Did St. Patrick Really Drive Snakes Out of Ireland? Did St. Patrick Really Drive Snakes Out of Ireland? It's the stuff of legend: The reptiles never existed on the Emerald Isle. View Images According to tradition, St. Patrick chased Ireland's snakes into the sea. PHOTOGRAPH BY CORBIS St. Patrick's Day, which is celebrated worldwide on March 17, honors St. Patrick, the Christian missionary who supposedly rid Ireland of snakes during the fifth century A.D. Related Content Watch Superdeadly Snake Swallow Another Snake Whole According to legend, the patron saint of Ireland chased the slithering reptiles into the sea after they began attacking him during a 40-day fast he undertook on top of a hill. (Related: "St. Patrick's Day: Facts, Myths, and Traditions .") It's admittedly an unlikely tale. Ireland is one of only a handful of places worldwide—including New Zealand, Iceland, Greenland, and Antarctica—that Indiana Jones and other snake-averse humans can visit without fear. But snakes were certainly not chased out of Ireland by St.

Patrick, who had nothing to do with Ireland's snake-free status, Nigel Monaghan , keeper of natural history at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, told National Geographic. Monaghan, who has trawled through vast collections of fossil and other records of Irish animals, has found no evidence of snakes ever existing in Ireland. "At no time has there ever been any suggestion of snakes in Ireland. [There was] nothing for St. Patrick to banish," Monaghan said. ( Read about the top ten St. Patrick's Day celebrations .) So what did happen? Snakes likely couldn't reach Ireland. Most scientists point to the most recent Ice Age, which kept the island too cold for reptiles until it ended 10,000 years ago. After the Ice Age, surrounding seas may have kept snakes from colonizing the Emerald Isle. No Leg to Stand On Once the ice caps and woolly mammoths retreated northward, snakes returned to northern and western Europe, spreading as far as the Arctic Circle. But snakes have not existed in Ireland for thousands of years.

Britain, which had a land bridge to mainland Europe until about 6,500 years ago, was colonized by three snake species: the venomous adder, the grass snake, and the smooth snake. But Ireland's land link to Britain was cut some 2,000 years earlier by seas swollen by the melting glaciers, Monaghan noted. Animals that reached Ireland before the sea became an impassable barrier included brown bears , wild boars, and lynx —but "snakes never made it," he said. "Snake populations are slow to colonize new areas," Monaghan added. Mark Ryan , director of the Louisiana Poison Center at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, said in 2008 that the timing wasn't right for the sensitive, cold-blooded reptiles to expand their range. "There are no snakes in Ireland for the simple reason they couldn't get there because the climate wasn't favorable for them to be there," he said. Other reptiles didn't make it either, except for one: the common or viviparous lizard. Ireland's only native reptile, the species must have arrived within the last 10,000 years, according to Monaghan.

Pagans: The Metaphorical Snakes So unless St. Patrick couldn't tell a snake from a lizard, where does the legend come from? Scholars suggest the tale is allegorical. Serpents are symbols of evil in the Judeo-Christian tradition—the Bible, for example, portrays a snake as the hissing agent of Adam and Eve's fall from grace. (How much do you know about St. Patrick's Day? Take our quiz .) The animals were also linked to heathen practices—so St. Patrick's dramatic act of snake eradication can be seen as a metaphor for his Christianizing influence. "Fake" Snake Anyone in Ireland looking for serpents to exile would probably have to settle for the slow worm, a non-native species of legless lizard that is often mistaken for a small snake. (Also see " Blind, Legless Lizard Discovered—New Species .") First recorded in the early 1970s, the species is thought to have been deliberately introduced in western Ireland in the 1960s, according to Ireland's National Parks and Wildlife Service. However, the reptile doesn't appear to have spread beyond a wildlife-rich limestone region in County Clare known as the Burren.

