St. Patrick's Day History

It is March! We’ve had to go through a lot through 2021 to get here. The snow-pocalypse was quite the ordeal. I hope that everyone made it through safely with minimal damages to your homes. I also hope that everyone has water back to their homes! I know that it took a couple of weeks for some of my friends and family to get their water back here in Abilene. 

Throwback to 2010

Now that all of that is over, we are now into Spring! Spring Break is happening soon and it’s about time for St. Patrick's Day on March 17, which also happens to be one of my cousins' birthday! So I thought that it would be fun to do some research and give some back story on what this day is and why we celebrate it, because I honestly am not sure myself. All I’ve really ever known about it is that it is an Irish holiday that you need to wear green to avoid getting pinched! 

Let’s start with the name of the holiday. St. Patrick was a man that lived in the fifth century, who was born in Roman Britain. He was not born with the name Patrick, his name was originally Maewyn Succat. When Maewyn was 16, he was kidnapped from his home in Rome and was taken to Ireland as a slave. 

At some point in there he either managed to escape, or he was released from slavery (which I find doubtful) and he returned home. At home Maewyn studied to become a priest and changed his name to Patrick, which held the meaning of “father figure”.  Once he became a priest he returned to Ireland and holds the credit of converting the Druid culture over to Christianity. His death date is March 17, 461 giving us the date of celebrating the holiday.

A little tidbit into another portion into St. Patrick's Day, or even into just everyday life that I found fascinating: St. Patrick used the three leaf clover, or the Shamrock, in his teachings to explain the Holy Trinity. This is why finding one is considered lucky. It’s a little sign that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is with you. St. Patrick was also considered a very lucky man in general for escaping slavery, and then coming beck to the place he was  enslaved and staying a free man. The Shamrock is a sign of his luck. 

Since St. Patrick is thought to have died in 461, it might come as a little bit of a surprise that the very first St. Patrick’s day was not celebrated until 1631. This celebration was not the kind of celebrations that we have come to know today though. It was more of a religious holiday where pubs would close and they would spend the day in prayer. It would quickly transform into a day where they could take a break from the restraints of Lent and eat as they please. 

The celebration spread to America in the 1700’s. With it spreading over here it became less of a religious holiday and more of an Irish pride day. This is why everyone wears green as a sign of Irish pride and independence. Marketing from various companies like Budweiser for example have made it be what is traditional to have for celebration for the day. This is this short version of how it went from being a religious holiday to a day of partying, wearing green, and drinking beer that it is today. 

When we think Irish we think green, which is why we wear green for St. Patrick’s Day, right? Not exactly. Their flag was blue, the knights in the Order of St. Patrick wore blue, so you would think that blue would have been the color and not green. It was decided during the Irish rebellion that since the British wore red, the Irish would wear green. Green became the color of the Irish independence and a sign of pride. 

Now the big reason why we all make sure to wear green on the holiday is so we don’t get pinched. So where on Earth did that come from? There has always been that lore on leprechauns, who are mischievous in nature. Green is invisible to leprechauns, so if you wear green - they can’t see you to reach you. Now that doesn’t stop any of your friends from pinching you, so beware on the 17th!

Now that is the short story of St. Patrick's Day and some of the quirks that come with it! I'm not sure on how the man, St. Patrick, would feel about how the day in his honor has been turned into. It has turned into an event of Irish celebration and pride. 

Sources:

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/lifestyles/why-we-get-pinched-on-st-patricks-day/article_ea6762c8-2960-11e8-af3c-db79c483d234.html

https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/holidays-celebrations/a35228560/st-patricks-day-history/#

https://time.com/4261456/st-patrick-day-2016-history-real-saint/

https://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/history-of-st-patricks-day