PATRICK: SNAKE WRANGLER OR JUST A SAINT?<\/span><\/p>\n
MALIN HEAD, County Donegal \u2014 Standing here at the northernmost point in all of Ireland, with a gale-force wind whipping my hair across my face in penitent lashes, I couldn\u2019t help thinking of my second-favorite place on Earth.<\/p>\n
Malin Head, for some odd reason \u2014 perhaps because it is such a broody, dramatic place, or maybe it\u2019s got something to do with ancestry, or both \u2014 is the place I love most. It\u2019s a wild land, the kind where myths are born, where giants and saints might come bounding over the next hillock followed by a troupe of little people or a herd of magical sheep.<\/p>\n
Whatever power this place holds, I love it and have returned time and again, like water to the shore.<\/p>\n
Which reminds me of my second-favorite spot on this planet of ours, St. Kitts. Like Ireland, it\u2019s an island with palm trees, eccentric denizens and a fondness for cocktails. Unlike Ireland, its breezes, though occasionally gale-force, are usually balmy and tropical.<\/p>\n
St. Kitts \u2014 named for St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers \u2014 is in the West Indies. In the last six weeks, I\u2019ve been blessed to have visited both of my beloved islands.<\/p>\n
Trying to connect the dots between one passion in my life and another is something of a spiritual practice. So, as I drove away from Malin Head toward my B&B a few hours away, I worked on following the bread crumbs from St. Kitts to Ireland, St. Patrick\u2019s island.<\/p>\n
It was then that I realized what the two disparate locations really had in common: snakes.<\/p>\n
Actually, no snakes.<\/p>\n
In St. Kitts, some clever sugar plantation owners imported the mongoose long ago to get rid of the slithery creatures that menaced their workers. And their plan worked brilliantly. So despite a lush rain forest with serpentine mangrove roots galore, there are no snakes on St. Kitts.<\/p>\n
In Ireland, well, we all know the story of how St. Patrick drove the snakes from the Emerald Island.<\/p>\n
But is that really true?<\/p>\n
Surely there are many reasons to venerate St. Patrick, Ireland\u2019s patron. Unfortunately, according to the folks I talked to this week, snake wrangling is not one of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can\u2019t be historically true,\u201d said Joseph Kelly, chairman of the religious studies department at John Carroll University in Cleveland. \u201cIn the 3rd century, a Roman writer named Solinus wrote an account of the wonders of the world. And he mentioned off in the Western Sea there is an island called Hibernia, and one of the amazing things about Hibernia is there are no snakes there. There weren\u2019t any snakes for Patrick to drive out.\u201d<\/p>\n
St. Patrick didn\u2019t arrive on the scene until the middle of the 5th century, by most accounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were never any snakes in Ireland to begin with,\u201d said Philip Freeman, chairman of the classics department at Luther College and author of the 2003 book St. Patrick of Ireland.<\/span> \u201cThey never found any fossils of them. You can go to the museum of natural history in Dublin, and you won\u2019t see a single snake fossil or skeleton.\u201d<\/p>\nApparently, the tall Irish tale of St. Patrick driving the serpents from Hibernia (aka Ireland) was a spiritual metaphor for running the old pagan ways out of town, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was meant to be symbolic,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cEver since the ancient Jews began to interpret the serpent in the Garden of Eden as Satan, the serpent has been a traditional symbol for evil.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even the ancient Sumerian \u201cEpic of Gilgamesh,\u201d perhaps the oldest written story on Earth, speaks of an evil snake that steals eternal life from the hero.<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s preternatural hard-wiring or not, I really don\u2019t like snakes. It\u2019s not that I\u2019m afraid of them. I find them repellent, which, I realize, is no fault of the snake.<\/p>\n
My mother tells a story of taking me to the zoo when I was about a year old, walking into the reptile house and me going absolutely hysterical, wailing in her arms until she took me away from the snakes.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not really sure what that was all about \u2014 I didn\u2019t know the story of the Garden of Eden yet, and my parents weren\u2019t fearful of snakes. I just loathe them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is something about them \u2014 their sinuous movement, how it is that they move across the terrain,\u201d said W. Paul Williamson, a psychology professor at Henderson State University in Arkansas who studies Christian sects that handle snakes as a part of their worship. \u201cIt\u2019s awesome in some ways, but in other ways, there\u2019s that repulsion that you yourself describe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because snakes shed their skins, some faith traditions think of serpents as symbols of eternal life. And then, of course, there are some schools of psychology that say the serpent represents a phallus, Williamson offered.<\/p>\n
Nope, I\u2019m pretty sure that\u2019s not my problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, there is such a thing as ophidiophobia \u2014 the fear of snakes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s just chalk it up to that.<\/p>\n