Snakes on an Irish Plain? In the future, genuine Irish snakes are a possibility, Monaghan said. Pet snakes deliberately released by their owners would be the most likely source, though they wouldn't be welcome. "No alien species is without risk to well-established fauna," Monaghan explained. "The isolated nature of an island population makes Ireland highly vulnerable to any introduction, no matter how well-meaning or misguided." Henry Kacprzyk, curator of reptiles at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPQ Aquarium , said in 2008 that Ireland's indigenous wildlife would not be prepared for snake introductions. ( See National Geographic's Ireland pictures .) What did St. Patrick have against snakes? | MNN - Mother Nature Network MNN.com > Earth Matters > Animals What did St. Patrick have against snakes? Legend suggests St. Patrick banished all snakes from Ireland, but that's not very saintly. Here's a look at the real history of St. Patrick's Day and snakes. 30 St. Patrick gets credit for ridding Ireland of snakes and toads, but the facts don't necessarily match the stories. (Photo: vladeb /flickr) St.

Patrick's Day honors a 5th-century saint who not only spread Christianity in Ireland, but also supposedly ridded the island of snakes by herding them out to sea. As a popular Irish folk song puts it, "Success to bold St. Patty's fist / he was a saint so clever / He gave the snakes and toads a twist / and banished them forever." Is that true? Did St. Patrick really banish all snakes (and toads) from Ireland? Not exactly. Ireland didn't have snakes in the first place, due to its geographic location and glacial history. When snakes first evolved 100 million years ago — slithering around the ancient supercontinent of Gondwanaland — Ireland was still underwater. As continents drifted and sea levels changed, Ireland eventually rose up from the Atlantic, and was even briefly linked to Britain and mainland Europe by land bridges. But as the Smithsonian Institution explains, "any snake that may have slithered its way to Ireland would have turned into a popsicle when the ice ages hit." Perennially frozen ground is unkind to cold-blooded animals, so Ireland stayed snake-free until it finally thawed about 15,000 years ago.

And while snakes could have invaded after that, there was still one problem: the ocean. Thanks to 12 miles of chilly seawater separating it from Britain, Ireland is now one of just five major landmasses on Earth with no native snakes, joining Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland and New Zealand. As for toads, Ireland still has one species, the natterjack , that apparently arrived within the last few millennia and survived St. Patrick. But if Ireland never had snakes, and still has toads, how did St. Patrick get credit for expunging both? His other claim to fame is converting Irish pagans to Christianity, a religion that literally demonizes snakes. And according to the Straight Dope , snake symbols were associated with some Celtic goddesses as well as the Irish cult of Crom Cruaich, which involved human sacrifices to a serpent deity. St. Patrick therefore didn't chase away real snakes; he chased away symbolic ones. This became muddled over the centuries, though, giving rise to the popular image of St. Patrick the snake slayer. (The toad part could just be a mistranslation — "paud" meant toad in the old Norse language, so Vikings may have assumed "St.

Paud-rig" was famed for eradicating toads.) And that's a shame, since there's no evidence St. Patrick held any animosity toward reptiles (or amphibians). So in light of all the serpentine confusion St. Patrick's Day can generate, here are five important facts to remember about snakes: 1. Snakes regulate rodents Snakes are highly efficient predators, and eat many animals that people consider pests. Perhaps the best examples are mice and rats, which have a long history of infesting our buildings and stealing our food. A worker at a Florida dog kennel learned this the hard way, as detailed in the following report by a state biologist: "A dog kennel worker took it upon himself to eliminate all of the snakes at his place of work. Once the rat snakes had been killed, the roof rat population exploded. It took two years, hundreds of people-hours, and thousands of dollars to get control of the rats and repair the structural damage the rats had caused. This does not include the hundreds of pounds of dog food the rats ate and contaminated. The economic cost of removing the rats' natural predators was obvious." This extends beyond dog kennels, of course.

