St. Patrick’s Day Traditions
I’m sure this is going to come as no surprise but modern day St. Patrick’s Day traditions are vastly different from what they were when the holiday was created.
The first St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated in 1631 when the church established a feast honoring the late St. Patrick.
St. Patrick had been a Patron Saint of Ireland, there is not a lot of definitive history on him but a few things we do know is:
- He was a roman citizen and was enslaved and taken to Ireland at approximately age 16;
- He was either released or escaped from his imprisonment;
- He then became a priest and returned to Ireland and had great luck in converting the Druid culture into Christians.
- Legend has it he was born named Maewyn Succat and changed his name to Patricius (or as we know him- Patrick) which means “father figure” in Latin.
- His supposed luck with converting people to Christianity is where the “luck” comes into play with modern St. Patrick’s Day traditions.
- He used the three leafed shamrock ☘ to explain the holy trinity to the Irish Pagans.
- He died on March 17th Year 432.
I decided to compile an assortment of traditions for this list as traditional and modern traditions vary quite drastically.
More Traditional:
- Attend church in the morning; and
- Celebrate in the afternoon! (Christian Lent rules were waived and people would eat and drink to their hearts content.);
- Wear blue;
- Enjoy some corned beef, cabbage and bacon; and
- Wear a shamrock.
More Modern:
- Attend a St. Patrick’s Day parade;
- Enjoy a breakfast beer at your favorite Irish pub (Many pubs open at 7am on March 17th)
- Wear green;
- “Drown” a shamrock. (Pop a shamrock into your last drink of the night for good luck.. and hopes of an easy hangover in the morning);
- Take in some Irish step dancing.
Info sourced from:
https://time.com/4261456/st-patrick-day-2016-history-real-saint/
https://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/history-of-st-patricks-day
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Patricks-Day
https://parade.com/1173388/jessicasager/st-patricks-day-traditions/
