Re: A Word About Those Snakes... Taliesin_2 Sun Mar 14 13:57:45 1999 Jenny wrote,*br*: St. Patrick's Day is approaching fast. And every year I *br*: have at least one person ask me, "How can you be a *br*: Witch and still celebrate St. Patrick's Day?!? It *br*: commemorates Christianity's destruction of Paganism! Those *br*: snakes that St. Patrick drove out of Ireland were really *br*: Druids/Witches/<insert the name of your favorite Pagan *br*: group>."*br*:*br*: So if these sort of concerns are what's holding you back *br*: from the green beer, let me re-assure you: the theory that *br*: St. Patrick's snakes were Pagans is a modern, unhistorical *br*: idea. The legend of St. Pat and the snakes isn't *br*: terrifically ancient, and it's NOT Irish.*br*:*br*: The snake eviction legend is actually a late and foreign *br*: addition to the Patrick myth. None of the early sources *br*: mention it. From at least the 3rd century (150 years before *br*: Patrick was born) Ireland has been famous for its *br*: "snake-less" shores. This was presented as an *br*: odd, but natural and non-miraculous aspect of the island. *br*: Modern people might point out that there are indeed some *br*: legless lizards and rare snakes on the island. However in *br*: the Middle Ages Ireland was commonly known as a snake-less *br*: land.*br*:*br*: We have a goodly number of early texts on Patrick's life *br*: (texts and letters written by Patrick himself, saints' lives *br*: dating back to the 7th century). None claim that Patrick *br*: drove the snakes from Ireland, nor do they associate snakes *br*: with Pagans or Pagan deities. In fact, since Ireland has *br*: few snakes, snakes don't play a prominent role in Irish *br*: mythology.*br*:*br*: The tale of Patrick and the snakes first appears in the 12th *br*: century, in saints lives written by Norman invaders. The *br*: Normans came from France where snakes were common. To them, *br*: Ireland's "snakeless-ness" was weird and needed *br*: explanation. The explanation the Normans chose was a French *br*: one. The French saint Honoratus supposedly drove the snakes *br*: from the isle of Lerins. The Normans imported this legend, *br*: and credited St. Patrick with performing the same miracle in *br*: Ireland. The connection was facilitated by the fact that *br*: Patrick had reputedly studied in Lerins for a time.*br*:*br*: In some of the earliest versions of this legend, Patrick *br*: drove out a number of unpleasant animals, not just snakes. *br*: For instance, the 12th century Norman author Gerald of Wales *br*: says: "Of all kinds of reptiles only those that are *br*: not harmful are found in Ireland. It has no poisonous *br*: reptiles. It has no serpents or snakes, toads or frogs, *br*: tortoises or scorpions. It has no dragons. It has, *br*: however, spiders, leeches and lizards -- but they are *br*: entirely harmless. Some indulge in the pleasant conjecture *br*: that St. Patrick and other saints of the land purged the *br*: island of all harmful animals. But it is more probable that *br*: from the earliest times, and long before the laying of the *br*: foundations of the Faith, the island was naturally without *br*: these as well as other things."*br*:*br*: I'm not sure when "Pat vs the snakes" became a *br*: popular legend, but it was at least a couple centuries *br*: *after* its creation. For instance, _The Golden Legend_ *br*: (the most popular medieval collection of saints' lives, *br*: written around 1260) makes no mention of this myth.*br*:*br*: I've never seen any historical evidence to support the idea *br*: that these snakes were "really" Pagans. Most *br*: advocates of this theory argue that snakes *br*: "always" represent the Goddess, therefore the *br*: eviction of the snakes must represent the triumph of *br*: patriarchal religion over matriarchal spirituality. However *br*: since a) snakes do not play a prominent role in Pagan Irish *br*: mythology; b) the legend didn't arise until long after *br*: Ireland converted to Christianity; and c) the legend is *br*: clearly based on a French tale imported in the High Middle *br*: Ages, this theory seems highly unlikely. It's more probable *br*: that this is simply an invader's attempt to explain why *br*: their new country was so unusual.*br*:*br*: So don't let it hold you back from the beer. <g>*br*:*br*: Jenny*p*Thank you for the interesting post. I found it very interesting. A Word About Those Snakes... Jenny 320 Sun Mar 14 11:32:50 1999