Snakes suppress rodents in all kinds of environments, from industrial grain silos to backyard vegetable gardens. Many home gardeners encourage snakes as a kind of natural pesticide, and biologists in some parts of the world now release rat snakes to help farmers protect their harvests. Snakes' pest-control services aren't limited to mice and rats, either. Populations of insects, slugs, leeches, fish, frogs, birds and lizards can all be subject to snake management, often with snakes eating adults as well as eggs and infants. Some snake species could have even helped out St. Patrick — the hognose snake and rubber boa, for example, are known to eat toads and other snakes, respectively. 2. Snakes help control disease By regulating rodent populations, snakes also benefit people by keeping infectious diseases in check. As the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention point out, rodents (and their insect parasites) are infamous for spreading illnesses that can infect humans , including bubonic plague, hantavirus, hemorrhagic fever, leptospirosis, rat-bite fever, salmonellosis, South American arenavirus and tularemia. 3.

Snakes indicate ecosystem health Snakes are an upper-level predator in many ecosystems, often serving as a keystone species that, as the Nature Knowledge Project defines it, "exerts top-down influence on lower trophic levels and prevents species at lower trophic levels from monopolizing critical resources, such as competition for space or key producer food sources." The presence of keystone predators is typically a good sign for an ecosystem, implying an abundant — but regulated — food supply toward the base of the food web. 4. Snakes are inherently scary Most snakes aren't venomous, and those that are mainly use venom to subdue prey, not for self-defense. Still, a bite from some species can maim or kill people, so it's worth knowing which snakes live in your area. And being scared of snakes shouldn't be embarrassing — a recent study found humans' fear of snakes may be genetic . Sometimes a natural fear can become an unhealthy fixation, though, which some animal-rights advocates say applies to the U.S. tradition of rattlesnake roundups .

Parodied as " Whacking Day " in a 1993 episode of "The Simpsons," mass snake hunts are still practiced in a handful of states, including the premiere Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup in central Texas, reportedly the world's largest. While supporters of rattlesnake roundups say they're harmless, environmental groups argue they're partly responsible for declining populations of Eastern diamondback rattlers. 5. Snakes aren't good tourists Snakes may benefit their native ecosystems, but they often have the opposite effect when traveling. Invasive snakes have been especially harmful after hitchhiking on ships to small islands, devastating already-tiny populations of native birds in places like Guam and Hawaii. Pet snakes are another threat — a variety of pythons are now annihilating native wildlife in the Florida Everglades, for example, many of them exotic pets that escaped during Hurricane Andrew in 1992. But in the spirit of St. Patrick, wildlife authorities around the world are working to rid their local habitats of alien snakes and other invaders. One campaign in Australia even shares St. Patrick's reputed distaste for toads — cane toads, specifically, an invasive and poisonous species that kills native animals.

The annual Toad Day Out is held March 29 in an effort to eradicate cane toads from Queensland. For more about St. Patrick and snakes, check out this Irish folk song, "St. Patrick Was a Gentleman," and the related links below: Snakeless in Ireland: Blame Ice Age, Not St. Patrick Snakeless in Ireland: Blame Ice Age, Not St. Patrick << Back to Page 1 Page 2 of 2 Britain, which had a land bridge to mainland Europe until about 6,500 years ago, was colonized by three snake species: the venomous adder, the grass snake, and the smooth snake. But Ireland's land link to Britain was cut some 2,000 years earlier by seas swollen by the melting glaciers, Monaghan noted. Animals that reached Ireland before the sea became an impassible barrier included brown bears , wild boars, and lynxes —but "snakes never made it," he said. "Snake populations are slow to colonize new areas," Monaghan added.

Mark Ryan, director of the Louisiana Poison Center at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, agreed that the timing wasn't right for the sensitive, cold-blooded reptiles to expand their range. "There are no snakes in Ireland for the simple reason they couldn't get there because the climate wasn't favorable for them to be there," he said. Other reptiles didn't make it either, except for one: the common or viviparous lizard. Ireland's only native reptile, the species must have arrived within the last 10,000 years, according to Monaghan. So unless St. Patrick couldn't tell a snake from a lizard, where does the legend come from? Scholars suggest the tale is allegorical. Serpents are symbols of evil in Judeo-Christian beliefs—the Bible, for example, portrays a snake as the hissing agent of Adam and Eve's fall from grace. The animals were also linked to heathen practices—so St. Patrick's dramatic act of snake eradication can be seen as a metaphor for his Christianizing influence.

