St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday most known for wearing green, parades, and partying but what is the reasoning behind why we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?
The Catholic Church remembers saints by celebrating their feast days throughout the year. Some examples of celebrated feast days are St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Benedict, St. Joseph, and many, many more. Obviously, these feast days have a significance to the Catholic Church, but why have feast days like St. Valentine and St. Patrick become so well-known and celebrated across the world?
The feast day of St. Patrick is celebrated on March 17th, which was believed to be the day of his death. A shock to many, but St. Patrick was actually born in Great Britain not Ireland. This can be confusing considering the holiday is surrounded by the belief that he was Irish. Although he did not originate from Ireland his missionary did. When Patrick was younger, he was held captive for six years after a group of Irish raiders attacked his family’s house and then took him as a prisoner and transported him to Ireland. During his time as a prisoner, he became lonely and afraid, so he focused on things like working outside but he still felt an emptiness, so he turned to his religion.
Patrick then became a devoted Christian. After six years of being held captive as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to what Patrick wrote, it was believed that God had spoken to him in a dream telling him to leave Ireland. He then notes that he had a second revelation that God wanted him to go back to Ireland as a missionary. His goal was to convert the Irish into believing in Christianity, which he did succeed in. That is why today Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland.
Over time, this historically religious holiday became very popular amongst the Irish American immigrant community. To celebrate, they wore green, which represented Ireland’s beautiful green landscape and the green on their country’s flag.
Today St. Patrick’s Day is considered a very popular holiday. As time went on, new traditions were created to celebrate. Many people gather for parades, parties, and some parents have come up with the idea to prank their children with leprechauns. Also, if you don’t wear green you will get pinched.
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