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Saint Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Saint Patrick is one of the patrons of Ireland, as you probably already know.

History of Saint Patrick's Day

In 1780, George Washington gave his troops a day off. He had been encamped through the winter at Morristown, New Jersey. It was a long, bleak winter, and the army had been hit by no fewer than 28 snow storms and, well, no one was in a very good mood at this point. Now it happened that about a quarter of Washington's army was of Irish descent, despite the Irish composing less than a tenth of the American population at the time, and a dozen of his commanders had been either born in Ireland or born in America to Irish parents. And so it occurred to him that Saint Patrick's Day would make a fine occasion for a holiday. His order reads:

The general congratulates the army on the very interesting proceedings of the parliament of Ireland and the inhabitants of that country which have been lately communicated; not only as they appear calculated to remove those heavy and tyrannical oppressions on their trade but to restore to a brave and generous people their ancient rights and freedom and by their operations to promote the cause of America.

Desirous of impressing upon the minds of the army, transactions so important in their nature, the general directs that all fatigue and working parties cease for tomorrow the seventeenth, a day held in particular regard by the people of the nation. At the same time that he orders this, he persuades himself that the celebration of the day will not be attended with the least rioting or disorder, the officers to be at their quarters in camp and the troops of the state line to keep within their own encampment.

And so the first Saint Patrick's Day was celebrated without the least rioting, disorder, or mingling between officers and men.

That is the history of Saint Patrick's Day in America. His feast in Ireland is, of course, much, much older.

The Irish in America, The Power of Saint Patrick

In the United States, Saint Patrick's Day seems to grow in popularity every year. And this despite the fact that Americans of Irish descent are still less than 10% of the population. Moreover, the "Irish" of America include a very large percentage of Ulster Scots, whose forebears are rooted ultimately in the Scottish borderlands. These borderers were first expelled from Scotland to Northern Ireland as part of the British colonization of that country, and then from Ireland made their way to America. Today-- in America, at least-- they're usually just called "Irish," and that's how they see themselves. It's possible to be cynical or dismissive about the Irish-Americans, and this dismissiveness is quite popular in certain circles. Among the inhabitants of Ireland themselves, well, I've read that they see St. Patrick's Day as largely an occasion to evacuate their major cities, as these will be quickly overwhelmed by drunk Americans. Still, I think that something interesting is going on here.

The earliest Saint Patrick's Day celebration in the American colonies took place in 1737, in Boston. A group of Irish residents held a celebration in honor of Saint Patrick, and formed the Charitable Irish Society, in order to help their struggling co-ethnics in the city. Note that at this time nearly all of these "Irish" were Presbyterians who had emigrated from Northern Ireland, rather than Irish Catholics; more on that later.

On March 17, 1776, the Continental Army captured the city of Boston. Legend has it that the password for American soldiers entering the city that day was "Boston," to which the reply was, "Saint Patrick." Today, "Evacuation Day" is celebrated alongside Saint Patrick's Day in Boston. And Boston is the center of Irish culture in America.

Remember that two things are never connected by accident or happentance. If Boston was taken on Saint Patrick's Day, we should see this as the intervention by the saint on behalf of a city which was placed under his patronage 40 years earlier. If Boston has become the center of Irish or "Irish" culture in America, this is no accident either. There are no accidents, but the physical world is under the government of the spiritual world. On the magical worldview, cultural currents, fads, and enthusiasms are the outward manifestation of currents of force in the Astral Plane, and the Astral is under the government of higher planes still. If people around the world, especially but not only in America and other countries with a large Irish diaspora population, find themselves swept up in a notion of Irish identity on the feast of Saint Patrick, we should see this as the activity of the saint himself.

Saint Patrick was the patron saint of Ireland. Now, in addition, he is the patron saint of the Irish in America, and insists on including under that heading nearly anyone who is willing to wear green on March 17th.