(Related news: "Fear of Snakes, Spiders Rooted in Evolution, Study Finds" [October 4, 2001].) "Fake" Snake Anyone in Ireland looking for serpents to exile would probably have to settle for the slow worm, a non-native species of legless lizard that is often mistaken for a small snake. First recorded in the early 1970s, the species is thought to have been deliberately introduced in western Ireland in the 1960s, according to Ireland's National Parks and Wildlife Service. However the reptile doesn't appear to have spread beyond a wildlife-rich limestone region in County Clare known as the Burren. Snakes on an Irish Plain? In the future, genuine Irish snakes are a possibility, Monaghan said. Pet snakes deliberately released by their owners would be the most likely source, though they wouldn't be welcome. "No alien species is without risk to well-established fauna," Monaghan explained.

"The isolated nature of an island population makes Ireland highly vulnerable to any introduction, no matter how well-meaning or misguided." Henry Kacprzyk, curator of reptiles at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPQ Aquarium, said that Ireland's indigenous wildlife would not be prepared for snake introductions. Invasive snakes such as the brown tree snake have already wreaked havoc in Guam and other island ecosystems, he added. Nor would getting rid of any such unwanted creatures be as easy as St. Patrick made it look. "I don't want to completely burst the celebratory myth of St. Patrick," Kacprzyk said. "I want to keep some of it alive." Free Email News Updates On St. Patrick's Day, here's the real reason Ireland has no snakes - CSMonitor.com On St. Patrick's Day, here's the real reason Ireland has no snakes Latest News A Google Doodle Tuesday celebrates St. Patrick's Day 2015. Google View Caption of Tuesday marks St. Patrick's Day, named after the 5th-century missionary who was famous for banishing all of the snakes from Ireland .

With staff in hand, the Christian preacher cast the slithering critters into the sea, never to return – at least that's the story. The Emerald Isle is indeed one of very few places in the world without snakes, not counting the few serpents kept in zoos or as pets. But can an ancient saint really take credit for Ireland's curious lack of snakes? The National Museum of Ireland in Dublin has combed through the country's fossil records. As far as its researchers can tell, there's no evidence that snakes ever lived in Ireland. In other words, St. Patrick couldn't have banished many snakes, because there weren't any native snakes to begin with. Photos of the Day Photos of the day 01/19 Long before St. Patrick, an ice age gripped Europe . At the time, Ireland was too cold for reptiles. Yet, as the ice thawed, some animals migrated from continental Europe over a land bridge to Britain and then west to Ireland. Boars, brown bears, and lynxes arrived in Ireland around this time. Snakes, however, moved north much more slowly.

Three species slithered into Britain – the adder, the grass snake, and the smooth snake – but they arrived too late to reach Ireland. Around 8,500 years ago, melting glaciers caused ocean levels to rise, cutting off the Emerald Isle. Some animals could still swim over, but scientists have never found a snake species that could migrate across open ocean. (For this reason, several other large islands don't have snakes either, including Greenland, Iceland, and New Zealand.) The rising waters kept away more than just snakes. In fact, Ireland has only one species of native reptile, the viviparous lizard. If Ireland never had snakes, why make such a big deal about St. Patrick? Many think the snake legend is symbolic. Several pagan religions in and around Ireland used serpent imagery. So when stories say that St. Patrick cast out the snakes, they actually mean that Christians cast out the pagans. Snakes have become a favorite pet among rich Irish, who enjoyed defying the legend by importing high-end species, according to a The New York Times report from 2013. But as Ireland's economy turned several years ago, some snake owners couldn't afford their scaled pets. Many snakes were set loose.

"A California king snake was found [in 2012] in a vacant store in Dublin," reports the Times, "a 15-foot python turned up in a garden in Mullingar, a corn snake was found in a trash bin in Clondalkin in South Dublin, and an aggressive rat snake was kept in a shed in County Meath." Perhaps Ireland could use a modern-day St. Patrick, one who could make the legend a reality. Next up Get the Monitor stories you care about delivered to your inbox. Daily The legend of Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland The legend of Saint Patrick Thanks to St Patrick there are no snakes in Ireland. Home → St Patrick → The Legend of Saint Patrick Vintage stamp: St Patrick treading on snakes The legend of Saint Patrick has evolved during the 1500-odd years since the missionary brought Christianity to Ireland. Much embellished in the telling, his story has become a mixture of truth, myth and allegory. There's an overview of the saint's life on the History of St Patrick page, but read on below for some of the myths about his mission in Ireland.

