The St Patrick’s Day challenge on Pinterest

Which pendant images from below most represents your view on Saint Patrick’s day?

We challenge the Pinterest community and our followers to exert their reach and influence and make the displayed images spread far and wide across Pinterest within the very short time remaining until St Patrick’s day.

 

Saint Patrick’s Day is a celebration of the arrival of Christianity in Ireland and the culture and heritage of the Irish in general. St Patrick’s day is celebrated every year on the 17 of March the day on which Saint Patrick died. (385–461 AD)

The population of Ireland is estimated to be about 6.3 million, however, 50 to 80 million descendants live across the globe, of which, about 33 million live in the USA alone.  All people of Irish descent have an equal ancestral claim to the celebration of Saint  Patrick’s day.

It is not only these Irish descendants who celebrate this day. St Patrick’s, has become a global phenomenon, where people the world over don their greens and strut their fashion of the day to everyone’s delight.

 

Saint Patrick is reputed to have been kidnapped from his home in Great Britain by Irish pirates at the age of about thirteen.  He was enslaved in Ireland and escaped captivity six years later and returned to his family.

This experience had a significant effect on him and likely caused him to devote his life to God.

He studied priesthood and later returned to northern and western Ireland in order to spread Christianity among  the population who were
largely Pagan believers.

 

The tree of life  symbol is represented in many cultures. It is widely believed that Britain was once covered by mighty oak forests and represented the balance of nature. The tree was celebrated as a source of food, shelter and materials with which to build shelter.

The snakes or serpents as depicted in the medallion were not thought of as evil, but symbolic of rebirth and new beginnings in Celtic religion.

In the bible snakes are often depicted as evil. Common myth indicates that Saint Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland.

This is, however, is disputed because fossil evidence indicates that there are no snakes to be found Ireland and this perception is believed to be symbolic of converting or driving out  the druids of the old religion.

The Saint Michael medal indicates the fight between the archangel Michael and Satan, depicted as a serpent.

Saint medals are extremely popular as a means to express devotion to their religious beliefs and sometimes even as charms to for good luck or to ward of evil.

 

The introduction of Christianity to the Celts was introduced with the symbol of the Celtic cross, which is based on old Celtic symbols of a stone revered by the druids being blessed by Saint Patrick with the addition of a cross thereto.

This was done in an attempt to recognize the Celtic symbolism and encourage the transition into Christian beliefs.

The depicted medal highlights the glaring contradiction between the largely nature based beliefs of old with the values of Christianity.

 

The snakes or serpents depicted in the cross, which despite their natural absence in ancient Ireland, held completely divergent meanings to the respective faiths.

The Shamrock, which is the national flower of Ireland, was reportedly used by Saint Patrick to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity to the druids.

They in their own beliefs considered the plant as sacred bestowed symbolic value onto the shamrock relating to the balance of nature and earth sky and the sea.

 

Saint Christopher is widely known as the saint of travelers, and wearing a charm in his image is sometimes done in a request of his blessing for protection while traveling.

The name Christopher is translated to Christ bearer and the image of him is often represented by walking with a staff with a child carried across his shoulder.

A story reveals how one such

child, who turned as heavy as lead as they crossed the river, revealed to Saint Christopher that he was Christ himself before he mysteriously vanished.

Saint Patrick’s day is not always celebrated with a religious objective. For many it is simply a celebration of being Irish, which has a strong leaning to their Celtic origins.

The Shamrock for the Irish, maybe more so, than the national flower of many other countries, has a strong identity.

Celtic love knots, symbolic for love, affection and family, feature strongly in the jewelry representative of the Irish. 

There are various styles with traditional Celtic jewelry, which represents the bonds between loved ones

and at the same time show cases a strong Irish identity.

As is the case with a cross, it is customary to wear a Shamrock on Saint Patrick’s day. This is a long standing custom stemming from since at least the 1680’s.

The Shamrock is often seen as lucky, maybe as a result of the term the luck of the Irish, however, it is worth mentioning that it has three leaves and is not linked to the superstition of the luck brought by accidentally finding a four leaf clover.

 

The colour green, is probably the strongest visual aspect of Saint Patrick’s day. On this day, whether you are Irish or not, hordes of people celebrate in green.

In Jewelry, emeralds and peridot  are popular gemstones used to adorn rings, bracelets and pendants.

The Irish as a nation have a fiercely strong national identity.

This is often expressed in their taste in jewelry and often wedding and engagement rings are strongly representative of their Celtic origins.

Have you ever

wondered where the expression “tying the knot” came from?

This very common saying comes from the very old Irish tradition where the bond of marriage, as symbolized by the exchange of rings, was once done by wrapping a chord around the joined hands of the bride and groom.

