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It's A Great Day for the Irish

by Neighborhood-Kids.com3/17/2008 7:41:25 AM

If you’re caught not wearing a shade of green on March 17th, you might be the unlucky recipient of a pinch, whether you’re Irish or not. The modern celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland and across the global has come a long way since the traditional Catholic feast day was first celebrated in honor of Ireland’s patron saint.

Shamrocks are a symbol of Ireland and are said to bring good luck.

St. Patrick was a 5th century Christian bishop who had been kidnapped from Britain and taken to Ireland when he was a teenager. He escaped after six years, but returned to Ireland as a missionary as an adult.

Many of the stories about Patrick’s life have evolved into Irish folklore. He is said to have driven all the snakes in Ireland out of the country, but since the island never had any snakes to begin with, this story is probably a metaphor for his part in the removal of pagan religions (symbolized by snakes or serpents) in Ireland. It’s also said that St. Patrick explained the idea of a triune god with the shamrock, which is why the three-leafed clover is still a popular symbol for the holiday.

After St. Patrick was declared the patron saint of Ireland, March 17th, the reported date of his death, became his feast day. Traditionally, the day was strictly a religious observance in Ireland. But as many Irish natives emigrated from their homeland, they brought their feast of St. Patrick with them, celebrating their cultural heritage as well as their patron saint.

The Chicago River is dyed green for the city's St. Patrick's Day festivities.

The first St. Patrick’s Day Parade took place in Boston in 1737, organized by The Charitable Irish Society of Boston. Nowadays, St. Patrick’s Day parades take place in many of the larger cities in the Western world, including Seattle. These parades usually include traditional Irish drum and bagpipe music. In some places, the water in fountains and rivers is dyed green as part of celebration. Bellingham has its own special St. Patrick's Day celebration: an annual Runnin' O' the Green fun-run, organized by the Bellingham Department of Parks & Recreation. Since 1996, the Irish government began organizing an annual St. Patrick’s Day festival in Dublin to showcase Ireland and its culture.

Interestingly, many of our American traditions for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day have come a long way from the original Irish customs. While the typical St. Patrick’s Day meal in an Irish home includes Irish bacon and cabbage, Irish Americans have popularized the tradition of eating corned beef and cabbage instead. And although wearing the color green has become the universal symbol for observing the holiday, St. Patrick’s color was historically blue. The phrase “wearing of the green” comes from the Irish tradition of wearing a shamrock on one’s lapel, which many in Ireland still do. It's also customary to wear the colors of the Irish flag—green, white, and orange—as part of the celebration.

It might be your lucky day if you can find a leprechaun and his pot o' gold.

Another symbol for Ireland and this holiday, although it has little to do with St. Patrick himself, is the leprechaun and his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. This cunning fairy creature is said to be an inhabitant of the island that predates Celtic settlement during the Iron Age in pre-history. If you’re able to catch a leprechaun, he must tell you where to find his treasure, a possible explanation for the phrase, “luck of the Irish.”

The worldwide celebration of St. Patrick has become less about religion (although it is still a regularly observed feast day of the Catholic Church) and more about the celebration of one nation’s culture and their appetite for life, with parades, music, dancing, feasting and other shenanigans.