St. Patrick’s Day Vibe

So, we all have a bit of Irish in us anyway, right? My DNA results identify me as 9% Irish. Add in Scotland and Wales and it doubles.

I always associated St. Patrick’s Day with wearing green and a bar crawl with green beer. I never really understood the background behind the holiday.

Of course I had to see what all the celebrating was about. St. Patrick’s Day is an observation of the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Although he was born in England, St. Patrick is credited with taking Christianity to Ireland. In order to spread his message, they say that he used the shamrock as a symbol of the Christian church. The 3 leaves representing the Trinity- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Here are a few other things I learned.

1. The wearing of green on St. Patrick’s Day began during the 1798 Irish Rebellion, when the “wearing of the green” on lapels became regular practice.
2. St. Patrick’s Day typically falls during Lent. In Ireland, the church would forego the sacrifice of meat and booze for that day only in order to honor St. Patrick.
3. A four-leaf clover and a shamrock are not the same thing. All shamrocks are clovers, but not all clovers are shamrocks. Four–leaf clovers are associated with luck, and shamrocks have religious ties.
4. The first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in America. The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in 1601 in a Spanish colony in Florida.
5. Wearing green can make you invisible to leprechauns.
6. Leprechauns have their own holiday on May 13.

There is still time if you haven’t gotten anything green in your wardrobe yet. Check these out!