Faugh a Ballagh

Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day. I am writing this today instead for two reasons: first, and most importantly, I am Irish every day, and secondly, there may be certain among you whose recollection of your activities yesterday is a little fuzzy, and I would hate for you to have missed these pearls of wisdom amidst all the merry-making. Here are some tidbits about the holiday that you may not know (and can use to amaze your friends…okay, bore your friends...).

1. The entire month of March is Irish-American History Month in the U.S. Never heard of it? That’s because Congress never bothered to tell us when they created it in 1992. Besides, American History is Irish History, just like Black History and Women’s History are American History. America could not have existed without the Irish, and that isn't just true in March.

2. St. Patrick was not Irish. He was a Briton, a kind of Germanic predecessor to Welsh people. He was kidnapped as a teenager and taken as a slave to Ireland, which didn’t allow slaves, so he escaped back to Wales where he became a priest. Eventually he returned to Ireland to endorse the brand-new religion of Christianity.

3. St. Patrick is credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland. Christian legend says they attacked him during prayer so he chased the entire country-full of them into the sea. Modern historians speculate the story is an allegory for the banishment of Druids, who often wore snake tattoos, and biologists maintain that it is simply too cold in Ireland for reptiles. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that today there are no snakes in Ireland.

4. Not everyone wears green on St. Patrick’s day. In Ireland, Catholics wear green, Protestants (Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, etc.) wear orange, and until the late 1800’s nobody wore green at all; they wore blue.

5. St. Patrick is not the only famous saint in Ireland. St. Colmcille was exiled from Ireland because he started a war over ownership of a manuscript he copied, and St. Brigid was given to a convent by her father, a pagan king, because she kept giving away his treasury to the poor.

6. There are more Irish in the United States than in Ireland – way more. About four and a half million people live in the Republic of Ireland and another two million live in Northern Ireland (which belongs to England). There are about forty-one million people of primarily Irish descent in the United States of America.
   
7. Faugh a Ballagh, the title of this post, is an old Irish battle cry meaning "clear the way!" It is pronounced fawk-a-ballick. Erin go bragh (long live Ireland)!

If you are Irish, if you are part Irish, if you could be Irish, if you married into an Irish family, if you have Irish friends, or if you just love dancing, singing, eating, drinking, laughing and good company, celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17, and be proud of the Irish every day of the year!