Happy St Patricks! And don't forget to wear Green today or Leprechauns will pinch you! Myths, legends, Irish luck and GREEN🍀

One more spin around the sun... and just a few days away from Ostara (Spring Equinox). Today, 17th of March is also is St Patrick's day ( Lá Fhéile Pádraig in Irish) as it was made Official Holiday in the XVII century and since it has become popular all around the world, whether you are religious or not because even if Christian in origin, it has become an excuse to celebrate green (after all Spring is almost here and all is turning green), gather with friends, cheers, listen to Celtic music and celebrate many of the Irish traditions (not only the stereotypes the most commercial celebrations of this date have come to be)

And so... GREEN!!

Above: Me in green with my Celtic Irish harp as Celtic Music has been a great influence in my own work.

Leaves are unfolding, flowers are blooming. All is signalling opportunity and time to regrow (wink!) and so for me it has become a celebration of GREEN through the years.
Meanwhile outside, the first leaves are starting to unfold... Pay attention... You don't want to miss this magical moment of "transformation" . Light returns and all comes to life. Days are longer... make the most of them!
I love the moment when the wintry bare forest starts to turn green. Now it's time to grow.

A little bit of Irish luck! I say, BUILD YOUR OWN LUCK!

By the way, I've never found a "four leaf clover" myself... wish me a little bit of "LUCK" to find one. I have yet to find a bit of that "Irish luck" but I also firmly believe we can work on it ourselves.

It's also said that Saint Patrick used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to Irish pagans. In fact in Irish lore, it won't be God but St. Patrick who will judge the Irish in the Last Judgement.
Then why we get lucky if we find a four-leaf clover (wink) As I say I'm not religious but I enjoy enormously the folklore and how it even mingles with the previous pre-Christian traditions.

As always there is some darkness to it too

Legend says that St. Patrick was victorious against the snakes, still there have not been snakes in Ireland since the last Ice Age. So once more it was a reference to the elimination of Druidism and the old faith deities including a cult called "Crom Cruach" a pre-Christian deity represented by a golden stone figure. This stone idol has been identified as the Killycluggin Stone found in 1921, surrounded by 12 stones (allegedly the zodiacal constellations), a kind of solar deity to which human sacrifice (including children) was offered and that was finished by St. Patricks. But were all old pagan and pre-Christian traditions evil and bad? Of course not, there are always two sides of a story but yes Crom-Cruach cult was indeed something dark that was put to an end. Legend says St. Patrick destroyed the stone idol by beating it with his crozier, breaking it apart and banishing the demon inhabiting it to hell.

Wearing green

Still in Ireland In Ireland, green was so much the fairy colour it was believed unlucky for humans to wear it... And now all the contrary it's said that if you don't wear it the Leprechauns will pinch you. the original superstition was that green made one invisible to leprechauns and thus they could not pinch you.

In fact they have the Leprechauns have become an icon far beyond St Patrick itself and back to pagan reference, in Irish folklore Leprechauns are known as type of mischievous Fae in the shape of a small man wearing a cocked hat. Solitary by nature, they inhabit remote places, and make shoes and hide treasures at the end of the rainbow (that you may actually find if you see the first daffodils blooming from Winter to Spring)

Above: me in green, I may have not found a four leaf clover but plenty of daffodils at least :) so hope I got my share of Irish luck

Even treats are green in St Patricks' Soda bread is a famous Irish recipe, and a green variant is made today, the secret ingredient is not fairy dust but spinach! :)

17th March. Saint Patrick's Day

As I've done on this very date the last few years I want to wish you St Patrick's Held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (c. 385 – c. 461), patron saint of Ireland (cradle of so many fairy myths and legends) and we all know today is a day to rejoice Celtic music (which I play) and wear green (which I already do most of the time). No, it's not only to get drunk and listen to Celtic music though cheers cheers this virtual cider is on me! :) (pd. if you celebrate today be responsible)

So today is all about green... My absolute favourite colour

So Kermit the Frog (from the Muppets) once said It's not easy being green. Today might be the easiest day to be, because it is told Leprechauns will pinch on you if you do not wear it. And also as Kermit said... green is the colour I want to be.
For me it represents my "Mother Nature" which I like to worship because we only have but one home planet.

I love wearing green and usually wear it the whole year to the point some of my friends and neighbours make jokes about it as if I were some kind of pixie. I love green so much that I classify my clothing in my wardrobe by "shades of green"... mossy green, forest green... It's a green that shifts through the seasons, endures like moss on the bark and stones during winter, unfold into green canopies in Spring and Summer. A green that becomes vibrant in Spring and muted in Winter but will endure seasons with resiliency.

Do they die? Blake saw a fairy’s funeral; but in Ireland we say they are immortal (Irish Poet W.B. Yeats refering to the Fae)

That was the core and idea of my song "Grow" I've shared before... when the time is right... seize your chance to rise up into the light.

Is it still bare and you need to envision yourself in the greenery now...?

Enjoy this walk with me...
This is a "Forest Incantation" followed by a little guided meditation with nature sounds so I can share a little bit of my woods with you...
Forest heals
Forest calls
Forest heals
Forest knows you're home

Here a picture I took in the woods that look like a pixie or Leprechaun in disguise. Pareidolia is a term we use when something inanimate looks like a face.

Pd. I'm neither Christian nor Pagan, just an enthusiastic of folklore... and of course green, because it's the colour of Mother Nature, a Mother that cradles as all and make us all brothers and sisters.

Happy St. Patrick's!

Love, Pris

Priscilla Hernandez
singer-songwriter & illustrator
http://yidneth.com