St. Patrick’s Day

What is St. Patrick’s Day and why do we celebrate it every March 17?

• St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, the saint's religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years. On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast--on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

• Lent is the period of 40 weekdays that in the Christian Church is devoted to fasting, abstinence, and penitence.

Who was St. Patrick?• It is known that St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents

near the end of the fourth century. He is believed to have died on March 17, around 460 A.D.. At the age of 16, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate. They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity. During this time, he worked as a shepherd, outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian. After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to his writing, a voice—which he believed to be God's—spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland. (It is also believed that Patrick first began to dream of converting the Irish people to Christianity during his captivity.)

• Before he was called St. Patrick, he was called Maewyn Succat.

• After escaping to Britain, Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation—an angel in a dream tells him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Soon after, Patrick began religious training, a course of study that lasted more than 15 years. After his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland with a dual mission: to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish.

• Familiar with the Irish language and culture, Patrick chose to incorporate traditional ritual into his lessons of Christianity instead of attempting to eradicate native Irish beliefs. For instance, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter since the Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire. He also superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish. Although there were a small number of Christians on the island when Patrick arrived, most Irish practiced a nature-based pagan religion.

• It is said that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. There weren’t any snakes in Ireland. But instead, it is believed that the snakes represented paganism that St. Patrick fought to get rid of.

Symbol of ChristPagan Sun God Belanus

Celtic Cross

What is Paganism

• Pagans believed that there were many goddesses and gods. Some of the more famous are: Arawn, Brigid, Cernunnos, Cerridwen, Danu, Herne, Lugh, Morgan, Rhiannon and Taranis. The sun god was called Belanus, Epona the goddess of horses, and Taranis was the god of thunder and of war.

• Druids were the high priests of paganism. The Druids used many divination techniques to foretell the future: meditation, study of the flight of birds, interpreting dreams, and interpreting the pattern of sticks thrown to the ground.

• Ritual human sacrifices some times were done to appease their gods.

The Shamrock

• St. Patrick is credited with taking Christianity to Ireland around A.D. 432. To sell his message, Irish legend says he chose the shamrock as a symbol of the Christian church. Its three leaves were meant to represent the Holy Trinity: God, Son and the Holy Spirit, joined together by a common stalk. Apparently, the shamrock campaign worked: by the time of St. Patrick's death on March 17, 461, he had created a number of churches, schools and monasteries dedicated to the faith.

What do leprechauns have to with St. Patrick’s Day?

History of the Leprechauns

• A leprechaun is a diminutive fairy, a supernatural creature about whom tales were passed down within the rich history of Irish oral storytelling.

• Irish folklore described leprechauns as crotchety, solitary, yet mischievous creatures. They were said to be shoemakers who socked away their profits in pots at the end of rainbows, or scattered them around in mountains, forests, or rocks.

• Leprechauns and St. Patrick's Day are connected because a leprechaun is an Irish symbol of good luck. Also Saint Patrick had good luck on his escape from the people who captured him.

• It is said that if you catch a Leprechaun, he will grant you three wish's…

• ….But be careful what you wish for!!

Pride of the Irish: What it means to be Irish on St. Patrick’s day

• St. Patrick’s Day is a day of celebration and gives the Irish of a sense of pride in their heritage.

• For many years, blue was the color most often associated with St. Patrick. Green was considered unlucky. St. Patrick’s blue was considered symbolic of Ireland for many centuries and the Irish Presidential Standard is still blue.

• St. Patrick’s Day is a day to pay homage to Catholic church and family.

• It’s about fun and getting into the spirit of holiday• Sometimes its about the party and having fun.

• …Some take being Irish very seriously

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated around the world

Ireland•Most of the big cities of Ireland hold yearly festivals, with some lasting five days long

•In Dublin 2004 over 2,000 participants and musical bands were part of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and was watched by 30,000 people.

•By 2009 more than 670,000 attended the 2009 parade.

St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland is an important tourist destination.

• …But you don’t have to go all the way to Ireland to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

United States

•New York's first Saint Patrick's Day observance was similar in nature to that of Boston's. It was held on 17 March 1762.

•In every year since 1991, March has been proclaimed Irish-American Heritage Month by the US Congress or President due to the date of St. Patrick's Day.

•Chicago has many different St. Patrick's Day celebrations, the most famous being the dyeing of the Chicago River. Each year, the city hosts a parade downtown, which involves thousands of people lining the banks of the river and watching as a boat releases dye into the river and turns the river a kelly green color.•Buffalo, New York; Butte, Montana; Cleveland, Ohio; Denver, Colorado and many other cities hold this event yearly.

Here in the USA we dye our river green for St. Patrick's day!!

Canada

One of the longest-running Saint Patrick's Day parades in North America occurs each year in Montreal, whose city flag includes a shamrock in its lower-right quadrant. The parades have been held continually since 1824

Japan

• Saint Patrick's Parades are now held in nine locations across Japan. The first parade, in Tokyo, was organized by The Irish Network Japan (INJ) in 1992. Nowadays parades and other events related to Saint Patrick's Day spread across almost the entire month of March.

Danny Boy• Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling

From glen to glen, and down the mountain sideThe summer's gone, and all the flow'rs are dying'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.

• But come ye back when summer's in the meadowOr when the valley's hushed and white with snow'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadowOh, Danny boy, oh, Danny boy, I love you so.

• And if you come, and all the flowers are dyingIf I am dead, as dead I well may beI pray you'll find the place where I am lyingAnd kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.

• And I shall hear, though soft you tread above meAnd all my grave will warm and sweeter beAnd then you'll kneel and whisper that you love meAnd I shall sleep in peace until you come to me.

• or I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.or And I shall rest in peace until you come to me.or Oh, Danny boy, oh, Danny boy, I love you so.

Darby O’Gill and the Little People

The End