SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

HISTORY

St. Patrick's Day is the feast day (March 17) of St. Patrick, Ireland's patron saint. He was captured at the age of 16 and taken to Ireland as a slave from Roman Britain in the late 4th century. He managed to flee, but he returned in 432 to convert the Irish to Christianity. By the time he died on March 17, 461, he had established monasteries, churches, and schools. A lot of legends grew up around him—for example, that he drove the snakes out of Ireland and used the shamrock to explain the Trinity. Ireland has come to celebrate its day with religious services and celebrations. St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on Wednesday, March 17, 2021.

It was the emigrants, especially to the United States, who transformed St. Patrick's Day into a largely secular holiday of revelry and celebration of Irish things. Cities with large numbers of Irish immigrants, who often wielded political power, staged the most extensive celebrations, including elaborate parades. Boston hosted the first parade on St. Patrick's Day in 1737, followed by New York City in 1762. Chicago has been coloring its green river since 1962 to mark the holidays. (Although blue was traditionally associated with St. Patrick's color, green is now commonly associated with the day.) Both Irish and non-Irish typically engage in the "wearing of the green"—a sports piece of green clothing or a shamrock, an Irish national herb, in the lapel. Corned beef and cabbage are synonymous with the holidays, and even beer is often colored green to mark the day. While some of these traditions were ultimately embraced by the Irish themselves, they did so largely for the benefit of the tourists. 

9 Shocking facts of St. Patrick's Day

1. Saint Patrick was not wearing green. His hue was the "Grey of St. Patrick." The colour green became synonymous with St. Patrick's Day after it was linked to the Irish independence movement of the late 18th century.
2. St. Patrick was British, considering his Irish popularity. He was born to Roman parents in Scotland or Wales at the end of the fourth century.

3. According to the Irish tradition, when he first brought Christianity to Ireland, St. Patrick used the shamrock as a symbol for the Holy Trinity.

4. Saint Patrick is known with driving snakes out of Ireland, but according to the geological record, Ireland was never home to snakes as it was too cold to house reptiles during the Ice Age. Since then, the nearby seas have driven snakes out.
5. There's no corn in the popular St. Patrick's Day meal of corned beef and cabbage. The name refers to the large grains of salt that have traditionally been used to treat meats, also known as "corns." 

6. St. Patrick was born "Maewyn Succat" but changed his name to "Patricius" after becoming a priest.

7. Irish settlers began practicing St. Patrick's Day in Boston in 1737, and the first St. Patrick's Day parade in America took place in New York City in 1766.

8. In Chicago, the Plumbers Local 110 union digests the green Kelly River. The coloring lasts for five hours.

9. On or near St. Patrick's Day, the Irish taoiseach, or Prime Minister, provides the President of the United States with a crystal bowl of live shamrocks as a sign of close relations between the two nations.

Watch the videos about St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin and New York.

And...Would you like to go to a parade on Saint Patrick’s Day?