The Shamrock Perhaps the best-known legend of Saint Patrick involves the shamrock, the little plant that has gone on to become famous throughout the world as a symbol of Irish heritage. After training as a priest and bishop, Patrick arrived in Ireland in 432AD and immediately set about trying to covert the pagan Celts who inhabited the island. Having previously lived and worked there, he was very probably already aware that the number three held special significance in Celtic tradition (and, indeed, in many pagan beliefs), and he applied this knowledge in a clever way. He used the shamrock, a three-leaved clover which grows all over the island, to explain the Christian concept of the Holy Trinity ie the theory that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are each separate elements of just one entity. St Patrick's Breastplate In a poem attributed to St Patrick, which is known as The Deer's Cry or St Patrick's Breastplate, a story is told of how the saint used a power called féth fíada to transform himself and his companion into wild deer so that they could escape ambush while on their way to preach at the Hill of Tara.

This royal hill in the Boyne Valley was the ancient capital of Ireland and, to the Druids, the sacred dwelling place of their gods. Awaiting their arrival, and with every intention of attacking or imprisoning the two Christians, their Celtic adversaries saw only a deer with a fawn roaming across the fields. As a result of this power, the missionairies successfully reached the Hill without incident. The magic fire The Celtic feast of Beltaine (feast of the fires) was a major festival to celebrate the beginning of summer and triumph over the dark powers. Traditionally, a fire would be lit by Ireland's High King on the top of the Hill of Tara, and his fire would then be used to light all other fires. So, when St Patrick lit a fire in advance of High King Laoghaire, he was deliberately inviting attention from the pagan chiefs. The druid elders were sent by Laoghaire to investigate and they reported back that Patrick's fire had magical powers because they could not put it out. They warned that if the king did not extinguish Patrick's fire, it would burn forever. King Laoghaire was unable to extinguish the saint's fire and accepted that Patrick's 'magic' was stronger than his.

Although he did not choose to convert to Christianity himself, the king endorsed Patrick's mission to convert the Irish. The Celtic Cross This legend of Saint Patrick is set on a day when the missionary was preaching close to a pagan standing stone. The latter would have been considered sacred to some of his audience of potential converts because it was already carved with a circle. This mark would have been familiar to all pagans as a symbol of the sun or moon gods. St Patrick is credited with drawing a Christian (or Latin) cross through the circle, and blessing the stone. In this way, it is said, he created the first Irish Celtic Cross and showed himself willing to adapt heathen practices and symbols to Christian beliefs in order to ease the transition from pagan to Christian. Blackbirds on Croagh Patrick St Patrick spent the forty days of Lent (the Christian period of fasting or self-denial prior to Easter) on a mountain in co Mayo (now known as Croagh Patrick). During these days he was harassed by demons disguised as blackbirds. The birds formed such dense clusters that the sky turned black. But according to this legend, Saint Patrick continued to pray and rang his bell as a proclamation of his faith.

In answer to his prayers, an angel appeared and told him that all his petitions on behalf of the Irish people would be granted and they would retain their Christian faith until Judgement Day. Banishing the snakes Probably as famous as the story of the shamrock is the legend of Saint Patrick driving all the snakes of Ireland into the sea where they drowned. In the postage stamp at the top of the page, and in many images of the saint, Patrick is seen standing on snakes, ie conquering snakes. The well-received message is that there are no snakes in Ireland (save those in zoos) and he alone is responsible for this happy state. It is, however, very unlikely there were ever any snakes in Ireland! This particular legend of Saint Patrick is easy to translate as snakes were sacred to the Druids; their banishment relects St Patrick's success at removing pagan influence from the island. See my personal selection of the very best free online databases for Irish genealogy research. Click image. Find out more Did St. Patrick Really Chase The Snakes From Ireland?

