Were Saint Patrick's Snakes Actually Eels?
Since reading Terry Galvin’s “The Last Great Sea,” I’ve been fascinated by the idea that all legends and myths are routed in some truth.
They offer us a way to learn about our world, though this can often get lost over time.
In “The Last Great Sea,” Gilvan shares one of the myths of the Gitxsan people. They say a great bear spirit came “crashing down out of high country.” When geologists look back at the spot where the bear spirit was said to have charged, there is conclusive evidence that a “torrent of debris crashed down the creek, uprooting trees as it went.”
This Saturday, San Francisco will come to life as people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
When I think about my own participation, I must acknowledge that I (like many others) are less focused on the whole Christianity of it all, and are more into the getting outside, listening to live music, and enjoying a Guinness on tap.
That said, as a Kook Aunty, this means getting to act like a total wack-a-doodle while doing my research and ensuring that I’m being respectful.
Which led me to my curious question: could one of Saint Paddy’s miracles (banishing snakes) be a miraculous discovery of one of nature’s miracles?
The legend of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland
Legend has it that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. He drove them into the sea.
Snakes, however, are not native to Ireland, so would not have been there for Paddy to drive out. Because of this, we assume that this legend is allegorical, representing the removal of paganism to allow for Christianity to become the main religion. As snakes are associated with evil in the bible, this seems a reasonable conclusion.
But what if it wasn’t simply an allegory?
What if the people of Ireland really did see the saint chasing some slithering creatures out to sea?
Were St. Patrick’s Snakes actually eels?
The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is a fascinating creature, and one that might have been around du! As with salmon, it’s an anadromous animal which means it lives in both freshwater and saltwater.
Born in the Sargasso Sea,1 this eel starts as larvae and float to Europe with the Gulf Stream. They then metamorphose into glass eels and enter brackish water where they continue to change until they become elvers and move to inhabit freshwater.
After years spent in this setting, they are finally sexually mature and ready to return to the sea. During this phase of life the NIH National Library of Medicine explains that “they modify their physiology, and their digestive system adapts to the new environment, drinking salt water to compensate for the continuous water loss.”2
These eels change color and stop eating, their “gut-brain” affected by their new salty environment causing them to change their digestive requirements in order to survive in the ocean.
Seriously, isn’t that wild to think about?
Considering the fact that sea turtles cry to survive in this high-salinity setting, it’s quite the miracle that eels can change their physiology to survive long enough to spawn in the ocean.
Without realizing it, could the Irish people have discovered such a miracle of physiology and interpreted it as a saintly accomplishment as St. Paddy watched these creatures on their journey back out to the ocean?
Who knows the answer, but it’s fun to speculate!
It’s especially fun because although I’m not religious in any classical sense, I do feel a spiritual connection to nature and I do consider this a miracle in its own right!
1. Jones, Calvin, November 7, 2011, “European Eel (Anguilla anguilla)”, Ireland’s Wildlife, https://irelandswildlife.com/european-eel-anguilla-anguilla/
2. J Anat, 2013 Oct 23;224(2):180–191. doi, “Enteric neuroplasticity in seawater-adapted European eel (Anguilla anguilla)”, NIH National Library of Medicine, 10.1111/joa.12131
