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.

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The Ajuga is a creeping plant with pale green to purple opposing leaves. It flowers from April to June. Just before the flower opens it looks almost like another leaf. While the Ajuga is often used in rock gardens in the northeast it is not native to North America but instead originated in the British Isles.

As the story goes, a young Irishman brought a sprig of Ajuga to the New World from his cottage garden back home. He had it hidden in the lining of his hat because he was afraid authorities would confiscate it. Some believe this one sprig to be the origin of all the Ajuga in North America. Those that believe Ajuga to actually be the shamrock, point to the fact that it was long used in Ireland for medicinal purposes. It is remarkably effective as a cough suppressant and in reducing hemorrhages. In fact, it is similar in some respects to digitalis.

The hardships suffered by the Irish who came to Bangor and other North American cities in the nineteenth century can only be imagined today. The records of vessels carrying Irish immigrants around the 1820s, the period of the first potato famine and when the first wave of Irish came to Bangor, give us some idea, however. In 1819 the Mermaid was blown off course and lost on Cape Negro. While the passengers were saved, they lost all their belongings. In 1825 a hundred and seventy-four were lost when the Nassau went to pieces somewhere in the Gulf of Maine. In 1827 all the passengers on one vessel contracted smallpox. In 1828 the Granicus was wrecked on Anticosti Island. No one survived the winter there. Yet, those who did make it across the Atlantic maintained fond memories of their vanished homes and for many, they were symbolized by the shamrock.

For the Irish of nineteenth-century

Bangor and elsewhere, the shamrock was a symbol of defiance and a declaration of independence. That was why when the Mudlarks marched on Saint Patrick’s Day they invariably sang the words of the old song, “They’re hanging men and women there for wearin’ of the green.”

On another level, the shamrock was a tie to a totally different way of life. It represented where the older immigrants or the previous generation had grown up. It brought back memories or stories of the stone cottages, stone walls, and stone arches of Ireland. And it brought back memories of little gardens where people grew their comfrey or carpenter’s herb for its healing power.

Whichever plant is truly the shamrock, those that see it as a symbol for March 17th know that it is the little plant that Saint Patrick picked when he preached on the Hill of Tara.

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