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What are the origins of St. Patrick's Day?

We wear green, drink beer (often dyed green), eat green bagels, and paint green stripes down the center of streets. We eat corned beef and cabbage, and we go to parades. Is any of this really Irish? And what has it got to do with St. Patrick?

1. Parades

The first and the biggest St. Patrick's Day parade originated in Manhattan in 1766 and just keeps getting bigger. The Irish have been parading in Dublin for only about 75 years.

2. The Wearing of Green

Flaunting green garb has been considered bad luck in Ireland for centuries. It was believed to be the favorite color of fairies, who were likely to kidnap women and children who wore too much of the emerald green.

3. The Luck of the Irish

One thousand years of invasions, starvation, and emigrations doesn't sound so lucky. Apparently the expression, "Luck of the Irish" originated during the United States gold rush of the late 19th century when four fellows named Fair, Flood, O'Brien, and Mackay became some of the richest prospectors, known as the Silver Kings, not because they were smart but because they were "lucky" and hit the Comstock Lode.

4. How About Those Snakes?

Did Saint Patrick banish the snakes from Ireland? True, snakes haven't frequented the island since St. Patrick lived there. But neither have elephants, monkeys or iguanas. When snakes were populating the earth, about 100 million years ago, Ireland was under the ocean, and snakes do not swim well. Cold blooded critters need sun, and the Irish weather is bad news for snakes.

5. Leprechauns

In Ireland leprechauns have always been thought to be nasty, brutish, stingy, grumpy, alcoholic, little elves, who complain about having to make shoes for Irish fairies. It wasn't until Walt Disney dressed one up in green in the 1959 movie "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" that leprechauns smiled their way onto our boxes of Lucky Charms.

6. Corned Beef and Cabbage

Cabbage has been a staple of Irish cuisine for centuries, but always coupled with bacon. It was their Jewish neighbors in the tenement houses of New York City who introduced Irish immigrants to the cheaper alternative, corned beef.

7. St. Patrick

He was born a Roman patrician in what would now be called Scotland. He came to Ireland after hearing voices. He was certainly a priest. Protestants, however, love him for founding a distinctly Celtic Christian church. Evangelicals embrace him because he took his wisdom from the Scriptures and listened to voices and visions. Even Mormons claim that because he went overseas as a missionary to convert, he was working in the Mormon tradition. New Age Christians love him for combining nature, magic, and mother Earth at the center of Christian belief. Like Barbie, anyone can dress St. Patrick up any way they like, perhaps because so little, in truth, is known about him.

8. The Blarney Stone

It is still in Ireland. The Irish have wisely built a fence around it, thus prohibiting all but the most adamant from kissing that intoxicating piece of rock, which is said to give you the gift of gab.

So, what are the origins of St. Patrick's Day?

There are more people of Irish descent in New York City than in Dublin. 34 million US Americans claim Irish descent. So, arguably, there are more Irish in the USA than in all of Ireland. The population of Ireland stands at about 4 million. There are six cities in the USA named Dublin. One is in Ohio. Another is a suburb of San Francisco. But that doesn't make us Irish.

For centuries St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in Ireland as a somber church holiday. When St. Patrick came to North America, the USA threw him a party.

Learn more about this author, Richard Max Detrano.
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