Issues with St. Patrick

Today is St. Patrick's Day and while the real story of St. Patrick is not well known by most, it has become a day to be proud of being Irish. While there's nothing wrong with validating one's ancestry, I would argue that Irish Independence Day, December 6th is more appropriate to celebrate being Irish. I have read about St. Patrick and offer this for reflection from a Druid perspective: (https://www.celticdruidtemple.com/thetruestoryofstpatrick.html)

I have not read anything at this point about why this particular day became so popular in the US. In the real St. Patrick's life story, March 17th is his death day. I wonder if St. Patrick is becoming more like Santa Claus, who also has an echo to a real person in the past. Many of the images associated with St. Patrick's Day are easy to see a pagan symbols: the clover, the pot of gold, rainbows. But the typical image of the Leprechaun we see at this time of year is not one I think is appropriate as it's too reminiscent of negative representations of the Irish in the past.

Symbols are powerful things. They work on us in unconscious ways and we need to be purposeful in how we use them. Carol Christ in her essay, Why Women Need the Goddess states: " Symbols have both psychological and political effects, because they create the inner conditions (deep seated attitudes and feelings) that lead people to feel comfortable with or to accept social and political arrangements that correspond to the symbol system."

Apparently, St. Patrick may have been a pagan in his youth and then converted to Christianity when he was enslaved by the Irish. However, I do not think he is worthy of support by pagans, but that is my opinion. Celebrating Irish heritage is, of course, wonderful and there are many books and sources about how the Irish have contributed to our US culture. Additionally, remembering that many Irish came to the US literally starving and still were able to establish themselves here is astonishing as are many immigrant stories. We could use this day to show our support for all immigrants who come to this country seeking something better or hoping to survive