Start Date
27-5-2026 9:45 AM
End Date
27-5-2026 10:00 AM
Description
It is commonplace to debunk the tale of Saint Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland: zoologists say he could not have done so, as there were no snakes in Ireland during his time. This tale is, however, a myth, and quite true if one views it symbolically. The snakes symbolise pagan beliefs and Patrick symbolises Catholic teachings, which, starting in the fifth century A.D. with Patrick as a key missionary, did indeed drive out the “pagan snakes” from Ireland. The Jewish story of the wily serpent deceiving Eve and Adam and bringing about their banishment from paradise was taken up by Christians and the snake became associated with the new faith’s conception of the Devil and evil. In the Greco-Roman world, where Christianity first flourished, however, the snake appeared in myth and ritual sometimes as evil but other times as a beneficent protector, associated with fertility and the renewal of life. Snakes were particularly closely tied to the myth of Demeter and Persephone and played an important part in the cultic celebrations of liminal moments in the yearly calendar, when the crisis of death was closely juxtaposed to the hope of rebirth. Here I argue that in Hellenised Italy, where the cult of Demeter was especially popular in pre-Christian times, the symbolic link of snakes to liminal moments of crisis and hope was maintained after conversion, well hidden in forms of foods ritually consumed on holidays that harmonised Catholic commemorations with the ancient, native agricultural calendar.
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Included in
Unspeakable Sacred Things Made of Dough: Vermicelli and Pre-Christian Serpentine Symbolism in Southern Italian Ritual Foods
It is commonplace to debunk the tale of Saint Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland: zoologists say he could not have done so, as there were no snakes in Ireland during his time. This tale is, however, a myth, and quite true if one views it symbolically. The snakes symbolise pagan beliefs and Patrick symbolises Catholic teachings, which, starting in the fifth century A.D. with Patrick as a key missionary, did indeed drive out the “pagan snakes” from Ireland. The Jewish story of the wily serpent deceiving Eve and Adam and bringing about their banishment from paradise was taken up by Christians and the snake became associated with the new faith’s conception of the Devil and evil. In the Greco-Roman world, where Christianity first flourished, however, the snake appeared in myth and ritual sometimes as evil but other times as a beneficent protector, associated with fertility and the renewal of life. Snakes were particularly closely tied to the myth of Demeter and Persephone and played an important part in the cultic celebrations of liminal moments in the yearly calendar, when the crisis of death was closely juxtaposed to the hope of rebirth. Here I argue that in Hellenised Italy, where the cult of Demeter was especially popular in pre-Christian times, the symbolic link of snakes to liminal moments of crisis and hope was maintained after conversion, well hidden in forms of foods ritually consumed on holidays that harmonised Catholic commemorations with the ancient, native agricultural calendar.