| Care2 Causes About Judy Follow Judy at @ judymolland Editor’s Note:ï¿½This post is aï¿½ Care2 ï¿½favorite, brought back by popular demand. It was originally published on March 12, 2013. Enjoy! St. Patrick’s Day , which is celebrated on March 17, honors a 5th-century missionary who was supposedly responsible for spreading Christianity in Ireland, and also supposedly rid the island of snakes by herding them out to sea. Let’s take the second assertion first. Did Patrick really cast all the serpents out of Ireland? The Answer is No and Yes. No: Snakes in Ireland were wiped out not by St. Patrick, but by the last ice age. Up until roughly 10,000 years ago, the British Isles, along with most of the rest of northern Europe, was covered by icecaps and glaciers, not a great habitat for snakes. When Patrick arrived in the year 432,ï¿½ there were no snakes . Ireland is now one of five major landmasses on Earth with no native snakes; the others are Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland and New Zealand. Yes: It’s figuratively true.

The serpent is well known as the archetypal symbol of the great mother goddess in Pagan religions: it was one of the most widely used symbol associated with the female in many cultures, including the Celtic religion, which was flourishing in Ireland when Patrick arrived there. The snake was also associated with several Celtic goddesses, and particularly with St. Brigit, beloved of the Irish. Patrick destroyed the Celtic, female-dominated religions of Ireland with their snake symbols, and substituted the male-dominated, misogynistic, Christian religion. Therefore, he chased the snakes away. Scholars have debated for years, and will undoubtedly keep debating, how monotheistic, male-dominated religions like Christianity took over from polytheistic, goddess religions, but St. Patrick definitely played his part in making this happen. And it was no coincidence that Christianity demonized snakes: just look at the story of Eve. Who was Saint Patrick? Here’s how the myth goes: He was born in Dumbarton, Scotland, around 385, of Roman descent, Britain being occupied by the Romans at that time.

(That’s right: he was not Irish.) At the age of 16, he was captured by Irish pirates, who brought him to Ireland and sold him into slavery.ï¿½ During his six years of captivity, he became deeply devoted to Christianity and determined to “free” the Irish from Paganism by converting them to Christianity. Finally, he managed to escape back to England. After years of studying, he entered the priesthood, and around 431, Pope St. Celestine I consecrated St. Patrick Bishop of the Irish , and sent him to Ireland to introduce the Christian Gospel to the Pagans there. He threw himself into converting the Irish, and supposedly convinced many Irish to convert to Christianity, while creating a structure for the church:ï¿½ electing church officials, creating councils and founding monasteries. He is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. St. Patrick: The Myth and The Truth From Christianity Today : Patrick isn’t really a Saint with a capital S, having never been officially canonized by Rome. And Patrick couldn’t have driven the snakes out of Ireland because there were never any snakes there to begin with.

He wasn’t even the first evangelist to Ireland (Palladius had been sent about five years before Patrick went). Patrick isn’t even Irish. He’s from what’s now Dumbarton, Scotland (just northwest of Glasgow) In addition, it seems that the process of Christianizing Ireland had been going on for at least 100 years before his arrival , because Irish colonists in southern Wales, Cornwall, and elsewhere in Roman Britain had already come into contact with Christians and carried the religion back with them when visiting home. So Patrick wasn’t really a saint, he didn’t cast out any snakes and he wasn’t even the first evangelist to try and bring Christianity to Ireland. But when did the truth ever prevent anyone from having a party? And Now For The Truth About Those Snakes Did you know that: *ï¿½ Snakes regulate rodents: Snakes are very efficient predators, and a world with no snakes would mean a world full of rodents.

