Gaelic Vampires in SMA
For my Mexican pal that jokingly refers to her savage indigenous Chichimeca roots I thought the idea of DNA test to determine her heritage was a splendid gift idea. To confirm, I first did a DNA test on me which was a complete waste of money.
DNA envelope please…..Irish, Irish, Irish…like I haven’t always looked the descendant of a long line of Gaelic vampires!
Perhaps that is why I always like telling the story of why St. Patrick has a prominent place in the Parroquia (say that 3 times fast). In a nutshell, when the US was called to manifest destiny (God’s will to take over 2/3rds of Mexico in order to reach the Pacific) the US imported European soldiers to fight the actual battles. The Irish lads, then in Texas, found they had more in common with Spanish speaking, Catholic Mexicans than the English speaking Protestant leaders of the US military. These lads switched sides and became known as the San Patricios.
Of course, history shows, Mexico lost and the US army came into Mexico City in an effort to capture and kill the deserters that Mexicans consider heroes. That’s why Patricio (Pato) is to this day a common baby boy’s name.
Or so I thought…..
On a recent tour I had an author who wrote down nearly every word I said despite my protests that the stories were all on the web site (CatholicSMA.com). Here her next book is on Mexican images of Mary, but her last was on San Patricios.
To her the Irish soldiers were former NYC cops that got tired of Manhattan and went south. While fighting for the US in Mexico City they saw the five young lads (Ninos Heroes) that wrapped themselves in the Spanish flag and leapt to their deaths from Montezuma’s Castle . Known as “The Virgins” several SMA schools are named for the young men individually, or as a group.
This dedication motivated the former cops to switch sides and join the Mexican movement. When later they were caught they were branded like a cow with the letter D for desertion. (Or for Spanish speakers, d for “dios”, or God) They then moved to the state of Jalisco and formed a town called San Patrico where several descents have the last name “Obraan”, a derivative from O’Brien.
Where does the truth lie? Simply in the fact my pasty vampire ancestors have a lot more in common with my current brown skin brethren than we’ve had any idea for underneath all the DNA, we’re all very much alike!