St. Paddy's

Last night was the big green cabbage, and boy is my seratonin tired. We attempted to find accomodations at O'mara's Irish pub in Berkley to see the authentic Irish folk band, Blackthorn. I guess a Shilieghliegh is made from black thorns. Now, if only somebody could tell me what a Shilieghliegh is, and how it's spelled. The place was too full of drunken Irish, and people impersonating drunken Irish to stay.

So, if your hangover is serving you well, perhaps you'd like to know what it is you were celebrating yesterday.

St. Patrick lived in the 5th century, and was actually from Roman Britain, not Ireland. He spent six years in Ireland as a slave before escaping back to Britain and becoming a bishop. He claimed to have a vision in which he was instructed to return and convert the Irish. Legend has it that he drove all the snakes from the land of lucky charms, but that's not possible. There weren't any snakes in Ireland at the time. There were, however, druids who had snake charms and coins. Maybe he drove out all the white bearded heathen swine.

T.F. O'Rahilly makes a pretty compelling argument that St. Patrick as we know him is actually a combination of two people: Patrick, and Palladius of Gaul. From retracing historical documents with St. Patrick mythology, O'Rahilly has noted that many things attributed to St. Patrick were actually done by Palladius.

Well, ponder that next time you're face-deep into a green beer.

Ian