The History of St. Patricks Day
Overview
Every year on March 17 many worldwide celebrate the wearing of the green for St. Patrick’s Day and those that don’t get the ill-fated pinch. March 17 honors the death of St. Patrick (387-461 AD) of Ireland. The Irish have observed this day for thousands of years.
History
St. Patrick was born in Britain (Maewyn Succat in Banna Venta Berniae, Britain, now known as Wales to be exact) but was taken to Ireland by raiders at the young age of 16 and held captive for six years. During this time he turned to religion and many believed he first started to think about converting the Irish to Christianity at this time. St. Patrick escaped Ireland and went back to Britain. He began to study religion and fifteen years later he returned to Ireland to try to convert Pagans to Christianity, this task he did for thirty years.
Significance
The Irish flag is three stripes, orange, white and green. The orange was significant to Northern Ireland and the Protestants. The green was significant to the Republic of Ireland and the Catholics. And the white stood for hope of peace between them. Green is also the color of the unofficial nationalist Irish flag baring the harp. In the beginning all three colors were worn by the Irish. As time went on and times evolved, green became the dominant color.
Misconceptions
The common myth about St. Patrick is that he banished all the snakes out of Ireland. Ireland did not have at snakes at this time, so this was untrue. Scholars believe the interpretation comes from the pagan serpent.
Geography
St. Patrick’s Day started in Ireland, but the first parade was not in Ireland, but rather the United States, in New York City, 1762. Over the years it has spread to Australia, UK, Europe, and Canada. It is an celebrated holiday, but not an official holiday. It is a national holiday in Ireland, a bank holiday in Northern Ireland and a public holiday in The Republic of Ireland.
Fun Fact
In 2007 41.5 Billion pound of Beef and 2.6 Billion pounds of cabbage were sold in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, the traditional Irish feast. In Gaelic, St. Patrick’s Day is spoken as L ‘le Pdraig or L Fhile Pdraig.
Fun Fact About Me
My family hails from County Claire and County Cork. Last year my family found out we had linage tracing back to Vikings.
References
St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday I love to celebrate. It’s a celebration rich with customs, food, drinks and culture. What’s your favorite holiday?
I am not surprised that ir originated here. It seems like it picks up more and more momentum here in Boston every year.
I love this article. I’ve never really thought about where St. Patrick’s Day came from before. I’ve just always worn green.
I love hearing about the history of different days and nationalities. Being Irish, this is a lot of great info for me!
Such good information! Thanks for sharing your knowledge about this holiday with us! 😀
I love hearing about where things originated! Wearing green and eating green is always so much fun! 🙂
I love the significance of their flag, every color means something, that is neat. Thanks for the info.
I think St Patricks Day is such a cool holiday. We may celebrate it for the wrong reasons but it’s always good to learn the rap reason. Thanks for this post!!
I believe it is safe to say, you are never too old to learn something new! I did not know that St. Patrick was not Irish! This will be a great history lesson for the kiddos tonight! Thank you for sharing!
This is great information about St Patrick’s Day. I love that history of the flag.
We always celebrate St Patrick’s day. This is interesting history about St Patick’s Day.I make green food and drinks for the kids.
I’ll have to share this info with my son. he’s really into the history of holidays right now
Such great information! It’s always fun learning about pieces of history and I must admit I believed a few wrong things about St. Patrick’s. lol
This is a really interesting article. I never really thought about the origin of Saint Patrick’s day but it cracks me up that the first parade was in the United States!
Thanks for sharing your fun facts about you and sharing this history and facts of St. Patricks day. To be honest I really didn’t know about it that much.
I honestly didn’t know half of this information you shared. Thanks a lot, being South African I don’t really know much about the holiday and the celebrations involved.
These are some pretty neat facts! I’m not Irish, but I do love St.Patty’s because of corned beef and cabbage! So yummy!
Wow this is so cool, I had no idea honestly where St. Patrick’s Day came from before this. I actually have some lineage dating back to Ireland and to the Vikings like you, my grandmother has the specifics though lol.
I have attended numerous St. Patrick’s Day parade but did not know what it really meant. Thanks for sharing I will also share this with my friends.
Interesting and fun article. While people celebrate it with some fervor here in California, I don’t think we put on the beautiful shows and parades they have on the East Coast. Every year, though, we have fun talking about it, and maybe having a beer to celebrate. Fascinating history. Thank you for sharing.
Nice visiting via A-Z Blogging Challenge.
I was looking for the A-Z Challenge Theme Reveil and found this article about St. Patrick instead. I have been in Dublin this St. Patrick’s Day to see the parade. One view into the future was “The return of the snakes” Wonderful snakes which were fought by St. Patrick. It was fun watching the parade, While reading your post I thought back to last thursday and a wonderful days I’ve spent in Ireland. Thanks for reminding me.
Sorry about that. I was a little late hitting the publish button. Here is the post: http://nevermorelane.com/atozchallenge-theme-reveal-positive-self/
I am glad though that I was able to remind you of your wonderful times in Ireland.