ï¿½Worldwide,ï¿½ says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , ï¿½rats and mice spread over 35 diseases.ï¿½ *ï¿½ Snakes help control disease: By regulating rodent populations, snakes also benefit people by keeping infectious diseases in check. *ï¿½ Snakes as food: Snakes serve as food for carnivores such as coyotes, badgers and bobcats, as well as for raptors and other snakes. *ï¿½ Snakes in Medicine: Most people have heard of snake venom being used to create antivenom.ï¿½ But research with snake venom has begun t o create drugs for other ailments, including type 2 diabetes and digestive problems. So now you know! Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Care2 Related Coverage Did St. Patrick Ireland's patron saint really banish all the snakes? | IrishCentral.com Did St. Patrick Ireland's patron saint really banish all the snakes? April Drew / What's behind the legend of St. Patrick banishing snakes from Ireland.Getty We all know our man St. Patrick, among many other things, as the man who banished snakes from the green fields of Ireland.

Yes, once upon a time, snakes were slithering and sliding around the Irish countryside, but their disappearance had absolutely nothing to do with any divine intervention. Legend has it that St. Paddy stood on a hilltop, dressed in his formal green attire, and waved his staff to herd all the slithering creatures into the sea, expelling them from the Emerald Isle forever. And low and behold, there hasn’t been a snake seen in Ireland since 461 AD (expect for the odd household pet and zoo creature). Snakes, according to the Smithsonian website, are just lizards with no feet. When snakes first evolved – about 100 million years ago – Ireland was still submerged under water, so migrating to Ireland wasn’t an option for the serpents. However, when the ocean finally did drop and Ireland surfaced, it was attached to mainland Europe, therefore allowing the slithery creatures, to make their way onto the land. Just three million years ago the ice age arrived, turning all snakes into popsicles. And since then, the climate has changed more than 20 times, often blanketing Ireland with ice.

Because snakes are cold-blooded animals, they can’t survive in areas where the ground is frozen, so they all had an icy ending. According to scientists, the last time Ireland was covered in ice was 15,000 years ago. After this time a snake would have comfortably survived in Ireland. However, Ireland had by then separated itself from mainland Europe, causing a 12-mile water gap – the North Channel – between Ireland and neighboring Scotland. The channel became a barrier that no terrestrial snake could cross. So the upshot of the story is, there are no slimy slithering serpents roaming the Irish countryside today because they have simply no way of getting there. So why has St. Patrick been so heavily hailed as the hero that banished snakes from Ireland? Well, some believe that the snake was a symbol of paganism and it is St. Paddy that can be accredited for ridding Ireland of paganism and bringing Christianity to the green isle. Why Doesn’t Ireland Have Snakes?

It ain’t because of Saint Patrick By Sarah Fecht posted Mar 17th, 2015 at 10:00am Care_SMC, via Flickr / CC BY ND 2.0 Green Snake Legend has it that, back in the fifth century A.D., St. Patrick exterminated Ireland’s snakes by driving them into the sea. He would appear to have done a thorough job, because Ireland is free of native snakes to this day. Except, Ireland never actually had snakes . Everything you’ve been told about St. Patrick's Day is a lie. (Ok, probably not all of it .) So, if snakes can be found almost everywhere else the world, from Australia to the Arctic Circle, what makes Ireland so special? Wikimedia Commons Where Snakes Live For one, it’s an island. The Irish Sea is 50-plus miles wide. That would be a long swim for a land animal. A sea snake might have an easier time of it, but sea snakes live in warm tropical waters, not the frigid Atlantic. But, you may be thinking, the U.K. has snakes , and it’s an island. That’s true.

But for a long time, neither Britain nor Ireland was home to snakes. The Ice Age made the islands inhospitable to reptiles, whose cold-blooded bodies need heat from the surroundings to function. The glaciers retreated around 10,000 years ago, exposing a land bridge between Europe and Britain, and another between Britain and Ireland, allowing easy passage to the islands. Melting glaciers drowned Ireland’s land bridge 8,500 years ago, whereas Britain’s persisted for another 2,000 years. So animals from Europe simply had more time to colonize the U.K., and even then only three snake species managed to establish themselves in Britain. None of the three appears to have felt compelled to keep moving west toward Ireland; there's no evidence for the slithering reptiles in Ireland's fossil record. St. Patrick's Day Home Calendar Holidays St. Patrick's Day St. Patrick's Day St Patrick’s Day is a global celebration of Irish culture on or around March 17. It particularly remembers St Patrick, one of Ireland’s patron saints, who ministered Christianity in Ireland during the fifth century. St Patrick’s Day is celebrated in countries with people of Irish decent.

