Annie's St. Patrick's Day Symbols Page

~St. Patrick's Day is celebrated around the world on March 17th~

Saint Patrick was a Christian Missionary to Ireland.


"Go into all the world and preach the good news."
~ Mark 16:15 ~

There are many symbols connected with St. Patrick's Day. Just some of them are the shamrock, the rainbow, the pot of gold, goblins, elves and leprechauns.

Some Symbols of St. Patrick's Day:


How did the pot of gold under the rainbow come about?
Isn't it amazing that superstition gets stories all mixed up sometimes?

Let's look at what the Bible says about the "rainbow":

The RAINBOW is God's promise that He will never flood the world again. Genesis 9:12-17 "And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

Noah's Ark with animals in pairs come to the ark

"Rainbow in the morning, travelers take warning; rainbow at night, traveler's delight. As storms usually come from the west in the mid-latitudes, a morning rainbow, seen in the west, indicates humid air and the coming of stormy weather. An evening rainbow, seen in the east, indicates the passing of stormy weather."
~Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia~
Visit
Annie's Noah's Ark Page to learn more about Noah

Rainbow is a circular arc of colors that appears in the sky when raindrops are illuminated by sunlight. A rainbow is not a physical object. Rather, it is a pattern of light to which a great number of raindrops contribute. A rainbow may spread across the entire sky, and its ends may seem to rest on the earth. Not all rainbows form complete arcs, however, because a rainbow cannot appear in a part of the sky where there is no rain.
Shooting Star
You are at the center of the rainbow you see. A person standing next to you would be at the center of a different rainbow--that is, a rainbow to which a different set of raindrops contributes. Thus, no two people ever see the same rainbow.

Sometimes fairies reward people for doing them a favor. According to one story, a farmer who mends a fairy oven or chair will receive delicious food in return. Grateful fairies also may leave money for people who have treated them well.
~From World Book Encyclopedia~

Leprechaun
Leprechaun, in Irish superstition, a pygmy sprite sometimes inhabiting wine cellars, sometimes farmhouses, and aiding in work; possesses treasure which human may get by keeping his eye fixed on sprite.

Goblins, in folklore, grotesque fairies similar to gnomes; sometimes evil, sometimes playful

Elf (plural elves), a supernatural being of Teutonic mythology; sometimes thought of as a mountain fay or, usually, as a small sprite; mischievous elves are thought to bring evil, especially bad dreams

Leprechaun
Trolls. In Scandinavian folklore, these giant, monstrous creatures often possessed magic powers. Hostile to people, they lived in castles and haunted the surrounding areas after dark. If exposed to sunlight, they burst or turned to stone. In later folklore, trolls often appear as human-sized or as elves that are similar to the Irish leprechauns, the delightful cobblers and owners of buried treasure. In the plays of the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, especially 'Peer Gynt' and 'The Master-Builder', trolls are used to suggest human self-destructive instincts. ~Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia~

One traditional icon of the day is the Shamrock.

And this stems from a more bona fide Irish tale that tells how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day. ~Excerpted from Compton's Encyclopedia ~

WHAT DOES THE SHAMROCK HAVE
TO DO WITH THE TRINITY?

SHAMROCK: "You tell us that there are three gods and yet one," the puzzled Irish said when St. Patrick was preaching the gospel to them in the 5th century AD. "How can that be?" The saint bent down and plucked a shamrock. "Do you not see," he said, "how in this wildflower three leaves are united on one stalk, and will you not then believe that there are indeed three persons
and yet one God?"
~Excerpted from Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia ~


Webster's Dictionary Says: Shamrock \Sham"rock\, n. [L. seamrog, seamar, trefoil, white clover, white honeysuckle; akin to Gael. seamrag.] (Bot.) A trifoliate plant used as a national emblem by the Irish. The legend is that St. Patrick once plucked a leaf of it for use in illustrating the doctrine of the trinity. Note: The original plant was probably a kind of wood sorrel (Oxalis Acetocella); but now the name is given to the white clover (Trifolium repens), and the black medic (Medicago lupulina).

Shamrock from Encarta: Shamrock, common name for any of several three-leafed clovers native to Ireland. The shamrock was chosen Ireland's national emblem because of the legend that St. Patrick had used it to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity. The Irish have considered shamrocks as good-luck symbols since earliest times, and today people of many other nationalities also believe they bring good luck. Scientific classification: Shamrocks belong to the family Leguminosae.

Information from the World Book Encyclopedia on the SHAMROCK: is a type of small herb with leaves made up of three leaflets. It is the national symbol of Ireland. According to legend, Saint Patrick planted shamrock in Ireland because the three small leaflets represented the Holy Trinity. Many Irish people wear a shamrock on St. Patrick's Day. The name shamrock comes from an Irish word that means trefoil (three-leafed).

In Ireland, the plant most often referred to as shamrock is the white clover. This plant has slender, creeping stems and white or pinkish-white flowers. Other plants that are sometimes referred to as shamrock include red clover and black medic. Florists often sell wood sorrel as shamrock. However, this plant is generally not considered the traditional shamrock.


For more information on Irish Blessings:
Visit my
Annie's St. Patrick Blessings Page


"Go and do likewise"
~Luke 10:37~

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