St. Patrick's Day History

After a quick Google search, I had tons of information about St. Patrick’s Day. I wanted to know more about the origin of the day. Who was St. Patrick, what was the reason that led to this day in his honor? I knew about the traditions that Americans have like wearing green so you do not get pinched. How is it celebrated in Ireland and is it really just about green beer and leprechauns?
St. Patrick’s Day celebrations began about fifteen centuries ago on what is believed to be the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick. St. Patrick is the holy patron saint of Ireland and is credited with bringing Catholicism to the country. An interesting fact is that St. Patrick was not even Irish. According to the articles, researchers found two important documents that he wrote. In his “Confessio”, they discovered …show more content…
Patrick’s missionary work. Families would come together for a feast and then attend mass. The celebrations today have become more of an international celebration of Irish culture. Here in America we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with parades, the largest on is in New York City. Chicago and San Antonio dye the rivers running through the cities green. Closer to home, New Orleans has a big Irish population and they parade through the Garden District. Many of the clans’ parade with flowers to give to women for a kiss of good luck, cabbages, and Irish stew ingredients are thrown from floats along with beads and toys for kids. All across the world lots of green beer and Guinness is consumed and everyone wears green. The tradition of wearing green could be due to a few reasons, Ireland is typically referred to as the Emerald Isle, there is a green stripe in Ireland’s flag, and shamrocks are green. Pinching those who do not wear green is an American tradition, it is believed that leprechauns pinch those that do not participate, and in America, the tradition evolved into humans doing the