Editing Shamrock (section)

==Link to St. Patrick ==
[[File:Kilbennan St. Benin's Church Window St. Patrick Detail 2010 09 16.jpg|thumb|St. Patrick depicted with shamrock in detail of stained glass window in St. Benin's Church, Kilbennan, County Galway, Ireland]]

Traditionally, shamrock is said to have been used by [[Saint Patrick]] to illustrate the Christian doctrine of the [[Holy Trinity]] when [[Christianization|Christianising]] Ireland in the 5th century. The first evidence of a link between St Patrick and the shamrock appears in 1675 on the St Patrick's Coppers or Halpennies. These appear to show a figure of St Patrick preaching to a crowd while holding a shamrock,<ref name="nd">{{cite web|url=http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/StPat.intro.html|title=Newbie's St. Patrick Coppers – Introduction|publisher=coins.nd.edu|access-date=4 July 2014|archive-date=26 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626121629/http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/StPat.intro.html|url-status=live}}</ref> presumably to explain the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.<ref name="Monaghan2009"/> When Saint Patrick arrived in Ireland in 431, he used the shamrock to teach pagans the Holy Trinity. In pagan Ireland, three was a significant number and the Irish had many [[triple deity|triple deities]], which could have aided St Patrick in his [[evangelism|evangelisation]] efforts.<ref name="Monaghan2009">{{cite book |last=Monaghan |first=Patricia |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopedia-of-celtic-mythology-and-folklore-by-monaghan-patricia/page/415/mode/2up?q=sorrel |title=The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore |date=1 January 2009 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-0-8160-4524-2 |page=416 |quote=There is no evidence that the clover or wood sorrel (both of which are called shamrocks) were sacred to the Celts in any way. However, the Celts had a philosophical and cosmological vision of triplicity, with many of their divinities appearing in three. Thus when St. Patrick, attempting to convert the Druids on Beltane, held up a shamrock and discoursed on the Christian Trinity, the three-in-one god, he was doing more than finding a homely symbol for a complex religious concept. He was indicating knowledge of the significance of three in the Celtic realm, a knowledge that probably made his mission far easier and more successful than if he had been unaware of that number's meaning.}}</ref><ref name="Hegarty2012">{{cite book |last=Hegarty |first=Neil |title=Story of Ireland |date=24 April 2012|publisher=Ebury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4481-4039-8 |quote=In some ways, though, the Christian mission resonated: pre-Christian devotion was characterized by, for example, the worship of gods in groups of three, by sayings collected in threes (triads), and so on – from all of which the concept of the Holy Trinity was not so very far removed. Against this backdrop the myth of Patrick and his three-leafed shamrock fits quite neatly.}}</ref> [[Patricia Monaghan]] states that "There is no evidence that the clover or wood sorrel (both of which are called shamrocks) were sacred to the Celts". However, [[Jack Santino]] speculates that "The shamrock was probably associated with the earth and assumed by the druids to be symbolic of the regenerative powers of nature ... Nevertheless, the shamrock, whatever its history as a folk symbol, today has its meaning in a Christian context. Pictures of Saint Patrick depict him driving the snakes out of Ireland with a [[Christian cross|cross]] in one hand and a sprig of shamrocks in the other."<ref name="Santino1995">{{cite book |last=Santino |first=Jack |title=All Around the Year: Holidays and Celebrations in American Life |year=1995 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-06516-3 |page=80 |url=https://archive.org/details/allaroundyear00jack/page/80 }}</ref> Roger Homan writes, "We can perhaps see St Patrick drawing upon the visual concept of the ''[[Triple spiral|triskele]]'' when he uses the shamrock to explain the Trinity".<ref>{{cite book |last=Homan |first=Roger |title=The Art of the Sublime: Principles of Christian Art and Architecture |year=2006 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |page=37 }}</ref> Why the Celts to whom St Patrick was preaching would have needed an explanation of the concept of a triple deity is not clear, since at least two separate [[Triple deity|triple goddesses]] are known to have been worshipped in pagan Ireland – [[Ériu]], [[Fódla]] and [[Banba]]; and [[Badb|Badb Catha]], [[Macha]] and [[The Morrígan]].

The first written mention of the link does not appear until 1681, in the account of Thomas Dineley, an English traveller to Ireland. Dineley writes:<blockquote>The 17th day of March yeerly is St Patricks, an immoveable feast, when ye Irish of all stations and condicions were crosses in their hatts, some of pinns, some of green ribbon, and the vulgar superstitiously wear shamroges, 3 leav'd grass, which they likewise eat (they say) to cause a sweet breath.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dineley |first=Thomas |date=1857 |title=Extracts from the journal of Thomas Dineley, esq, giving account of his visit to Ireland in the reign of Charles II |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_FE4OAQAAMAAJ/page/182 |journal=The Journal of the Kilkenny and South-east of Ireland Archaeological Society |page=183}}</ref></blockquote>There is nothing in Dineley's account of the legend of St. Patrick using the shamrock to teach the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and this story does not appear in writing anywhere until a 1726 work by the botanist [[Caleb Threlkeld]].<ref name=":0" /> Threlkeld identifies the shamrock as White Field Clover (''Trifolium pratense album'' ) and comments rather acerbically on St. Patrick's Day customs including the wearing of shamrocks:<blockquote>This plant is worn by the people in their hats upon the 17. Day of March yearly, (which is called St. Patrick's Day.) It being a current tradition, that by this Three Leafed Grass, he emblematically set forth to them the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. However that be, when they wet their Seamar-oge, they often commit excess in liquor, which is not a right keeping of a day to the Lord; error generally leading to debauchery.</blockquote>The Rev Threlkeld's remarks on liquor undoubtedly refer to the custom of toasting St. Patrick's memory with "St. Patrick's Pot", or "drowning the shamrock" as it is otherwise known. After mass on St. Patrick's Day the traditional custom of the menfolk was to lift the usual fasting restrictions of [[Lent]] and repair to the nearest tavern to mark the occasion with as many St. Patrick's Pots as they deemed necessary. The drowning of the shamrock was accompanied by a certain amount of ritual as one account explains:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fitzgerald |first=Walter |date=1908 |title=Customs peculiar to certain days, formerly observed in county Kildare |url=https://archive.org/details/journalofcountyk05coun/page/443/mode/2up |journal=Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society |page=443}}</ref><ref>Danaher, Kevin, ''The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs'', (1972), Dublin, pp 64–5</ref>

[[File:Irish Defence Forces UN Beret with Shamrock (13215113795) (2).jpg|thumb|Shamrock on an Irish Defence Forces UN beret being worn on Saint Patrick's Day]]

<blockquote>"The drowning of the shamrock" by no means implies it was necessary to get drunk in doing so. At the end of the day the shamrock which has been worn in the coat or the hat is removed and put into the final glass of grog or tumbler of punch; and when the health has been drunk or the toast honoured, the shamrock should be picked out from the bottom of the glass and thrown over the left shoulder.</blockquote>The shamrock is still chiefly associated with [[Saint Patrick's Day]], which has become the Irish national holiday, and is observed with parades and celebrations worldwide. The custom of wearing shamrock on the day is still observed and depictions of shamrocks are habitually seen during the celebrations.