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By: Allison Almazan, Sophomore You’ve probably heard of St. Patrick’s Day, but do you really know its origin? St. Patrick’s Day is a worldwide celebration that originated in Ireland and takes place every March 17. According to National Geographic, it is named after the patron saint of Ireland and celebrates Irish heritage through food, parades, drinks, Irish folklore, and an abundance of green-colored items like green beer. However, one may ask: who is Saint Patrick, and why do we even celebrate him to this day?  Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1 Picture of Saint Patrick baltimoremagazine.com St. Patrick’s real name was actually Maewyn Succat. According to History.com, Succat lived during the fifth century and became the patron saint of Ireland after he brought Christianity to the people of Ireland. As one legend tells, St. Patrick explained the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) by using the three leaves of a native Irish clover, the shamrock. It is believed he died on March 17, 461. St. Patrick’s Day was first celebrated around the 9th or 10th century. However, the website History.com explains that the first real St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in New York on March 17, 1762. It wasn’t until 1798, the year of the Irish Rebellion, that the color green became the official color of the celebration. Up until the rebellion, the color of St. Patrick’s Day was blue, as it was used both in the royal court and on ancient Irish (as reported by an article from Time Magazine).  Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2 Irish Flag mapsofworld.com  Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 3 St. Patrick's Day parades cnn.com Unfortunately, according to CNN News, “A number of Ireland's St. Patrick's Day parades are being canceled over fears the mass gatherings would contribute to the spread of the coronavirus outbreak”. Irish authorities have even cancelled Dublin’s famous festival. As a result of this occurrence, CNN also reports that many cities face drastic damage to their economies due to the wide decrease of tourism. However, it is still important that though the celebrations could not occur this year, the spirit of Saint Patrick still lives on. Works Citedhttps://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/europe/ireland-cancels-st-patricks-day-trnd/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/europe/ireland-cancels-st-patricks-day-trnd/index.html https://time.com/4261456/st-patrick-day-2016-history-real-saint/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/holidays/reference/saint-patricks-day/ https://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/history-of-st-patricks-day
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