Happy Saint Patrick’s Day

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Here is a brief history of this Irish holiday and the patron saint it is named after:

Saint Patrick was not Irish but was born in the 5^th century in Britain. When he was sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and was held captive for six years. It was because of this that he converted to Christianity and dedicated his life to Christ by working as a missionary. He died on March 17^th, 461 and was largely forgotten until legends grew and was honored as the patron saint of Ireland. One of the myths associated with Saint Patrick is that he drove all the snakes away from Ireland. This is symbolism for Patrick cleansing the island of paganism and should not be taken literally. Prior to Saint Patrick, Ireland never had any snakes. The island of Ireland has waters too cold for snakes to migrate to. Another association is that he used the three leaves of the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit). Thus, people in 18^th century Ireland started wearing shamrocks on March 17^th to signify their Irish Christian pride. That tradition then grew into wearing green clothing on Saint Patrick’s Day.

The tradition of celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day with parades began in the 1840’s after the great potato famine struck Ireland. The famine sent hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants to the United States, in hopes for prosperity. The first record of a Saint Patrick’s Day parade in New York was held in 1762 when a group of Irish soldiers fighting with the British marched together to a tavern. Today, this is the largest and longest Saint Patrick’s Day parade with over 200,000 participants and 3,000,000 spectators each year.