Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times
Most of us have noted the green color of St. Patrick’s Day, but, how many pause to wonder why the symbolism of green color and three leaflet shamrock?
Saint Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the “Apostle of Ireland,” he died on March 17th and every year millions of Catholics in the Western countries, celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Saint Patrick’s Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland,[10] Northern Ireland,[11] Newfoundland and Labrador and Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora around the world; especially in Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina,Australia and New Zealand.
In all the parades and other celebrations, green color is prominently displayed. Many a buildings and even rivers become green.
Sydney Opera House on St Patrick’s Day
Chicago river taking on a green hue on St. Patrick’s Day
When St. Patrick was about 16, he was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Great Britain, and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After becoming a cleric, he returned to northern and western Ireland. In later life, he served as an ordained bishop, but little is known about the places where he worked. By the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland.
In St. Patrick’s parades as thousands if not millions immerse is a sea of green, one may wonder where does the symbolism of green color come from?
It comes from the green color of shamrock.
The Shamrock
The shamrock refers to the young sprigs of clover or trefoil. It is known as a symbol of Ireland, with St. Patrick having used it as a metaphor for the Christian Trinity, according to legend. The name shamrock is derived from Irish seamróg, which is the diminutive version of the Irish word for clover (seamair) meaning simply “little clover” or “young clover”.[1]
St Patrick is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.[13][14] This story first appears in writing in 1726, though it may be older. In pagan Ireland, three was a significant number and the Irish had many triple deities, a fact that aided St Patrick in his evangelisation efforts.[15]
Voluminous books have been written on the subject of Trinity, but, in an age of sound bites and one-liners, I propose to share only one picture with my readers:
Holy Trinity, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, fresco by Luca Rossetti da Orta, 1738–9 (St. Gaudenzio Church at Ivrea).
So, as we enjoy St. Patrick’s Day parades and other celebrations, let us take a moment to ponder over work of St. Patrick and study Trinity.
The largest St. Patrick’s Day parade happens in New York city and is watched by millions on television.
St. Patrick’s Day. What began as a religious feast day for the patron saint of Ireland has become an international festival celebrating Irish culture with parades, dancing, special foods and a whole lot of green.
As we ponder over symbolism of green and the three leaflets of shamrock, I have made the task of studying Trinity very easy for millions to complete in a few hours, by studying a book by a celebrated and accomplished writer, Prof. Bart Ehrman: How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee.
If you cannot spare a few hours to read this mind extending book, you would at least have a few minutes to enjoy the video below:
Suggested Reading
Book Review: Muslim, Christian and Jew: Finding a Path to Peace Our Faiths Can Share
Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time by Karen Armstrong
Nominating Karen Armstrong for Literature Nobel Prize
Categories: America, American History, Americas, Christianity, Europe, Europe and Australia, Highlight, The Muslim Times, USA
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http://themuslimtimes.info/2015/03/07/celebrate-st-patricks-day-by-finding-out-the-reason-for-green-color-and-shamrock-2/
Here’s what we know about the real St. Patrick
Source: Time
By Ashley Ross, @ashbrookeross
The modern St. Patrick’s Day celebrations that will take place on Thursday, at least in the United States, will likely be characterized by commercial lucky charms and green beer—all of which has very little to do with the historical figure of the saint. As it turns out, it took centuries for the holiday to accrue the elements that now seem crucial to its celebrations.
The March 17 celebration started in 1631 when the Church established a Feast Day honoring St. Patrick. He had been Patron Saint of Ireland who had died around the fifth century—a whopping 12 centuries before the modern version of the holiday was first observed. But very little is known about who he actually was, according to Marion Casey, a clinical assistant professor of Irish Studies at New York University (and a regular marcher in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan).
“We know that he was a Roman citizen, because Britain was Roman then, and then he was enslaved and taken to Ireland, where he either escaped or was released,” Casey says. “And then he became a priest and went back to Ireland, where he had a lot of luck converting the Druid culture into Christians.”
Legend says St. Patrick was actually born Maewyn Succat, but that he changed his name to Patricius (or Patrick), which derives from the Latin term for “father figure,” after he became a priest. And that supposed luck of his is the root of all the themed merchandise for modern St. Patrick’s Day.
It wasn’t until the early 18th century that many of today’s traditions were kicked into high gear. Since the holiday falls during Lent, it provides Christians a day off from the prescriptions of abstinence leading up to Easter, and around the 1720s, the church found it “got kind of out of control,” Casey says. It was to remind celebrants what the holiday actually stood for that the church first associated a botanical item—customary for all saints—with St. Patrick, assigning him the symbol of the likewise lucky shamrock.
Modern-day celebrations and themes continued to take shape during the rest of the 1700s. In 1762, the first New York City parade took place. It wasn’t until 1798, the year of the Irish Rebellion, that the color green became officially associated with the day, Casey says. Up until the rebellion, the color associated with St. Patrick was blue, as it was featured both in the royal court and on ancient Irish flags. But as the British wore red, the Irish chose to wear green, and they sang the song “The Wearing of the Green” during the rebellion, cementing the color’s relevance in Irish history.
As for the green beer, that’s an even later addition. In fact, it wasn’t until the late 20th century that Ireland repealed a law that initially kept everything—pubs included—shut down for the day. Since then, thanks to a marketing push from Budweiser in the 1980s, downing beer has become a common way to celebrate, regardless of how closely it’s tied to the actually meaning of St. Patrick himself.
http://time.com/4261456/st-patrick-day-2016-history-real-saint/?utm_content=buffer0a7b1&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
In a large part – the green – the parades and drums – were born out of Protestant control of the UK, America and the colonies. It was a gentle protest that united Catholic Christians which is why it took off so quickly in modern times. Like many other great ideas…corporate America figured out they could make money from the promotion and party aspect. cha-ching!
St. Patrick’s Day 2016: The Religious Backstory
Source: Huffington Post
St. Patrick’s Day is best known for parades, beer, and turning rivers green, but the holiday has a long history that’s more somber than its current incarnation.
Saint Patrick
St. Patrick was born around 387 C.E. in Scotland, and turned to God once he was kidnapped by slave traders and brought to Ireland to be a shepherd.
“The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same,” he wrote, according to Catholic Online. “I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain.”
He joined the priesthood after his escape at the age of twenty, and eventually became a bishop. Patrick was tasked with the mission of bringing Christianity to Ireland, where he was enormously successful in converting much of the mainly Druid and pagan population.
History
St. Patrick’s Day originated as a Roman Catholic holiday recognizing St. Patrick, and was brought to America by Irish immigrants as a way of affirming their identity. It’s since been adopted by Americans of all backgrounds.
Traditions
Some Catholics celebrate St. Patrick’s feast day by going to mass, while other observers of the holiday wear orange and green and eat cabbage and corned beef. St. Patrick’s Day parades are commonly held in many cities.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/st-patricks-day-2016_us_56e99e81e4b0b25c91842a6b?