What Does St. Patrick's Day Celebrate?

Overview

Almost everyone celebrates St. Patrick's day today, even if it's just to wear green to avoid being pinched. However, there are many misconceptions surrounding this popular holiday.

St. Patrick

St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. Though not Irish, and mostly forgotten after his death, the mythology surrounding him grew until he was eventually canonized as a saint. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents around 390 A.D. He died March 17, 460 A.D. When he was 16 years old, he was taken to Ireland as a slave. There he worked as a shepherd and was left alone most of the time. One day he believed he heard the voice of God telling him to leave Ireland, so he escaped and returned to Britain. He had another revelation in which an angel spoke to him and told him to return to Ireland as a missionary. After 15 years of training, he was ordained a priest and sent back to Ireland. At the time, many in the country practiced nature-based, polytheistic pagan religions. Patrick mixed traditional Irish rituals with his Christian teachings to appeal to the people. Patrick incorporated the custom of bonfires into Easter celebrations. He also combined the sun with the cross to create the Celtic cross, a powerful Irish symbol to this day. And despite being persecuted during his time there, Ireland was completely Christian 200 years after his arrival.

History of St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's day is the anniversary of St. Patrick's death and has been observed as a religious holiday in Ireland for more than a thousand years. The date falls in the middle of Lent, when some Christians refrain from eating meat, drinking or dancing. St. Patrick's day was never a major holiday, but it was the one day during Lent when those prohibitions were lifted. St. Patrick's Day as we know it is actually an Irish-American invention. The first parade took place in New York in 1762 as a way for immigrants, who faced a lot of discrimination in their new homeland, to show pride in their heritage. Irish charities began holding parades and in 1848 they came together for the first New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade, which is the world's oldest civilian parade. From there it has grown in popularity to become the holiday we know today.

Symbols of Modern St. Patrick's Day

The shamrock is probably the most known symbol of all things Irish. Traditionally, in Ireland it represents rebirth. As early as the 17th century it was being used to symbolize Irish nationalism. It's also said that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the idea of the holy Trinity, the idea that something can be three, but one, separate, but the same. Leprechauns in Irish mythology were small cranky tricksters. Walt Disney changed this image with his 1959 movie Darby O'Gill & the Little People, which portrayed leprechauns as cheerful and friendly. This image evolved in the United States as a symbol of St. Patrick's day. Snakes are also a symbol of St. Patrick's day. It's based on the popular myth that St. Patrick stood on a mountain and banished all the snakes from Ireland. Snakes are actually a metaphor for paganism.

Traditions of Modern St. Patrick's Day

In the United States, many people celebrate St. Patrick's day by eating corned beef and cabbage. Irish-American immigrants started making this dish in the early 1900s as a cheaper version of the traditional Irish dish of bacon and cabbage. All things green became a tradition that has become popular all over the world. It started as a way to show solidarity and commitment within Irish-American communities. People dress in green, drink green beers and the Chicago river is even dyed green each year with vegetable dye.

Modern St. Patrick's Day Around the World

Today St. Patrick's day is not only celebrated in the United States, Canada and Australia, but all around the world including Singapore, Japan and Russia. Since 1995, Ireland has been celebrating as well with outdoor concerts, fireworks and parades in an attempt to boost tourism. No longer a religious observance when pubs are closed, Ireland has embraced the American holiday as a way to celebrate the Irish.