by Cate H.
St. Patrick's Day is a celebration and a lot of fun. But along with that fun, some myths or fables started this holiday. I will dig into busting myths today, explaining how they happened and how they appeared on the day of green.
This first holiday was invented in Ireland, where the myth is that Saint Patrick got rid of all the snakes, so the holiday was invented to celebrate. Now, when you think of Saint Patrick’s day, you think of leprechauns and a pot of gold, right? Well, turns out this idea originated in the 18th century in Celtic folklore, where they believed it was linked to the Vikings.
One more thing, when you think of the national color of Saint Patrick’s day, you think it was green back then, too, right? Wrong! Well, turns out Saint Patrick never wore green. He always wore Blue! The color green was actually just popular at that time because of its association with the nationality.
Another thing, nevertheless, everyone thinks that Saint Patrick’s first parade was in Ireland, right? I mean, it would make sense, but it was actually in New York City in the 18th century, held by Irish soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Moving on to another popular myth about shamrocks and the trinity. Well, in the lore of how this holiday started, we have to go back when Saint Patrick was alive, and well, the lore suggests that Saint Patrick used a shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity. The reason it is not the myths is that there is NO textual evidence of him doing that, nor of anything else.
This is the online newspaper for Yankton Middle School in Yankton, SD. Stories are written by student staff members.
