them and following their advice in looking for sources. I meet lots of folks... some say things like "Nine million Wiccans were burned by the evil Christians during the Burning Times and I know this because Silver RavenWolf says so" ... and other folks say things like, "You know, it's really sad that mankind is capable of doing terrible things to each other, and if you'd like to check out some articles on the subject of what is called the Burning Times, might I suggest that you go read the article "Who Burned the Witches?" By Sandra Miesel @ http://www.crisismagazine.com/october2001/feature1.htm or "Recent Developments in the Study of The Great European Witch Hunt" by Jenny Gibbons @ http://www.draeconin.com/database/witchhunt.htm..." After I do some research, of course I am going to take the latter sort of person much more seriously than I will the former because I am going to respect well researched articles that are accurate much more than I am going to respect ummmm Witchcrap. The same is true of how I sort out people to listen to when they start talking about St Patrick. Who am I going to believe? A person who wants to believe legends and myths as reality... or am I going to believe someone who can send me places to check out legitimate sources for things? Again, I'm going to go with the latter.
A note about Books: I'm only looking at sources that I was given that speak of life of Patrick in a way that is factual (or as factual as one can get when dealing with a figure who lived a long time ago and who has been so thoroughly "legendized") rather than speaking of Patrick as totally legendary or mythological. So here are some books on the subject:
* "Vita Tripartita" - The Irish-Latin Bethu Phatric (Vita VII), which is called the Vita Tripartita, is a late medieval, huge collection of information and lore and various lives and legends of St. Patrick in Irish - you can access the Latin version on line and maybe a translation also. see: The Tripartite life of Patrick : with other documents relating to that saint @ http://www.archive.org/details/tripartitepatrick00stokuoft. You can also purchase Whitley Stokes' edition of the "Vita Tripartita" at Amazon.com in two volumes The Tripartite Life Of Patrick V1: With Other Documents Relating To That Saint and The Tripartite Life Of Patrick V2: With Other Documents Relating To That Saint (you could also try the library because neither book is cheap (ekkk)).
* "Confessio" (written by Patrick himself) (Note: You would think, wouldn't you, that IF Patrick had chased real snakes out of Ireland, or chased the Druids out of Ireland, or chased the Druids out of Ireland and also referred to them as snakes, that he would have mentioned this in writings that he wrote about himself? Especially in writings that he wrote as a PR event for himself?) see http://www.robotwisdom.com/jaj/patrick.html
* "Topographica Hiberniae" and "Descriptio Cambriae" by Giraldus Cambrensis, published in the 1100/1200s). See http://www.standingstones.com/giraldus.html for some interesting information on Giraldus Cambrensis.
* "The Triadis Thaumaturgae" or "Acta Triadis Thaumaturgae" (i.e. the Triad of Miracle-Workers, which is about Patrick, Brigid, and Columcille) by John Colgan (published in 1647) (includes a Latin version of Vita Tripartita that represents a different text from that was edited by Stokes) - it looks like this book has been re-published, see http://www.deburcararebooks.com/colgan.htm.
* Letter to Coroticus" or "Epistola ad Coroticum" by Patrick himself (Coroticus apparently was an Irish warlord whom Patrick was forced to excommunicate) (again, how about basing the facts on what the man wrote, rather than on legend?) see: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/L201061.html for the Latin and for an English translation see: http://www.joyfulheart.com/stpatrick/coroticus.htm
* "Acallam na Senórach" (The Colloquy of the Ancients) (12th century) which are legends and myths about Fionn mac Cumhaill and his travels with Patrick. Note: these are legends, but are interesting if someone wants to see how easy it is to lose facts over time . This book has been translated and republished in modern times as "Tales of the Elders of Ireland"
* It also was suggested that for further study on this, do a search for Irish Hagiography books. Hagiography is the study of early saints' lives and the good Hagiography books on Ireland will include "examination of the collections of early Irish saints' Lives, the manuscript traditions and the continually vexed question of the dating of the texts"...These Hagiographical works were suggested as being helpful:
"Saint Patrick, AD 493-1993", ed. David Dumville, et. al. (a collection of essays to commemorate the 1500th anniversary of the death of St Patrick that explores the problems of the 'historical' St Patrick in relationship to Church mythology)
"Saints d'Irlande: Analyse critique des sources hagiographiques (VIIe-IXe siècles)" by Nathalie Stalmans (deals with the saints and their cults as becoming increasingly popular and localized in the seventh and eighth centuries (with the three major 'national' saints, Patrick, Brigit and Columba)
"Saint Patrick's World: The Christian Culture of Ireland's Apostolic Age" (Dublin, 1993) by Liam de Paor (provides translations of several documents and Lives associated with St Patrick)
"Vitae Sanctorium Hiberniae" (two volume) by C Plummer (published 1910) "Medieval Irish Saints' Lives: An Introduction to Vitae Sanctorium Hiberniae" by Richard Sharpe
By the way, if anyone out there in Internet land has any additional scholarly and accurate sources, or better sources than those that I have quoted, let me know. I'm sure that the "OMG!!!!TEHCHRISTIANSARESOMEANNNNN" clamor is only going to get louder the closer it is to the 17th of March.