What People Are Misunderstanding This Week: St. Patrick’s Day Myths

I’m publishing this on March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day, a day when we celebrate the patron saint of Ireland and Irish culture in general by dancing to the music of the accordion and fiddle, turning the river green , and enjoying a few drinks. But many people misunderstand this holiday, so let me dispel some myths.

St. Patrick’s Day wasn’t always a day for parties.

The connection between drinking and March 17th is relatively recent. St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated in Ireland as early as the 9th century, but it was primarily a somber day of remembrance rather than a celebration—after all, it marks the anniversary of St. Patrick’s death. On this day, the dietary restrictions of Lent were lifted, which must have been a relief, but it wasn’t about drinking and merrymaking. It was about attending Mass. Pubs in Ireland were legally closed on March 17th until the 20th century, and drinking on this day was unofficially discouraged until the 1970s.

St. Patrick’s Day as we know it today is believed to have originated in New York City in 1762, when a group of Irish soldiers from the British Army marched through Manhattan to a local tavern. In 1848, New York’s Irish charities held the first official St. Patrick’s Day parade (which also became the world’s first civilian parade of any kind ), and the “drinking, dancing, and merrymaking” aspect of the holiday has evolved since then.

Ireland, incidentally, was the last to get this message. In a 2001 New York Times article , Irish writer Maeve Binchy recalls a childhood spent watching every other country party on March 17th, while “Dublin was the most boring place on earth to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.” However, by the 1990s, Ireland realized that people preferred partying to remembering dead saints, and now festivals and parades are held across the country, including a huge festival in Dublin.

Corned beef is not an Irish dish.

The Irish are known for their storytelling and dance styles , but they’re not renowned for their cuisine. The one exception is corned beef and cabbage, a dish many consider Irish, though in fact it’s not. Ireland has a complicated history with cows , but generally speaking, pork was the real source of protein in Ireland, especially after the 1800s. In the United States, however, the situation was different. Irish immigrants in New York City lacked Irish bacon, so they reportedly substituted it with corned beef, which they bought from their Jewish neighbors.

If you want to try authentic Irish food, order a boxty, or Irish soda bread. Boxty is a potato pancake. Irish soda bread was invented during the potato famine and is made with sour milk and baking soda by people too poor to afford yeast. Soda bread originated in the country’s poverty, but with the addition of raisins and a little salted butter, it becomes a delicious accompaniment to coffee.

Saint Patrick was not Irish.

Unlike another famous feast day saint, Saint Nicholas , Saint Patrick wrote an autobiography , so we know something about his life. He was born in the late 4th century in Roman-occupied Britain, probably Scotland or Wales, so he was Roman by citizenship, but he could have been British, Italian, or Celtic. When he was about 15 years old, Patrick was kidnapped by bandits and taken to Ireland, where he was forced to herd cattle. After six years of captivity, Patrick escaped back to Scotland or Wales, spent 15-20 years in religious study, was ordained a bishop, and then returned to Ireland to convert the pagans to Catholicism. He apparently succeeded in his mission, although I doubt the pagans thought so. Here’s how the Druids are said to have described Saint Patrick :

Across the sea will come the Axehead, maddened by madness, wearing a cloak with a slit where his head should be, and carrying a staff bent to a point. He will recite unholy incantations at a table before his house; all his people will respond: “So be it, so be it.”

“Axe head” refers to the tonsure, a hairstyle formerly worn by monks, so it is quite a crude insult.

Saint Patrick did not drive snakes out of Ireland.

Like all saints, Patrick’s real deeds were overshadowed by fictional ones recorded in the centuries after his death. In his own writings, Patrick acknowledges only one, very minor, miracle: returning to Ireland, his party ran short of food, and Patrick said, “God will give us a little.” Then they found a wild boar. The miracles attributed to Patrick in the hagiographies written about him are far more spectacular. Here are just a few of the things St. Patrick is said to have performed :

• Patrick fought the Druids and pagans in magical duels, where the pagans’ magical powers were defeated by Patrick’s faith.

• He battled the stone idol of the demon Cromm Cruaich , striking it with his staff and banishing the demon imprisoned within it to hell.

• He drove out the demonic birds by ringing his bell.

• Raised 33 people from the dead

• Jesus himself took me to St. Patrick’s Purgatory, a cave in Lough Derg where sinners could be cleansed of their sins by spending a day and night there in repentance.

• He left behind a cane from which a tree grew.

• He accidentally pierced the leg of King Engas with his staff, and then, after praying, healed the wound.

• Driven snakes out of Ireland

It was this last story that stuck in people’s minds. According to legend, Saint Patrick was fasting for 40 days on the summit of Croagh Patrick when he was attacked by snakes. He waved his magic staff and commanded all the snakes to leave the Emerald Isle. Indeed, there are no snakes in Ireland, not because of Saint Patrick—but because there never were any snakes in Ireland .

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