Scientists have determined that snakes have never lived in Ireland. The snakes are symbolic of the pagan Druid gods that Patrick drove out of Ireland by converting the Irish to Catholicism.
Legend says that St. Patrick banished all the snakes from Ireland. However, scientist say that their is no fossil evidence that snakes ever occurred in that country.
Legend says that he drove the snakes from Ireland but scientist have not found any fossil evidence that snakes ever lived in that country. The story is an allegory and the snakes represent the pagan gods that Patrick banished when he converted the country to Christianity.
St Patrick drove all snakes out of Ireland.
The myth is that St. Patrick drove away the snakes in Ireland.
St. Patrick drove snakes from Ireland.. St Uhro.. the story began in Minnesota - drove grasshoppers from FINLAND. :D
According to the legends, St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland.
St. Patrick did not drive the saints out of Ireland because snakes have never lived in that country. The 'snakes' are symbolic for the pagan Druid gods that Patrick 'drove' out of Ireland by converting the people to Christianity
Patrick did not drive any animal to Ireland. There is a legend that Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. However, there never were any snakes in Ireland to drive out. Scientists can find no evidence that snakes have ever lived there as far back as the end of the last ice age - over 10,000 years ago. The term snake probably refers to the pagan gods of the Druids who lived in Ireland at the time of St. Patrick. He converted them to Catholocism so, in a sense, drove the pagan gods (snakes) out of Ireland.
No, that is simply a legend. Scientist can find no fossils or any other indication that snakes ever existed in Ireland. The term snakes is symbolic for the pagan Druid gods that Patrick "drove" out of Ireland by converting the people to Christianity.
Pious legend attributes St. Patrick as the one who banished the snakes from Ireland. There is actually a folksong about this called "St. Patrick was a Gentleman": "Saint Patrick was a gentleman, he came from decent people In Dublin town he built a church and on it put a steeple His father was a Callaghan, his mother was a Brady His auntie an O'Shaughnessy, his uncle an O'Grady "Then here's to bold St. Paddy's fist, he was a saint so clever He gave the snakes and toads a twist and banished them forever "There's not a mile in Eireann's isle where the dirty vermin musters Where'er he put his dear forefoot, he murdered them in clusters The toads went hop, the frogs went pop, slap dash into the water And beasts committed suicide to save themselves from slaughter "Then here's to bold St. Paddy's fist, he was a saint so clever He gave the snakes and toads a twist and banished them forever "The Wicklow hills are very high and so is the hill of Howth, sir And there's a hill much bigger still, much higher than them both, sir 'Twas on the top of this high hill Saint Patrick preached his sermons He drove the frogs into the bogs and banished all the vermins "Then here's to bold St. Paddy's fist, he was a saint so clever He gave the snakes and toads a twist and banished them forever "No wonder that those Irish lads should be so gay and frisky For sure Saint Pat, he taught them that, as well as making whiskey No wonder that the saint himself should understand distilling His mother kept a shebeen shop in the town of Enniskillen "Then here's to bold St. Paddy's fist, he was a saint so clever He gave the snakes and toads a twist and banished them forever Then here's to bold St. Paddy's fist, he was a saint so clever He gave the snakes and toads a twist and banished them forever!"
Patrick is most famous for something he did not do - drive the snakes from Ireland. Snakes have NEVER existed in that country. The snakes are, perhaps, symbolic for the pagan gods of the Druids that he drove out by converting the population to Christianity.
He converted the population to Christianity which drove the pagan gods out.