St Patrick’s Day is celebrated in countries with people of Irish decent. ©bigstockphoto.com/Stu99 What Do People Do? St Patrick’s Day is celebrated in many parts of the world, especially by Irish communities and organizations. Many people wear an item of green clothing on the day. Parties featuring Irish food and drinks that are dyed in green food color are part of this celebration. It is a time when children can indulge in sweets and adults can enjoy a “pint” of beer at a local pub. Many restaurants and pubs offer Irish food or drink, which include: Irish brown bread. Irish potato champ, also known as poundies, cally or pandy. Irish stew. Irish potato soup. Some people plan a pilgrimage to St Patrick’s Purgatory, which is commonly associated with penance and spiritual healing since the early 13th century. It is on Station Island in Lough Derg in County Donegal where St Patrick had a vision promising that all who came to the sanctuary in penitence and faith would receive a pardon for their sins. Public Life St Patrick's Day is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland ( United Kingdom ) and the Republic of Ireland .

St Patrick’s Day is also a festive occasion in some parts of the world where it is not a public holiday. Therefore traffic and parking may be temporarily affected in streets and public areas where parades are held in towns and cities. Background St Patrick is one of the patron saints of Ireland. He is said to have died on March 17 in or around the year 493. He grew up in Roman Britain, but was captured by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland as a slave when he was a young adult. After some years he returned to his family and entered the church, like his father and grandfather before him. He later returned to Ireland as a missionary and worked in the north and west of the country. According to popular legend, St Patrick rid Ireland of snakes. However, it is thought that there have been no snakes in Ireland since the last ice age. The "snakes" that St Patrick banished from Ireland, may refer to the druids or pagan worshipers of snake or serpent gods. He is said to be buried under Down Cathedral in Downpatrick, Ireland. Ireland’s other patron saints are St Brigid and St Columba.

Luke Wadding, a Franciscan scholar born in 1588 in Waterford, on the south coast of Ireland, was influential in ensuring that the anniversary of St Patrick's death became a feast day in the Catholic Church. Many Catholic churches traditionally move St Patrick's Day to another date if March 17 falls during Holy Week. Many immigrants from Ireland fled to other parts of the world, including Australia , Canada , the United Kingdom and the United States , in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many Irish customs, including the St Patrick’s Day celebrations, became quite popular in these countries. However, much of the interest in the St Patrick’s Day events is largely commercially driven in the 21st century. Symbols The most common St Patrick's Day symbol is the shamrock. The shamrock is the leaf of the clover plant and a symbol of the Holy Trinity. Many people choose to wear the color green and the flag of the Republic of Ireland is often seen in St Patrick’s Day parades around the world. Irish brands of drinks are popular at St Patrick’s Day events. Religious symbols include snakes and serpents, as well as the Celtic cross.

Some say that Saint Patrick added the Sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross. Other Irish-related symbols seen on St Patrick’s Day include the harp, which was used in Ireland for centuries, as well as a mythological creature known as the leprechaun and a pot of gold that the leprechaun keeps hidden. Quick Facts St Patrick’s Day celebrates Irish culture and commemorates one of Ireland’s patron saints, St Patrick, on or around March 17. St. Patrick's Day 2017 MrIppolito.com: Did St. Patrick rid Ireland of snakes? Tuesday, January 25, 2011 Did St. Patrick rid Ireland of snakes? Do some research and find out for yourself if the man credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland also rid the island of all serpents. In order to get the extra credit for this one, you MUST cite the source you got it from. If you got it from a book, mention the name and author of the book. If you got it from a website, you have to COPY and PASTE the web address in your comment.

To be eligible for extra credit, this must be posted by Wednesday, February 2 to this blog entry. Oh, and by the way, once someone has used a source, NO ONE else can use it. Good luck! Posted by

Question: According to legend, who rid Ireland of snakes?
Answer: St. Patrick