Celtic Spirituality

Over the course of the last two centuries, the ideas both of Celtic identity and of a distinctly Celtic spirituality have spread throughout the world, wherever people of Celtic descent are found, and even where they are not. I think that you see the earliest version of it not in Ireland, in fact, but in Wales, with the Druid Revival and the work of Iolo Morganwg. Later, romanticized accounts of highland Scots history became very popular, starting with the work of Sir Walter Scott in the 1800s. And then there was William Butler Yeats, of which there is too much to say to be contained in a short blog post, except that, in more a more civilized era, sacrifices would be made to his spirit every year on the occasion of his Liberation from the flesh.

In any case, we've now had a fairly complete Celtic revival, which only grows in strength year by year. Celtic Spirituality takes Christian and Pagan forms, sometimes hostile toward one another, but often coexisting quite amicably. In either pagan or Christian form, Celtic spiritualities tend to share the following themes, among others:

Respect and reverence for the natural world and the cycles of nature
A focus on monasticism rather than a clerical hierarchy
A balanced relationship between men and women
A love of art, music, and poetry
An awareness of the nearness of the Otherworld, and of the beings which inhabit it
A celebration specifically of the landscapes, languages, and legends of the Celtic countries of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany

I'd like to suggest that Saint Patrick can be seen as one of the patron saints of Celtic spirituality and the Celtic revival generally. I'd also like to suggest that, to the list of traditional Celtic countries in Europe, we ought to add those regions of the United States and other countries which received large numbers of Irish, Scots and other Celtic immigrants, and in which Celtic culture has become rooted in the land. This would include much of the Northeast-- New England, of course, but Appalachia all the more so, as much of the region's culture was laid down by Scots immigrants, and large parts of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The Celts weren't always in Ireland, and they have been many other places besides. I'd like to think that historians in a thousand years will talk about "the traditional Celtic lands of Eastern North America."

How to Celebrate

The traditional American form of celebrating Sant Patrick's Day involves wearing green, drinking beer (preferably Guinness or a lager died green with food coloring), reminiscing about ancestors driven from Ireland by the machinations of one Englishman or another, and listening to Celtic music. (Here is a personal favorite of mine.) There's nothing wrong with any of this and you won't hear me speak a word against it.

But I think that we can, and should, incorporate the deeper aspects of Celtic spirituality into our Saint Patrick's Day celebrations. At minimum, this is a fine day to recite the Lorica of Saint Patrick:

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through a belief in the Threeness,

Through confession of the Oneness

Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today

Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,

Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,

Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,

Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today

Through the strength of the love of cherubim,

In obedience of angels,

In service of archangels,

In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,

In the prayers of patriarchs,

In preachings of the apostles,

In faiths of confessors,

In innocence of virgins,

In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today

Through the strength of heaven;

Light of the sun,

Splendor of fire,

Speed of lightning,

Swiftness of the wind,

Depth of the sea,

Stability of the earth,

Firmness of the rock.

I arise today

Through God's strength to pilot me;

God's might to uphold me,

God's wisdom to guide me,

God's eye to look before me,

God's ear to hear me,

God's word to speak for me,

God's hand to guard me,

God's way to lie before me,

God's shield to protect me,

God's hosts to save me

From snares of the devil,

From temptations of vices,

From every one who desires me ill,

Afar and anear,

Alone or in a multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,

Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,

Against incantations of false prophets,

Against black laws of pagandom,

Against false laws of heretics,

Against craft of idolatry,

Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,

Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ shield me today

Against poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against wounding,

So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,

Christ in the eye that sees me,

Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through a belief in the Threeness,

Through a confession of the Oneness

Of the Creator of creation

This is a powerful prayer of protection, as it invokes the entirety of God's creation, starting from the Trinity and extending downward through the ranks of angels and saints and into the elements of the material creation, and binds the one who prays to all of these. It can be recited in honor of Saint Patrick, with a prayer that his blessing be extended to all the peoples of the Celtic diasporas, everywhere in the world, and that the Celtic spirit continue to awaken, expand, and grow.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

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