🍀Can You Celebrate St. Patrick's Day as a Pagan?🍀 (Patreon)

A lot of people may be wondering if you can celebrate St. Patrick’s Day even if you’re a Pagan or a witch? You're most likely aware how many pagans and witches are against celebrating St. Patrick's Day. There are many conflicting feelings about observing this holiday.

Let's learn a little bit of history about St. Patrick first. Who really was St. Patrick? Every March, people talk about St. Patrick as the symbol of Ireland. They teach about him in schools, many people go out drinking green beer with "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" shirts and you may become curious about the truth behind this Saint! Historians believe the real St. Patrick was born around 370 c.e., most likely in Wales or Scotland. His birth name was Maewyn, according to some records, and he was likely the son of a Roman Briton named Calpurnius. Maewyn was captured during a raid as a teenager and sold to an Irish landowner as a slave. When he was in Ireland, "where he worked as a shepherd, Maewyn began to have religious visions and dreams — including one in which showed him how to escape captivity."

"Once back in Britain, Maewyn moved on to France, where he studied in a monastery. Eventually, he returned to Ireland to "care and labour for the salvation of others," according to The Confession of St. Patrick, and changed his name. He was known alternately as the Roman Patricius, and its Irish variant, Pátraic, which means "father of the people."

One of the claims that people have made is that he is allegedly responsible for driving away the "snakes" from the Emerald Isle, which can be referred to ancient Irish Paganism. The theory is that the serpents were in reality a metaphor for the Pagan faiths of earlier times in Ireland. However, this claim that Saint Patrick actually drove away Pagans from Ireland is inaccurate, because what he actually did was clear the path for spreading Christianity throughout the Emerald Isle. Even though people considered what he did a miracle, keep in mind that this process of eliminating old belief systems takes hundreds of years.

On the other hand, people over the years have been debunking the idea of Patrick physically driving out ancient Paganism in Ireland. According to scholar Ronald Hutton, from his book Blood & Mistletoe: A History of the Druids in Britain, "Paganism was active and well in Ireland both before and after Patrick came along" and ""the importance of Druids in countering [Patrick's] missionary work was inflated in later centuries under the influence of biblical parallels, and that Patrick’s visit to Tara was given a pivotal importance that it never possessed..."

P. Sufenas Virius Lupus, a pagan author, says,

"St. Patrick’s reputation as the one who Christianized Ireland is seriously over-rated and overstated, as there were others that came before him (and after him), and the process seemed to be well on its way at least a century before the “traditional” date given as his arrival, 432 CE."

He also says that Christianity was introduced by Irish colonists who came across this religion in another region and brought it back to many areas around Cornwall and sub-Roman Britain.

"Some Pagans look at March 17th as a dark day for mourning because of the stories. But some of us look at it differently—as a day worth celebrating, because Patrick failed! We're still here!"

How is St. Patrick's Day Celebrated Today?

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17th in many places today. Did you know that the parades you see were an American invention? In 1737, the first St. Patrick's Day parade took place in Boston, which is a city with a large population of people who have descended from Irish ancestry. If you go to Ireland, cities such as Dublin, Belfast and Derry have big celebrations, too.

On the other hand, there are some Pagans today who do not want to observe or celebrate a holiday that honors eliminating an old religion for a new one. It is not uncommon to see Pagans wearing or displaying a snake symbol instead. There are many ways to display a snake symbol, if you choose, such as a snake wreath, snake jewelry, clothing or whatever else you can think of.

As a witch, you might be asking yourself, "Can I still celebrate St. Patrick's Day even though I'm pagan or a witch?" And the answer is... if you want! It completely depends on your perspective of this holiday. People can have varying opinions about observing this holiday. Some Pagans refuse to celebrate since St. Patrick since he is given credit for driving out Irish Paganism and introducing Christianity, essentially eradicating ancient Paganism from Ireland. But it's also important to know that there are many modern pagans who do recognize this holiday! You can honor the symbols of St. Patrick's Day, such as:

Shamrocks: This symbol is probably the most recognizable! For Christians, the shamrock represents the Holy Trinity, which is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Keep in mind, the number 3 was also sacred to pagans before with the Triquetra and the Triple Goddess.

Four-Leaf Clovers: "The leaves of four-leaf clovers are said to stand for faith, hope, love, and luck."

Leprechauns: Leprechauns have long been a beloved part of Irish folklore – mischievous fairies who, when captured by a human, must grant three wishes to be freed.

The Color Green: "This color is reminiscent of the verdant nature of Ireland itself: Nature and shamrocks. For pagans across the world, the Green Man is a symbol of fertility and rebirth, represented in the cycle of growth each spring."

How Do I Celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

There are many current debates today on whether St. Patrick's Day can be celebrated by pagans. In my opinion, I think it is an amazing day to honor and celebrate the folklore, culture and traditions of Irish heritage! I am personally not very Irish, but love learning about traditional foods, rituals and folk tales of the culture. You don't have to honor St. Patrick, but rather the fact how paganism is still ongoing today!

This holiday is completely what you made of it. Some people may refuse to acknowledge this celebration or wear a snake symbol and others may embrace honoring their Irish heritage! You can also observe the Pagan revival as a reason to toast a drink to! Saint Patrick and the other missionaries over hundreds of years failed to completely eradicate Paganism. Paganism is thriving all over the world, so you could also observe today through this perspective as well.

If St. Patrick's Day makes you feel a lot of negative emotions or it doesn't mean anything to you, that's okay! Do what is best for you. If you choose to celebrate Irish culture, folklore and traditions on this day, that's great, too! Do whatever feels right for you.

How do you feel about St. Patrick’s Day? Do you like to celebrate and observe it or do you wait until Ostara?

Resources:

https://pixabay.com/photos/clover-leaves-green-plants-foliage-1225988/

Hutton, Ronald. Blood and Mistletoe: the History of the Druids in Britain. Yale University Press, 2011.

“Saint Patrick.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 3 Dec. 2019, https://www.biography.com/religious-figure/saint-patrick.

“St. Patrick: Apostle of Ireland.” https://www.amazon.com/St-Patrick-Apostle-Janson-Media/dp/B001Q747SW/.

Wigington, Patti. "St. Patrick and the Snakes." Learn Religions, Aug. 28, 2020, learnreligions.com/st-patrick-and-the-snakes-2562487

https://exemplore.com/paganism/All-Snakes-Day-Pagan-St-Patricks-Day-Celebration

https://forum.spells8.com/t/celebrating-st-patricks-day-as-a-pagan/1200