St. Patrick's Day

By: Bryce Christiansen

     St. Patrick's Day is a very fun day to celebrate, but have you ever wondered about the history behind it? The part that most of us should know is that St. Patrick's Day honors the death of Ireland's patron saint, also known as St. Patrick. Believe it or not, there are a lot of cool and interesting facts about about the history of Patrick the saint. According to "GPB Media", it explains that St. Patrick was actually born in Roman Britain, and his name at birth was Maewyn. It also specifies that at one point, he was kidnapped into slavery and brought to Ireland. Eventually, he escaped into a monastery located in France, and traveled back to Ireland as a missionary. Soon he became a bishop, and after his passing away he was named the patron saint of Ireland. This means that St. Patrick's day, an Irish holiday is honored for someone who wasn't from Ireland, and who's first name was actually Maewyn. Believe it or not, we still do not know all about the life of St. Patrick. Watch out though, because there are lots of Irish tall tales that describe St. Patrick falsely. You may still be wondering how the celebration of this holiday became international, especially in the United States. The concept is pretty simple. Referring to "The History of St. Patrick's Day", it says "... the first St. Patrick's day parade was held on March 17, 1762...Irish families have traditionally celebrated the feast of St. Patrick as a religious holiday for thousands of years..." We can conclude from this that Irish immigrants have passed the celebration of St. Patrick to America. It even explains in the first article above that the celebration of St. Patrick's day became like a connection to Ireland for the Irish immigrants. Nowadays to celebrate St. Patrick's Daynwe eat beef and cabbage, because back then that was the best thing people could afford for their celebration. In Chicago 1962, a tradition of dying the Chicago river green was introduced, and we have been doing that every year since then. Also, every year a St. Patrick's Day parade is held creating a lot of Irish spirit. Overall, the history and celebrations of St. Patrick's day is very intriguing. 

May your blessings outnumber 

The shamrocks that grow

 And may trouble avoid you 

Wherever you go. 

-Irish Blessing