It's St. Patrick's Day today, and as I like to keep the learning seasonal:
St. Patrick did not banish snakes from Ireland.
This didn't even really surprise me to be honest - maybe after three months of debunking, plus several hundred re-runs of QI, I'm becoming jaded. Anyway, St. Pat apparently couldn't have told the snakes to sling their collective hooks, as there were never any snakes in Ireland to begin with. One suggestion put forward is that this is instead a metaphor for the Druids, who packed up and took their serpentine symbol with them. I think this might be the definition of exaggeration - what began as the removal of a marginalised religion turned into the destruction of an entire species. What's odd is that nobody throughout the passing down of the legend seemed to connect with the fact that you don't get snakes in Ireland. Still, that's nostalgia for you.
We got an e-mail at work today with a picture of a leprachaun attached, holding the stereotypical pot o' gold. Underneath it said 'remember complaints are golden - keep hold of them!' A nice use of a significant, celebratory date to remind us all to do as we're told. I have a worrying suspicion that my employers are trying to treat personality in the same fashion that St. Patrick applied to snakes...
Update: Today isn't St. Patrick's Day. The week building up to the bun and egg fest that is Easter is known as Holy Week - if March 17 falls within Holy Week, St Patrick's Day is celebrating at an earlier date. In the Republic of Ireland it was celebrated on March 15, and most probably on March 16 as well (it's not a racist stereotype, I've got Irish ancestry... so it's cool)
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