Why do we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Here’s what the holiday is about

While St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations often create pictures of the T -shirts “kiss me, I am Irish”, hats and pubs full of people, the holiday has a deeper meaning.

Here’s a look at who the Irish protector is and why it is celebrated every year.

When did we start celebrating St. Patrick’s Day?

The first historical record of Revelry for St. Patrick It dates from the 7th century in Ireland, Sarah Waidler, assistant professor of Irish language, literature and culture at New York University, she told CBS News. However, she said that people had already started honor before.

During medieval times, the texts show that people not only believed that St. Patrick was a saint, but also that he was part of God’s final judgment of Irish people when they died. Over the years, Patrick has become “strongly identified” with Ireland and would become one of his three patron saints, along with St. Brigide and St. Columba, Waidler said.

The first parade of St. Patrick’s Day is currently recorded in St. Augustine, Florida1601. No, as some might assume, on an emerald island.

“Parade is the acceptance of the Irish diaspora,” said Elizabeth Stack, Executive Director of the American Irish Historical Society in New York. Especially, she said, at a time when there was a return against Catholics.

Through parades, the Irish community says, “Yes, we are proud of our heritage and our roots,” she said, “But we are also a very colorful part of the modern city or modern America.”

It is also a gentle reminder, she said, “there are many of us, and if we decide to vote as a block, we can use a lot of strength.”

According to The census31.5 million Americans, or 9.5% of the population, requested Irish origin in 2021. There were 5.3 million inhabitants in Ireland. “There are more of us who left the country and then stayed there,” Stack said.

Who was St. Patrick?

This could be a surprise of some, but St. Patrick wasn’t really a Irishman. “The sponsor of Ireland is actually Welshman,” Ccs News, Cian T. McMahon, an expert on modern Irish and Irish diaspora and professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told Cianhon.

“There were England, Scotland and Wales in the days before, it was Rome,” he said. So, Patrick was born in the present Wales, but then he was Roman Britain.

Much of what historians know about St. Patrick comes from two of his own writings, which is thought to have been lucky, Waidler said. Two works were probably written in the 5th century, but Patrick did not go out or give them a lot of historical context. So, historians are not sure when he lived.

However, according to these writings, Patrick said he was captured when he was 16 years old slaves from Roman Britain, where, according to McMahon, “Mlakov Catholic. ”

The slaves took Patrick to Ireland, where he said he worked as a shepherd. This difficulty helped him to reveal his faith again, and after 6 years he fled to Britain, attributing to his release of God’s works. After escaping, he spent many years training to become a bishop, according to his writings.

Waidler said it was difficult to say if Patrick was truly recognized as a bishop, because there are no other historical texts that support this claim.

After becoming a bishop allegedly, Patrick said he heard the voice of the Irish fisherman in Vision, who called him to the country where he was previously enslaved. He then returned to the Celtic pagan nation of Ireland and turned people into Catholicism.

St. Patrick died on March 17, as the church recognized. Waidler said it’s hard to know the exact year.

Patrick’s story, many later writers point out, is very similar to Moses from the Bible.

After being abducted by slavery, he could have been vindictive or to see the people who put him in slavery, Stack said. But he decided to forgive the Irish instead.

Doing it, she said that “he changed Ireland forever, turning a pagan country into an intense Catholic.” “The beautiful message of” tolerance and forgiveness “of St. Patrick is becoming more relevant,” Stack said.

In modern times, many know about legends that St. Patrick has solved the Irish snake and taught the idea of ​​the Holy Trinity using Shamrock.

According to Waidler, stories attributed to the expulsion of poisonous creatures or reptiles St. Patrick began in the 12th century. However, some later writers see the expulsion of snakes as a metaphor for paganism. “It’s a story that is constantly repeated after the 12th century, and also appears in the early pictures of the saint,” she said.

“Shamrocks is harder to follow,” Waidler said. The expression of Shamrock first appeared in 1571, but it is first attributed to St. Patrick in the tract of the natives of Ireland in 1726. “By the way, Shamrocks,” she said, “they are simply clover.”

St. Patrick’s Day was also associated with blue. However, as other countries began to celebrate it in more modern times, Green became connected to the day because the Irish-American Green attributed “to all things Ireland,” Waidler said.

Where is St. Patrick’s Day celebrated?

“A better question is where it is not celebrated,” McMahon said.

Mass migration was a crucial feature of Irish life from the early 1700s, he said. “Wherever the Irish people are settled, they use St. Patrick’s Day as a way to make at home.”

“We can be Irish anywhere in the world,” he said.

The Irish emigrated to “every corner of the world,” Stack said. Dubai, Singapore, Australia, now and more glory of the saint.

“The Irish have made a point of welcome by non-Irish people on St. Patrick’s Day,” McMahon explained.

Even George Washington, an Anglican Christian, was a member of the friendly sons of St. Patrick in Philadelphia. The explanation, McMahon said, was: “We were born Irish, but they became American … Why could Washington not be born American, but to become Irish?”

Irish leaders also tend to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in other countries, McMahon said. This, he explained, is because his government recognizes that the day is an opportunity to reconnect with friends and allies around the world.

Irish Prime Minister, or Taoiseach, Micheál MartinHe visited the White House on March 12 to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year.

According to Irish website“Our diaspora encourages goodwill. It creates economic development. It nurtures and shows our diverse and dynamic culture.”

So, the usual phrase “Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day” may have some truths.