Irish Heritage Worth Celebrating But Not With A Catholic Slant

By James Donahue

Just from the name you know this family has a lot of Irish heritage in the bloodline. For this reason we enjoy the "green" effects of the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations which have been a traditional rite of spring for as long as I can remember.

The Irish songs, the jokes, the parades and green beer are all part of the celebration.

We detest, however, the fact that the day is marked as a day to patronize a Roman Catholic saint. The origins of the people of Ireland and that part of the world were not Catholic, nor even Christian. They were Celtic tribes, people of the Earth who understood the link between man, the gods and the Mother Earth.

Catholicism is a plague that invaded and distorted the minds of the masses not only in Ireland, but throughout much of the world. For the Irish it has been an abomination, the source of years of warfare and hatred among the people, and for all we care, the influence of the "church" needs to be swept away, never to be thought of again.

The Celts who settled the Irish landscape, also were sailors who explored the world. There is evidence in North America that they were here long before Columbus.

The Irish stories tell of the "wee people" of the forests, the lucky four-leaf clovers, that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and other grand stories that can only be understood by people with that third eye open. They are colorful stories that have enriched the lives of all who hear them.

This is probably why St. Patrick’s day is so well accepted by most people when the day occurs each spring.

It also has been a marker for me. It always seems that once St. Patrick’s Day has passed, winter begins to wane quickly and spring is just around the corner.