The song The Wearing of the Green commemorated their exploits and various versions exist which mention the shamrock. The United Irishmen adopted green as their revolutionary colour and wore green uniforms or ribbons in their hats, and the green concerned was often associated with the shamrock. On the other side were revolutionary nationalist groups, such as the United Irishmen.Īmong the Volunteers, examples of the use of the shamrock include its appearance on the guidon of the Royal Glin Hussars formed in July 1779 by the Knight of Glin, and its appearance on the flags of the Limerick Volunteers, the Castle Ray Fencibles and the Braid Volunteers.

On one side were the Volunteers (also known as the Irish Volunteers), who were local militias in late 18th century Ireland, raised to defend Ireland from the threat of French and Spanish invasion when regular British soldiers were withdrawn from Ireland to fight during the American Revolutionary War. Patrick to an Irish national symbol when it was taken up as an emblem by rival militias during the turbulent politics of the late eighteenth century. The shamrock first began to evolve from a symbol purely associated with St. Patrick is Ireland's patron saint, the shamrock has been used as a symbol of Ireland since the 18th century, in a similar way to how a rose is used for England, a thistle for Scotland and a daffodil for Wales. Rose, thistle and shamrock motif on gate pillar at Buckingham PalaceĪs St. The first written mention of the link does not appear until 1681, in the account of Thomas Dineley, an English traveller to Ireland. Why the Celts to whom St Patrick was preaching would have needed an explanation of the concept of a triple deity is not clear (two separate triple goddesses are known to have been worshipped in pagan Ireland). Pictures of Saint Patrick depict him driving the snakes out of Ireland with a cross in one hand and a sprig of shamrocks in the other.' Roger Homan writes, 'We can perhaps see St Patrick drawing upon the visual concept of the triskele when he uses the shamrock to explain the Trinity'. Nevertheless, the shamrock, whatever its history as a folk symbol, today has its meaning in a Christian context. However, Jack Santino speculates that 'The shamrock was probably associated with the earth and assumed by the druids to be symbolic of the regenerative powers of nature.

Patricia Monaghan states that 'There is no evidence that the clover or wood sorrel (both of which are called shamrocks) were sacred to the Celts'. In pagan Ireland, three was a significant number and the Irish had many triple deities, which could have aided St Patrick in his evangelisation efforts. When Saint Patrick arrived in Ireland in 431, he used the shamrock to teach pagans the Holy Trinity.

Silly shamrocks breakout edu answers