A similar old Irish tradition is where a Celtic bride would wear a horsehoe on her wedding dress to bring luck to the wedding and the remaining days of the bride and groom.

Pinterest reach

Pinterest is a relatively new entrant on social media scene, yet has since surpassed some of the big players in their achieved engagement and commercial relevance. In a recent correspondence, Pinterest quoted that 93% of Pinners shopped online in the last 6 months.

Pinners not only collect images that appeal to them, they also bookmark products to be purchased at a later date or organize their pins to assist in making purchasing decisions. Pinterest users often passionately follow the reach of their picture submissions among their followers and Pinterest’s user base in general.

People not only collect and display images for their own benefit, but also value the feedback from their followers. This in turns inspires like minded others to Pin the same image if it appeals to them too. Often the interest generated by any image influences other users to place greater value onto such a product or picture purely based on the public interest it has achieved. This in short explains how some images go “viral”.

On Pinterest, we have a very engaged audience of people interested in the more non-traditional jewelry on our popular profile. In particular sterling silver jewelry is exceptionally big among our followers.

We, as we like to do, did intensive research on what people are looking for and what people are buying for peak holiday seasons. Saint Patrick’s day pins generate massive traffic on Pinterest and result in many sales over this period.

We have analysed search trends on the Amazon.com market place and isolated some of the most popular Saint Patrick’s day items, in particular in jewelry, based on sales, ratings and reviews. It is no easy task to find exactly what one is looking for with broader searches.

We found Saint Patrick’s day sterling silver medals were among the most sought after items searched for on Amazon during this period.

 

Please take part in our challenge and Pin your favorite images

 

Product	Label	Brand	Title
Sterling Silver 7/8″ Oval Engraved St. Patrick, Patron of Irishmen Medal on 24″ Chain	TrueFaithJewelry	TrueFaithJewelry	Sterling Silver 7/8″ Oval Engraved St. Patrick, Patron of Irishmen Medal on 24″ Chain
Men’s Saint Michael Pendant Necklace, 20″	Bob Siemon Designs, Inc.	Amazon Curated Collection	Men’s Saint Michael Pendant Necklace, 20″
Sterling Silver Round Saint Christopher Pendant Necklace with Stainless Steel Chain, 20″	Amazon Curated Collection	Amazon Curated Collection	Sterling Silver Round Saint Christopher Pendant Necklace with Stainless Steel Chain, 20″
Sterling Silver Celtic Heart Knot Clover Pendant Necklace, 18″	PAJ, Inc	Amazon Curated Collection	Sterling Silver Celtic Heart Knot Clover Pendant Necklace, 18″
925 Sterling Silver Celtic Shamrock Three-Leaf Clover and Braided Claddagh, Rhodium Plated Chain 18″	Chuvora	Chuvora	925 Sterling Silver Celtic Shamrock Three-Leaf Clover and Braided Claddagh, Rhodium Plated Chain 18″
.925 Sterling Silver Celtic Shamrock Cross Pendant	N/A	Doublebeez Jewelry	.925 Sterling Silver Celtic Shamrock Cross Pendant
Sterling Silver Celtic Cross Pendant Necklace , 18″	Amazon Curated Collection	Amazon Curated Collection	Sterling Silver Celtic Cross Pendant Necklace , 18″
.925 Sterling Silver Celtic Design Shamrock Ireland Clover 4-Leaf Lucky Charm Luck Symbol Irish Clover Leaf W Emerald Stone Gemstone Green Medal Pendant Necklace Comes With A Beautiful 20” Silver Plated Snake Chain	Enlightened Expressions	Enlightened Expressions	.925 Sterling Silver Celtic Design Shamrock Ireland Clover 4-Leaf Lucky Charm Luck Symbol Irish Clover Leaf W Emerald Stone Gemstone Green Medal Pendant Necklace Comes With A Beautiful 20” Silver Plated Snake Chain
925 Sterling Silver Beautiful Detailed Tree of life Celtic Knot Pendant, Rhodium Plated Chain 18″	Chuvora	Chuvora	925 Sterling Silver Beautiful Detailed Tree of life Celtic Knot Pendant, Rhodium Plated Chain 18″
Sterling Silver and Black and White Diamond Double Horseshoe Pendant Necklace (.13 cttw, Black Diamonds and I-J Color, I3 Clarity), 16.5″	Amazon Curated Collection	Amazon Curated Collection	Sterling Silver and Black and White Diamond Double Horseshoe Pendant Necklace (.13 cttw, Black Diamonds and I-J Color, I3 Clarity), 16.5″