And here\u2019s wishing you a joyful St. Patrick\u2019s Day, free from all serpents, real or metaphorical.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GODSTUFF: PATRICK: SNAKE WRANGLER OR JUST A SAINT? MALIN HEAD, County Donegal \u2014 Standing here at the northernmost point in all of Ireland, with a gale-force wind whipping my hair across my face in penitent lashes, I couldn\u2019t help thinking of my second-favorite place on Earth. Malin Head, for some odd reason \u2014 perhaps because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2711],"class_list":["post-387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Dude Abides<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"GODSTUFF:PATRICK: SNAKE WRANGLER OR JUST A SAINT?MALIN HEAD, County Donegal \u2014 Standing here at the northernmost point in all of Ireland, with a gale-force\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/2007\/03\/16\/387\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GODSTUFF:PATRICK: SNAKE WRANGLER OR JUST A SAINT?MALIN HEAD, County Donegal \u2014 Standing here at the northernmost point in all of Ireland, with a gale-force\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/2007\/03\/16\/387\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Dude Abides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-03-16T15:21:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/cathleenfalsani.files.wordpress.com\/2007\/03\/malin7.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cathleen Falsani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cathleen Falsani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/2007\/03\/16\/387\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/2007\/03\/16\/387\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-03-16T15:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-03-16T15:21:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/#\/schema\/person\/47c87be03ef08b2eb209b2e7242d4dea\"},\"description\":\"GODSTUFF:PATRICK: SNAKE WRANGLER OR JUST A SAINT?MALIN HEAD, County Donegal \u2014 Standing here at the northernmost point in all of Ireland, with a gale-force\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/2007\/03\/16\/387\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/\",\"name\":\"The Dude Abides\",\"description\":\"Chilling at the intersection of faith and culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/#\/schema\/person\/47c87be03ef08b2eb209b2e7242d4dea\",\"name\":\"Cathleen Falsani\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cc435ed440814d4b3330d6bf38d75d37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cc435ed440814d4b3330d6bf38d75d37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cathleen Falsani\"},\"description\":\"Cathleen Falsani is an award-winning religion journalist and author of the critically acclaimed The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People, Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace, The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers, BELIEBER: Fame, Faith and the Heart of Justin Bieber, and the newly released Disquiet Time: A Devotional for Ordinary Skeptics (edited with co-author Jennifer Grant and published by Jericho Books, Oct. 2014.)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/author\/cathleenf\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Dude Abides","description":"GODSTUFF:PATRICK: SNAKE WRANGLER OR JUST A SAINT?MALIN HEAD, County Donegal \u2014 Standing here at the northernmost point in all of Ireland, with a gale-force","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/2007\/03\/16\/387\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_description":"GODSTUFF:PATRICK: SNAKE WRANGLER OR JUST A SAINT?MALIN HEAD, County Donegal \u2014 Standing here at the northernmost point in all of Ireland, with a gale-force","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/2007\/03\/16\/387\/","og_site_name":"The Dude Abides","article_published_time":"2007-03-16T15:21:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/cathleenfalsani.files.wordpress.com\/2007\/03\/malin7.jpg"}],"author":"Cathleen Falsani","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cathleen Falsani","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/2007\/03\/16\/387\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/2007\/03\/16\/387\/","name":"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-03-16T15:21:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-03-16T15:21:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/#\/schema\/person\/47c87be03ef08b2eb209b2e7242d4dea"},"description":"GODSTUFF:PATRICK: SNAKE WRANGLER OR JUST A SAINT?MALIN HEAD, County Donegal \u2014 Standing here at the northernmost point in all of Ireland, with a gale-force","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/2007\/03\/16\/387\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/","name":"The Dude Abides","description":"Chilling at the intersection of faith and culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/#\/schema\/person\/47c87be03ef08b2eb209b2e7242d4dea","name":"Cathleen Falsani","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cc435ed440814d4b3330d6bf38d75d37?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cc435ed440814d4b3330d6bf38d75d37?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cathleen Falsani"},"description":"Cathleen Falsani is an award-winning religion journalist and author of the critically acclaimed The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People, Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace, The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers, BELIEBER: Fame, Faith and the Heart of Justin Bieber, and the newly released Disquiet Time: A Devotional for Ordinary Skeptics (edited with co-author Jennifer Grant and published by Jericho Books, Oct. 2014.)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/author\/cathleenf\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thedudeabides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}