Nov 16
2008

Saint Patrick’s Day has been around for centuries upon centuries, so chances are that you do not know very much about the history of St. Patrick’s Day. The only thing that your probably know is that on St. Patrick’s day, which is every March 17, you are suppose to wear green.

St. Patrick’s Day is to honor of course Saint Patrick, who is a patron saint of Ireland. A patron saint is considered the intercessor and advocate of a nation in heaven. Now Saint Patrick, who entered the church when he was about twenty-two years old, after escaping from the Irish raiders.

Saint Patrick spent most of his life as a missionary on the north and west side of Ireland. Then, by 700AD he was considered the patron saint of Ireland.

During the 17th century is when the Roman Catholic Church announced that they would honor Saint Patrick by making a feast day for him. So now you are probably asking yourself, what does wearing green have to do with Saint Patrick? Well the majority of people do not know this, but Saint Patrick once used a shamrock (aka as a three leaf clover) to explain the holy trinity to the people who were not yet christians. So the Irish people of today started wearing green, which represented that they were wearing a shamrock.

Before 1903, Saint Patrick’s day was only celebrated as a religious holiday, that was until 1903 when the Bank Holiday Act of 1903 made is a public holiday. Then in the mid 1990s Ireland began campaigning Saint Patrick’s day all over the world to bring a little bit of Ireland to everybody. They did this by having great celebrations, festivals, and many other celebrations that many people took part in.

The very first Saint Patrick’s day was held on March 17, 1996 for one day, compared to now where in 2006 it became a five day event. The biggest celebrations usually come from Irish island just outside Dublin, because this is believed to be where Saint Patrick was buried.

A very cool celebration comes all the way from the Chicago River in Chicago Illinois. The city dyes the river completely green every year.

So now you know the basics about Saint Patrick’s day. Saint Patrick’s day is a day long (sometimes even longer) all around the world on March 17th every year (except during holy week) in celebration of Saint Patrick, the patron of Ireland. People usually celebrate Saint Patrick’s day by wearing green, which signifies the shamrock (aka the three leaf clover). So what are you going to do next Saint Patrick’s day, are you going to be like everyone else and where green, or are you going to be like the Irish and throw a great big celebration.

Resources:
www.StPatricksDayRecipes.net