The day of green beverages and festive parades arrives each year on March 17. That day originated from the celebration of one man, St. Patrick.According to History.com, St. Patrick, who lived during the fifth century, is the patron saint of Ireland. Born in Roman Britain, he was kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave at the age of 16. He later escaped, but returned to Ireland and was credited with bringing Christianity to its people. Perhaps the most well-known legend of St. Patrick is that he explained the Holy Trinity using the three leaves of a native Irish clover, the shamrock.Following Patrickís death (believed to have been on March 17, 461), people in Ireland have been observing the Roman Catholic feast day of St. Patrick since the 10th century.In early America, homesick Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched in New York City on March 17, 1772, to honor the Irish patron saint. Over the next 35 years, Irish patriotism among American immigrants flourished, prompting the rise of so-called ìIrish Aidî societies. Each group would hold annual parades featuring bagpipes and drums (first popular in the Scottish and British armies).The American Irish soon began to realize, however, that their large and growing numbers endowed them with a political power that had yet to be exploited. They started to organize, and their voting bloc, known as the ìgreen machine,î became an important swing vote for political hopefuls. Suddenly, annual St. Patrickís Day parades became a show of strength for Irish Americans, as well as a must-attend event for a slew of political candidates.As Irish immigrants spread out over the United States, other cities developed their own traditions. For example, Chicago dyes the Chicago River green. The practice started in 1962, when city pollution control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges. They realized that the green dye might provide a unique way to celebrate the holiday. That year, they released 100 pounds of green vegetable dye into the river ó enough to keep it green for a week. Today, to minimize environmental damage, only 40 pounds of dye are used and the river turns green for only several hours.Today, New York Cityís St. Patrickís Day Parade is the worldís oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States, with more than 150,000 participants. Each year, nearly three million people line the one-and-a-half-mile parade route to watch the procession, which takes more than five hours.Some lesser known facts about St. Patrickís Day bring new meaning to how we celebrate the day; from Factfile.org:
- Almost 12% of Americans claim Irish ancestry. More people of Irish ancestry live in the United States than in Ireland.
- One claim in history deeply associated with St Patrick is that he banished all the snakes from Ireland. However, this claim is not true because it has been discovered that the chances of survival of snakes in Ireland are minimal because of the cold conditions of the region. However, some say that the snakes represent the pagans he converted to Christianity.
- Guinness (an Irish dark beer that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness) sales almost double on St Patrickís Day as compared to the regular days when 5.5 million pints of it is sold.
- On this day, people usually eat corned beef and cabbage, and they wear green clothing. However, corned beef is an English dish and not Irish.
- St Patrickís Day is a national holiday in both Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is a provincial holiday in the Canadian province of Newfoundland.
