Penobscot-Piscataquis-Hancock Counties
8
The Wearin’ Of The Green St. Patrick’s Day in Bangor by Charles Francis
B
angor, like most Maine cities that have a significant number of residents who trace their roots back to Ireland, puts on more than the usual display of green on St. Patrick’s Day. Stores, restaurants, and schools all have their leprechauns, Irish harps, and, of course, shamrocks in prominent view. These displays are nothing, however, to those of a hundred and more years ago when the city’s Irish had distinct memories of the old country. Then, the city’s Irish laborers, like the Bangor Mudlarks who loaded and unloaded the countless vessels that lay at anchor in the Penobscot, held parades, drank huge quantities of rum and other spirits, and, of course, proudly sported the green.
Few, except those who were willing to spend something at a florist, however, wore shamrocks because, at that time of the year, everything was either still snow-covered or just beginning to turn to mud. Yet, the sprig of green was always referred to as ‘that precious plant,’ because, more than anything else, it symbolized the home which most had left because of the potato famines of the nineteenth century.
Legend has it that when Saint Patrick was preaching on the Hill of Tara he bent down and plucked a beautiful green plant that had three leaves which he used to illustrate the nature of the Holy Trinity. That plant supposedly was the shamrock. However, ever since that time, naturalists have been arguing just what it was that Saint Patrick picked. Some say it was a variety of clover but they can’t agree whether it was Trifolium repens or Trifolium dubium. Others believe it was a member of the oxalis family. Then there is the argument for Ajuga reptans, the common bugle which is also known as comfrey and carpenter’s herb, and therein lies a story.
Hate to disappoint you, Mother Nature. No need to throw a
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