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Saint Patrick's Day. Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit. 'the Day of the Festival of Patrick'), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (c. 385 – c. 461), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official ...
Saint Patrick’s Day, feast day (March 17) of St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland. People of that country celebrate the day with religious services and feasts, but Saint Patrick’s Day has transformed into a largely secular holiday of revelry in other parts of the world.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- St. Patrick’s Day is the feast day of St. Patrick, a patron saint of Ireland. Originally celebrated with religious feasts and services, St. Patrick...
- St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated annually on March 17, the anniversary of St. Patrick’s death in 461.
- St. Patrick’s Day was originally celebrated in Ireland with religious services and feasts in honour of St. Patrick, one of Ireland’s patron saints....
- St. Patrick was a 5th-century missionary to Ireland who is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. He became a legendary figure by the end...
Mar 13, 2024 · Various Christian holidays are great opportunities to share Jesus because they give you a good opener and connection to the Gospel. We celebrate St. Patrick's memory by reading some of his works, such as "The Confession of St. Patrick." Reading his work might help us connect with him on a deeper level.
- Overview
- Who was Saint Patrick?
- Why Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
- Why we wear green on St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick's Day is mostly a U.S.-based event, though cities around the world do celebrate with lots of green and lots of beer.
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St. Patrick’s Day is a cultural and religious holiday held annually on March 17. Named after the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick, the day celebrates Irish heritage with food, parades, drinks, Irish lore, and an assortment of green-colored things—green beer, anyone?
Today the holiday is celebrated around the world, with much of the modern traditions inspired by Irish expatriates in the United States.
Maewyn Succat wasn’t particularly religious growing up—or even Irish, for that matter—so it’s a bit surprising that he became patron saint of Ireland.
Born in Britain around A.D. 390, Maewyn grew up in a well-to-do Christian family, complete with slaves and property. At 16, however, Maewyn was kidnapped and whisked away to Ireland where he himself became a slave and tended sheep for six or seven years; accounts differ. It was then that Maewyn became deeply religious.
I used to stay out in the forests and on the mountain and I would wake up before daylight to pray in the snow, in icy coldness, in rain, and I used to feel neither ill nor any slothfulness, because, as I now see, the Spirit was burning in me at that time.
BySaint PatrickConfessio, translated from Latin
Eventually, legend has it, Maewyn began to hear voices, one of which told him to escape back to Britain. He managed to gain passage on a ship, but once he reunited with his family, the voice told him to return to Ireland.
Before returning, he was ordained as a priest and changed his name to Patricius, or Patrick, inspired by the Latin root “patr-” for “father.”
St. Patrick’s Day started as a minor religious holiday in 1631. The church declared it a feast day; pubs closed and observers went to church.
But the first St. Patrick’s Day parade was even earlier, and in America, according to the Washington Post. Ancient Spanish documents were discovered that showed the first recorded parade in honor of St. Patrick was in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1601. Although it was a Spanish settlement, St. Patrick was regarded as the patron saint of corn in the settlement. Since those early days, the parade tradition has spread throughout the U.S. and abroad, including Ireland.
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People relax by Ashleam Bay on Ireland’s Achill Island in a photo from a 1940 National Geographic. In the distance, a low wall keeps cattle and sheep from falling off the cliffs.
Edge of the Cliff
On St. Patrick’s Day, cities across the world turn iconic monuments green: the Sydney Opera House, the Pyramids at Giza, and the Eiffel Tower are all lit with green lights. The Chicago River is dyed bright green. In the U.S., people who don’t wear the color green on St. Patrick’s Day are pinched.
Green is the color of St. Patrick’s Day, but why?
According to some scholars, the color green only became associated with Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day during the Irish Rebellion in 1798. Before then, Ireland was known for the color blue since it featured prominently in the royal court and on ancient Irish flags.
During the rebellion against Britain, however, Irish soldiers chose to wear green—the color that most contrasted the red British uniforms—and sang, “The Wearing of the Green.” This firmly established the link between Ireland and the color green.
St. Patrick's Day no more to keep,
His color can't be seen,
Oct 27, 2009 · St. Patrick’s Day is a global celebration of Irish culture that takes place annually on March 17, the anniversary of the patron saint of Ireland's death in the fifth century. The holiday has ...
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St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday known for parades, shamrocks and all things Irish. ... when a group of Irish Protestants gathered to honor their homeland’s saint, a 5th century Christian ...
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Mar 16, 2023 · St. Patrick's Day is not a federal holiday in the United States. Post offices, banks, and most businesses and stores will be open on Friday, even amid parades and other celebrations. St. Patrick's ...
