St. Patrick's Day, celebrated on March 17, is a holiday that has generated religious ceremonies as well as worldly events such as parades, parties and other celebrations.

St. Patrick was born sometime in the late fourth century in Britain to wealthy parents. His given name was Maewyn Succat, which he changed to Patricius after he was baptized and made a priest. At the age of 16, he was captured and sold into slavery in Ireland.

For the next six years, he worked as a shepherd and was said to have religious visions. In one of these visions God told him it was time to leave Ireland, so he escaped to the coast and took a ship back to Britain. Once there, he had a second vision that told him he should return to Ireland to be a missionary.

In order to accomplish this, he spent the next 15 years studying to become a missionary and returned to Ireland to minister to the Christians there and to convert others to Christianity. In fact, the legend that says that St. Patrick made all the snakes in Ireland leave can be traced to this mission. Snakes are a metaphor for the Druids, a Celtic religion popular in Ireland at that time. Patrick was so successful at converting them over to Christianity, that it was said he "drove all the snakes from Ireland."

St. Patrick's Day started as a Catholic holy day to honor the date of Saint Patrick's death,
which was March 17, A.D. 461. For thousands of years it was celebrated with Catholic masses, and was a day for spiritual renewal and offering prayers to missionaries worldwide. It is still primarily a religious festival in Ireland, but in recent years they have used St. Patrick's Day as an opportunity to support tourism show Ireland to the rest of the world. Every year in Dublin, close to one million people come to celebrate with parades, concerts, outdoor theater and fireworks.

The first St. Patrick's Day celebrations in the United States were in Boston, Mass. in 1737. The day is celebrated by the wearing of the green, parades, drinking green beer, and special Irish programs that highlight Irish history and folklore. In big cities like Chicago, they even dye the entire river green for the day!

While wearing green is popular in the United States, it is not worn in Ireland. The "wearing of the green" goes back to the three- leaf clover, which was a symbol of Ireland worn by the Irish regiments of the Queen's army in honor of St. Patrick. Patrick was said to have used the three-leaf clover, or shamrock, as a way to explain the religious trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the 19th century it become an emblem of rebellion. Wearing the shamrock was then outlawed and punishable by death to wear it, so wearing green brings back bad memories.
American school children began a more light-hearted "wearing of the green" tradition. It is now popular for children to pinch any classmate that doesn't wear green on that date.

All in all, St. Patrick's Day is one that is rich in history and traditions for anyone of Irish decent, and is a day "adopted" by many others all over the world. Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!

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