Feature: St. Patrick's Day Traditions

by Sloane H.

We all know the livelihood of holidays, they bring joy, spirit, but best of all, tradition! Most people often push certain holidays to the side, not knowing their history, how they formed, or how their traditions changed. St. Patrick’s Day is a great example, since most, if not all, people just throw away all the story behind it. In fact, you could ask anyone you know about St. Patrick’s day and they’ll probably sum it up to just “you wear green. If you don’t, you get pinched, punched, hit, etc. Oh, and there’s a leprechaun or something” that's kind of it, at least that’s what most people think it’s about.

But hold up, maybe it wasn’t always “just all that,” there could have been more. Let’s go back a few decades, to the 17th century: St. Patrick's Day was more of an annual feast than anything else. Christians of the time would get together to bestow the well-known priest, Saint Patrick. Although he wasn’t much of a saint.

The holiday gets a lot of hate for the law of drinking being lifted. It reinforces stereotypes about Irish people and those who are part of their culture, even though this holiday is celebrated in more countries than any other national festival. The present-day celebrations have been widely influenced by people from the Irish diaspora, especially in North America. But in the last few years, it gained more popularity in the diaspora than in Ireland.

Before it gained popularity, Ireland in the 1700s considered 3 a significant number. Painters and writers symbolized shamrocks as their theme for the holiday to justify the number 3 in it to make it more popular, though the plant was not sacred.

The color green has always been associated with Ireland since 1640, when the green harp flag was adopted. When shamrocks also came to mean green, and over time, it became almost a necessity to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day.

This unpopular holiday has evolved. It taught us about Ireland's history and culture. There are many small but popular traditions, too, like picking shamrocks to find four-leaf clovers, going to church, and, of course, wearing shades of green. It also reminds us of our journey through March as a fun, nature-filled month.