Think you know about St. Patrick? Guess again

Ah, St. Patrick, we hardly knew ye.

And what we did know was wrong.

Indeed, most of what will go down as St. Patrick's Day celebrating today has as little to do with the patron saint of Ireland as it does with the country itself.

“I would say 95 percent is American, depending on how you define the celebration,” said Edward T. O'Donnell, associate professor of history at Holy Cross College in Massachusetts.

Well, if the definition involves a morning Mass, a sprig of green in the lapel, and a well-deserved break from the Lenten fast, then sláinte to you.

But if the festivities include parades, plastic leprechaun hats, unhealthy amounts of beer and Clancy Brothers sing-a-longs, there's probably as much red, white and blue running through your celebration as there is green.

The myths — and reality that surround the saint:

Myth: St. Patrick was Irish

Reality: He was born in what is now Great Britain. He was kidnapped by Irish raiders as a teenager and dragged to Ireland as a slave. He escaped and returned to Britain, where he was educated. He returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary in the middle of the fifth century.

Myth: St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland.

Reality: Christians were already on the island living among believers of native Celtic faiths. But he was famously successful at converting the Irish. He was known for incorporating Christian elements into pagan celebrations and is considered the leader of a bloodless conversion of a people.

Myth: St. Patrick drove Ireland's snakes into the sea.

Reality: Ireland has probably never had snakes. The reason has little to do with religion and more to do with an ice age that made the place too cold for snakes and the surrounding seas that made it impossible for them to colonize the country.

Myth: St. Patrick died March 17, 461

Reality: Maybe. “That is the most common date that you will see,” said Irish studies professor Aoife Nm Ghloinn. “I would be careful of using very specific dates. They can all be disputed.”

Myth: St. Patrick's Day festivities were imported to the United States from Ireland by immigrants.

Reality: “The big flashy parades and the costumes and the dancing and all that stuff really developed in the United States,” Nm Ghloinn said. “The green beer certainly.” In Ireland, St. Patrick's Day was marked since the seventh century as a holy day. Until recent decades, pubs were closed. Recently, the observance has become festive with a week of celebration in Dublin.

Myth: The St. Patrick's Day parade comes from Ireland.

Reality: Some say the first official parade was in New York City when Irish troops in the British Army marched on St. Patrick's Day in 1762. Some think the first parade was in Boston in the 1730s.

Myth: Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional Irish meal.

Reality: It's an American adaptation of ham and cabbage that was served in Ireland. Both meals were served with potatoes. (Find an easy recipe on page 5E.)

Sources: Aoife Nm Ghloinn, a visiting scholar and Irish studies professor at the University of St. Thomas; Edward T. O'Donnell, associate professor of history at Holy Cross College; Lori Meghan Gallagher, director of the University of St. Thomas' Center for Irish Studies; Elizabeth Stack, executive assistant at Fordham University's Institute of Irish Studies and doctoral student in Irish-American studies.

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