St. Patrick's day

St. Patrick’s Day is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated by the Irish community around the world on March 17. The day traditionally marks the death of Saint Patrick, and acknowledges the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. However, the day has evolved to also celebrate the Irish spirit and Irish culture more generally.

Born in the fourth century, the main patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick, was not actually Irish. He is believed to have been born into a well-off family in Britain, then a part of the Roman Empire.

The colour green has become symbolic with the day because of Ireland's lush landscape, earning it the name Emerald Isle. However, back in the 17th century, the colour associated with festivities was blue.

As far back as 1681, a popular practice (usually by children) on the day was to wear decorated Celtic crosses made of paper. The practice began to disappear in the 20th century.

St. Patrick is believed to have used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Christian Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The shamrock has since been linked to the festival and is sported by the Irish around the world. Shamrocks aren't an actual plant. They can refer to several botanical species of clovers or three-leaved grasses like wood sorrel.

Till the 18th century, St. Patrick’s Day was only considered a Roman Catholic feast and was celebrated only in Ireland, where people would pray in a church or at home. However, the now-popular tradition of parades started in the U.S. began when Irish immigrants began celebrating on March 17 as a show of pride and ode to their culture.

The first gathering in the U.S. to honour St. Patrick took place in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1737, and the tradition of parading began in 1766 when Irish Catholic members of the British Army ushered in the day with fifes and drums.

On this day, people around the world are seen wearing green clothes, drinking green beer and even dyeing water bodies, like the Chicago River, green. Not wearing green on this day can get you pinched. An early 18th-century American belief was that wearing green made one invisible to leprechauns and fairies. These mischievous creatures would pinch those they could see, so anyone not donning the colour gets pinched as a reminder.

As part of the celebration, revellers around the world indulge in corned beef and cabbage with soda bread, considering it an authentic Irish meal. However, cabbage is traditionally eaten with bacon in Ireland, but the Irish picked up corned beef to go with cabbage when they immigrated to the U.S.