DASG Blog

Là Fhèill Pàdraig

As you will know it was Saint Patrick’s Day three days ago and although this blog is a little bit late we would like to to celebrate the day with folklore, placenmame lore, practices, proverbs and sayings that we have in the Gaelic world about Saint Patrick himself, or as it is recorded in the book “The Gaelic Otherworld”, by John Gregorson Campbell, “Pàdraig a bheannaich Èirinn” [Patrick who blessed Ireland]!

It was written that Saint Patrick helped to spread Christianity to Ireland and, in the book “The Celts” by Nora Chadwick, he opened Ireland to now ideas from the European mainland by transcriptions instead of oral folklore only. This is very true with his influence in “The Book of Armagh,” “The Annals of Ulster” and “The Annals of Inisfallen” etc. Beforehand they had to remember stories and folklore in order to tell them but that changed with transcriptions, that were extremely important in order to record and learn old information and ancient history, such as the Stories of the Fenians, as an example and the sagas of the Vikings too.

About the day itself there are two phrases I found in the book “Campbell Collection of Gaelic Proverbs and Sayings” by Dòmhnall Meek, that recounts about the weather that one would one would expect on the date itself (17th March):

“Là Fhèill Pàdraig Earraich,
Là nan seachd is fichead sealladh;
Fòghnaidh sin do each ’s do dhuine,
Is fòghnaidh each is duine dha.”
[St Patrick’s day of Spring,
A day of seven and twenty views;
Enough [is] it to a horse and man
And enough [is] a horse and man to it]

According to this account the “seven and twenty views” means the work would be involved with the “man” and the horse throughout
Spring. The “seven and twenty views” represents “wholeness”, with three multiplied by three by three. The other one we have doesn’t involve the improvement of the weather but of the lightness of the day itself.

“Suipear gun soillse oidhch’ Fhèill Bhrìghde;
Suipear le soillse Là Fhèill Pàdraig.”
[“A supper without light, St Bridget’s night,
Supper with light St Patrick’s day." The first day of February is St Bridget’s night].

In the book “Gaelic Proverbs” by Alexander Nicolson, there are many proverbs connected to the weather around St Patrick’s day;
“Cha tig Geamhradh gu cùl Callainn, no Earrach gu cùl Fhèill Pàraig”;
[“Winter wont come until the back of Hogmanay, or Spring until the back of St Patrick’s day”].

“Foghar gu Nollaig,
Is Geamhradh gu Fèill Pàdraig;
Earrach gu Fèill Peadair;
Samhradh gu Fèill Màrtainn”;
[“Autumn to Winter,
And Winter to St Patrick’s day;
Spring to St Peter’s day;
Winter to Martinmas”].

“Is cho fad’ oidhch’ is latha, Là Fhèill Pàdraig” [The day and the night are just as long, St Patrick’s day]. Now this isn’t entirely true but they must be noting another day people used to celebrate St Patrick’s day, perhaps.

“Fair St Bridget’s day, the cats will bring the fuel home” but with “Patrick of the Spring” instead of “Fair Bridget”.
Back to the book “The Gaelic Otherworld” it is said “seach gun leam an Fhèill Pàdraig” (the day after St Patrick’s day) that the limpet is better than the whelk: “Latha Fhèill Pàraig, Mùinidh bhàirneach air an fhaochaig” [St Patrick’s day, the limpet’s make water on the whelks]... pleasant... And more about shellfish the phrases “Nuair a bhios an t-each caol, bidh an fhaochag reamhar” [“When the horse is thin the whelk is fat”] and “’S ann as caoile ’n t-each, ’s ann as reamhaire am partan” [“When the horse is the thinnest the crab is fat”] are important to recognise too.

It is clear with the proverbs here that St Patrick’s day is noting the time that winter changes to Spring, this is clear with phrases and words that follow from the book “The Gaelic Otherworld”:

“Chan eil luibh san talamh
Nach eil fad cluas luch dhith ’mach
Latha Fèill Pàdraig.”
[“There is not a herb in the ground,
But the length of a mouse’s ear of it is out,
On St Patrick’s day”].

In the days before St Patrick’s day, one says “The furrows full of snow, of rain, and the thatch of houses” about the weather, with the sea and the waves growing taller, this is true in the one here “Reothairt na Fèill’ Moire, ’S boilich na Fèill’ Pàraig” [“The spring tides of Lady day, And the made tides of St Patrick’s day”] marking the changes of the waves between Lady’s day and St Patrick’s day. With the weather before the day itself “tha “Marbhlaidh na Fèill Pàraig” means the quiet waters that are common about this time and “bog-mharbhlainn” meaning the rise and “swelling” of the ocean with the warming of the year.

We have covered a lot in this blog, especially with words and weather-folklore connected in St Patrick’s day, but we shall have a look at further folklore, placename folklore, proverbs and sayings connected to this day in another blog. Do you know any of the words, phrases, proverbs and folklores above? Do you have any other information? Let us know on facebook, twitter and our own website!