St. Patricks day, why are we celebrating?

Friday, March 16th, 2007
by Terry

Tomorrow is Saint Patrick’s day.  It occurred to me on the way to pick up dinner that I really did not know that much about him and why it is that so many people would celebrate this mans life.  I once again turned to the all knowing Wikipedia and quote below.

Pious legend credits Patrick with banishing snakes from the island, though post-glacial Ireland never actually had snakes; one suggestion is that snakes referred to the serpent symbolism of the Druids of that time and place, as shown for instance on coins minted in Gaul, or that it could have referred to beliefs such as Pelagianism, symbolized as “serpents”. Legend also credits Patrick with teaching the Irish about the concept of the Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a 3-leaved clover, using it to highlight the Christian belief of ‘three divine persons in the one God’ (as opposed to the Arian belief that was popular in Patrick’s time).