Green
Snowflakes: The Millennial’s Guide to being Irish
It has come
to my attention as a descendant of Irish royalty (on my O’Leary side) and as a
self-proclaimed IAP (Irish-American Princess) that all is not well in Irish
America.
Firstly, it
is the total loss of understanding of the message St. Patrick brought to the
Gaels in the 5th century, the reason why we have a day called St.
Patrick’s Day. Patrick died on March 17th in 461AD at the age of
121. This date became a celebration of the miraculous deliverance of the Irish
from paganism and the joy of being Irish once you stop banging your head
against a wall.
Patricius
was born in what is now England to a noble family but as luck would have it was
abducted by Irish marauders who took him and his friends back to Ireland where
he was enslaved for six years as a shepherd and swineherd. He longed for home
and did some serious prayer and repentance for his wayward youth as he gazed up
at the stars. Miraculously he was shown in a dream how to escape and make his
way back home where he became a monk. He wrote in his memoir that he had a
subsequent dream in which the Irish people begged him to return to free them
from idolatry.
He was
granted permission to go as a missionary with a small team and because of his
years of slavery he had an deep understanding of the people and knew just what it took to
reach a people steeped in magic who worshiped nature. They enshrined all of nature,
the sun, trees, rocks and even snakes which had become a plague. Patrick is credited
with ridding the Island of snakes as well as performing many other signs and
wonders.
Today the
story of St. Patrick’s nearly single-handed conversion of the Irish race is
treated as entertainment somewhat like the legend of Hercules or Darth Vader.
The worst of
it is that some are saying the holiday is really about celebrating the military
victory when Boston saw the last of the English on Evacuation Day which also
happened to fall upon March 17th in 1776. State employees now consider the day a rite of
spring to enjoy a paid holiday, drink heavily and wear green beads. They hold
parades that would put St. Patrick in high dudgeon were he here now.
It is a
difficult question W.W.P.D.? (What would Patrick Do?) Would he march in the
parade alongside the likes of Mayor Walsh and Governor Baker? They both refused
to march if the Outvets, a homosexual Veterans association, were not allowed to
march under their rainbow flag. It has been a brouhaha for years with court
cases, appeals and flip flops with the current outcome that sodomites can march
under their rainbow flag right along with a St. Patrick impersonator and our
young step dancing daughters who have already gotten used to the idea of pervs
in their bathroom and public accommodations thanks to Atty. Gen. Maura Healey…so
what’s the big deal... and If you don’t like it yer can lump it!
It’s a great
day for the Irish…but when you’ve sobered up - study up on the real St. Patrick
not the ‘pot of gold at the end of the rainbow’ (follow the money) version.
Chris Noonan
Funnell
March 17,
2017
Chris Funnell, Freelance writer, Commonwealth Covenant Keepers, Founder and Director