Creative Child March 2019 | Page 31

While it’s true that Ireland is snake-free today, there is no evidence that they were driven out by St. Patrick. It’s likely that snakes never made it to Ireland to begin with. As for shamrocks, there is no historical evidence that St. Patrick used the shamrock as a symbol to demonstrate Christianity, as lore suggests. While St. Patrick’s Day today is dripping in green, blue was the original color of the Order of St. Patrick. Early depictions of St. Patrick show him wearing blue, not green. Wearing green can be traced back to political revolutions in the 1600s or, interestingly, there are tales of Irish-Americans wearing green to “make them invisible to leprechauns” in the 1700s, but neither explanation has anything to do with St. Patrick. So, what’s the real story? St. Patrick is not Irish. He was born in Britain near the end of the fourth century, according to History.com. At the age of 16, Patrick was taken prisoner by Irish raiders, and he spent 6 years in captivity in Ireland. While captive, he turned to his religion for solace, as reported by History.com, and became a devout Christian. 30