St. Patrick's Day- Let's Get Green!

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's day has been celebrated over 1000 years, always on the same day that is March 17^th. And this celebration is religious, because the Irish commemorate the death anniversary of this saint. What families usually do,  is to attempt church in the morning and celebrate and partying hard in the afternoon.

But who’s Saint Patrick?

He is the man that introduced the Catholicism into Ireland and also the Patron. Besides he wasn’t born in Ireland, he was born in Britain near the 4^th century. Se he was with his family very happy when a pirates came up, attacked his family and then he was taken as a prisoner (not a very happy family). Then the raiders transported him to Ireland, and there he spent six years of his life in captivity, where he worked as a shepherd, and as he was very lonely and sad, he turned Christian and he dreamed to turn the Irish people into Christians.

So he had a revelation of God, telling him to escape, and he did that. Then he had a second revelation, where an angel told him to go back to Ireland, but this time as a missionary.

And Patrick was a very nice person and as he knew the language, he taught the people in their native language. Although he didn’t wanted to take off all the Irish native beliefs se to celebrate the Spring he used a bonfire, because the Irish were use to honor their gods with fire. He also taught the people with a shamrock, that symbolizes the trinity. And the color green doesn’t have anything in common; it is associated with the land of Ireland that is very green. Also there is a legend that says that St. Patrick drove all the snakes all of Ireland, but this probably did not occur because there is no evidence of snakes in the island; it is believed that this is a metaphor, because he drove out the pagans.

Facts

• St. Patrick color was blue.

• There are 34.7 million U.S residents with Irish ancestry. This is more than seven times the population of Ireland itself.

• The traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal is beef and cabbage.

• The first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place on March 17^th 1762, when Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City.

• Boston and New York City are the homes of St. Patrick’s Day parade and the best celebrations.