Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!  Or, as I have decided to think of it: Oisin’s Day.  It’s just exactly like St. Patrick’s day.   It just has a different name.

For a long time, I, as many Neopagans, fretted over this day and what it means.  I even contemplated wearing a black armband, mourning the death of paganism at the hands of St. Patrick.

We neopagans work hard at finding things to be upset about and to feel persecuted over.  Here we are, on St. Patrick’s day, celebrating the work of the man who allegedly “drove the snakes” (that is, some say, paganism) out of Ireland.  How can we do that?!

But, look at how it’s celebrated.  Is that really what is being celebrated?  Or is it a celebration of everything wonderful and pre-Christian about Ireland?  Seriously, what comes to mind when thinking about St. Patrick’s day?  A dour old bishop, or drunken revelry?  Leprechauns and gold at the end of rainbows, fairy magic and shamrocks, fun, dancing, and a love of everything Irish.  That is how we celebrate.

St. Patrick didn’t drive out the snakes, literally or figuratively.  While there was a gradual transformation to Christianity in Ireland, it was one over a course of hundreds of years, not one man’s lifetime.  St. Patrick, while he was undoubtedly a real person, is more of an icon — a character that represents Christianity in Ireland in later fictionalized accounts.  This can especially be seen when you look at the Pagan icon of Oisin, son of Fionn, and the debates he and Patrick are alleged to have had.  Oisin, who spent 200 years in Tir Na Nog, returned to Ireland after the coming of Christianity to find the people had become weak, fearful, and timid.

Accounts of these debates were popular even into the 1400’s, indicating that the battle with Paganism was far from over even hundreds of years after the death of St. Patrick.  In his debates with Patrick, as told by Lady Gregory, Oisin attacks Christianity for its intolerance, its lack of generosity, its meanness.  For example, Patrick tells Oisin that Fionn and the Fianna are in hell.  Oisin says to him: “It would be a great shame for God not to take the locks of pain off Finn; if God Himself were in bonds my king would fight for His sake.”

So, I drink to Patrick of the closed-up mind, Patrick of the joyless clerks and of the bells.  This day is named for him.  And to Oisin and the Fianna, true paragons of virtue, I raise my glass in toast.  It is a victory toast.  The irony of St. Patrick’s day is that we pagans have won it over.  May the Fianna live forever young in the halls of Tir Na Nog and the snakes of Ireland always be free.

I recently discovered an outdoor activity that is wonderful to share with a child, called “geocaching.” All it takes is a GPS receiver and a sense of adventure. It’s basically a world-wide treasure-hunting game where participants hide, or try to find, “caches” of small toys and knickknacks which have been posted to a website with their coordinates, a description, and maybe a hint or two.

When I first found out about it, it sounded neat, “but surely there aren’t any hidden caches anywhere near this little South Louisiana town.” Au contraire, I quickly learned. The sport’s website has a cache search feature which quickly turned up a dozen or so within ten miles of our house!

The sport also encourages environmental responsibility and awareness.  Geocachers should practice CITO, or “Cache In Trash Out,” and clean up any trash they see on their outing.  Also, I have seen many caches that exist primarily to teach people about environmental features and nice, scenic areas that are “off the beaten path.”  I’ve learned a lot about my own town just by playing the game.

Of course, with my five-year-old, we don’t call it “geocaching.” With him, it’s simply “treasure hunting,” and he loves it. He’s learning some map-reading and other outdoor skills as we go. Because the caches are usually hidden in some outdoor wooded area, it’s a great way to get a little outdoor time together without it being a huge production.

For more information, visit the official site and read the FAQ.