[ampaterry]

Today is St. Patrick's Day. Anyone of Irish descent will wear green today. Anyone with a even a hint of Irish blood will also wear green. Anyone with a taste for partying will probably claim they are of Irish descent for this day, at least, so they can take part in the festive nature of the day.

I see nothing wrong with this, provided the partying does not get out of hand. Back when I was a drinking man, “Green beer” meant the batch had not turned out very well, and had a sort of skunky taste to it. Carlings Black Label was noted for this; it was a very good beer, my favorite in fact, but every now and then you would open a bottle and take a sip, and recoil from the taste of it. Depending on how broke I was, I would either drink it anyway or pour it out and open another. But today, everyone will want a “green beer”, beer that has been died green in keeping with the Irish nature of the day.

But what is all this celebration about? It is about Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland. Legend has it that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland, but he did not do that; he did something much more beneficial for the Irish.

Patrick was born in Dumbarton, Scotland, in 387 to Calphurnius and Conchessa. Calphurnius was of high rank in the Roman government, while Conchessa was a close relative of St. Martin of Tours. When Patrick was 16, he was taken captive by Irish marauders and sold as a slave in what is now Antrim, Ireland. He served there for six years, learning the Celtic tongue and the inner workings of Druidism from his master who was a High Priest in that cult. Acting on the warning of an Angelic visitor, he fled his cruel master and returned to Britain, but his heart was turned to God's service, and after a time studying in the monastery in Tours, he was made a priest and later entrusted with evangelizing the Irish by Pope St. Celestine I, which he spent the rest of his life doing.

The end of the Druids came when the Arch Druid Lochru, with demon empowerment, raised himself high above the ground as a demonstration of his power. Patrick knelt in prayer, and the Druid dropped from the sky onto a rock, which killed him.

And what about the snakes? It seems the Druids worshiped a snake deity of some kind - - -
Like I keep saying, guys, most legends have SOME basis in fact -

May God bless and keep each one of ye today, eh?