Saint Patrick's Day (March 17th), is an Irish holiday honoring Saint Patrick, the missionary credited with converting the Irish to Christianity (in the A.D. 400's).

From phrases like "Top o' the mornin' to ya'", "The luck of the Irish", "A wee bit o' blarney", to "Kiss me I'm Irish!" Where a shamrock is a good luck charm, and we dress in green and drink green beer, St. Patrick's day is more than this. It's Irelands main holiday. All businesses and schools close this day, they go to morning mass and all over the country hold parades directly after 'till the wee hours of the morn. This day, Saint Patrick's day IS their most beloved day of the year.

On St. Patrick's Day there is a lot of celebration involving the mixtures of truth and folklore. "Catch a Leprechaun and he'll give you his pot of gold". When in actuality a Leprechaun was to be feared, as he was a small evil fairy who played nasty tricks on those who crossed his path (as one belief). The shamrock was a good luck charm to be worn for having good fortune all the day through. Little girls wore green ribbons in their hair and boys wore a harp badge. "Green Beer" as we know it today was derived from the the old custom of "Drowning the shamrock". Where after the parades, and later in the evenings, men would go to their local pubs and drop a shamrock into a glass of whiskey and drink it- including the shamrock. And last but certainly not least- the wearing of green in honor of Saint Patrick, this tradition came into effect in the late 1900s, but Saint Patricks color was blue. Many of us associate St. Patrick's day with the playing of Bagpipes, and they infact do, but the Irish adopted this aspect of music from the Scottish. The Irishmens' musical instument was a "Harp", not the kind we know of today but a box with strings.

Some Facts:
Saint Patrick from 389? to 461?, called the Apostle of Ireland, Christian prelate. His birthplace is uncertain, but it was probably in southwestern Britain; his British name was Succat. At 16 years of age he was carried off by Irish marauders and passed his captivity as a herdsman near the mountain Slemish in county Antrim (according to tradition) or in county Connacht (Connaught). The young herdsman saw visions in which he was urged to escape, and after six years of slavery he did so, to the northern coast of Gaul. Ordained a priest, possibly by Saint Germanus, at Auxerre, he returned to Ireland. Sometime after 431, Patrick was appointed successor to St. Palladius, first bishop of Ireland. Patrick concentrated on the west and north of Ireland, establishing his see at Armagh. Patrick's two surviving works are written in Latin and demonstrate his acquaintance with the Vulgate translation of the Bible. In one of these works, the Confessions, Patrick portrays himself as an ignorant yokel in an unequal contest with the powerful and learned adherents of Pelagianism. His reported use of the shamrock as an illustration of the Trinity led to its being regarded as the Irish national symbol. A strange chant of his, called the Lorica, is preserved in the Liber Hymnorum (Book of Hymns), and what purports to have been a handbell he used during Mass is shown in the National Museum in Dublin. His traditional feast day is March 17.

Saint Patrick was not actually Irish. Historical sources report that he was born around 373 A.D. in either Scotland (near the town of Dumbarton) or in Roman Britain (the Romans left Britain in 410 A.D.). His real name is believed to be Maewyn Succat (he took on Patrick, or Patricus, after he became a priest). He was kidnapped at the age of 16 by pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland (I am not making this up). During his 6-year captivity (he worked as a shepherd), he began to have religious visions, and found strength in his faith. He finally escaped (after voices in one of his visions told him where he could find a getaway ship) and went to France, where he became a priest (and later a bishop).

When he was about 60 years old, St. Patrick travelled to Ireland to spread the Christian word. It's said that Patrick had an unusually winning personality, and that helped him win converts. He used the shamrock, which resembles a three-leafed clover, as a metaphor to explain the concept of the Trinity (father, son, holy spirit).

In legand Saint Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland - that they all went into the sea and drowned. Why he would want to do this? It's unknown. But perhaps it's because snake was a revered pagan symbol, and maybe this was a figurative tale alluding to the fact that he drove paganism out of Ireland.

Leprechaun
Irish fairy. Looks like a small, old man (about 2 feet tall), often dressed like a shoemaker,with a cocked hat and a leather apron. According to some legends, leprechauns are aloof and unfriendly, live alone, and pass the time making shoes...they also possess a hidden pot of gold. Treasure hunters can often track down a leprechaun by the sound of his shoemaker's hammer. If caught, he can be forced (with the threat of bodily violence) to reveal the whereabouts of his treasure, but the captor must keep their eyes on him every second. If the captor's eyes leave the leprechaun (and he often tricks them into looking away), he vanishes and all hopes of finding the treasure are lost.

Shamrock
The common name for any of several trifoliate clovers native to Ireland. The shamrock was originally chosen as the national emblem of Ireland because of the legend that Saint Patrick used the plant to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity. Most shamrocks, particularly the small-leaved white clover, have been considered by the Irish as good-luck symbols since earliest times, and this superstition has persisted in modern times among people of many nationalities. Shamrocks or various representations of the plant are worn by celebrants on St. Patrick's Day, March 17 of each year. The hop clover is widely accepted as the original shamrock picked by St. Patrick.

Blarney Stone
The Blarney Stone is a stone set in the wall of the Blarney Castle tower in the Irish village of Blarney. Kissing the stone is supposed to bring the kisser the gift of persuasive eloquence (blarney). The castle was built in 1446 by Cormac Laidhiv McCarthy (Lord of Muskerry) -- its walls are 18 feet thick (necessary to thwart attacks by Cromwellians and William III's troops). Thousands of tourists a year still visit the castle.

It's hard to reach the stone -- it's between the main castle wall and the parapet. Kissers have to lie on their back and bend backward and downward, holding iron bars for support. Can you imagine kissing something that has had people's lips all over it for over 500 years?

What's for good luck on St. Patrick's Day you say?
Finding a four-leaf clover (that's double the good luck it usually is).
Wearing green.
(School children have started a little tradition of their own -- they pinch classmates who don't wear green on this holiday).
Kissing the blarney stone.

St. Patrick's Day in the US today
In America, Saint Patrick's Day is a basically a time to wear green and party. The first American celebration of Saint Patrick's Day was in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1737. As the saying goes, on this day "everybody is Irish!" Over 100 U.S. cities now hold Saint Patrick's Day parades, the largest held in New York City. In Chicago they dye the Chicago river green in it's honor.