St. Patrick’s Day originated from Ireland. It started as a religious feast day for the patron saint of Ireland. This feast had become an international holiday celebrating Irish cultures with parades, dancing, special foods, and the color green.

     Did you know that green was not the first color associated with St. Patrick’s day?  Blue was the original color was blue. There was a particular shade of blue known as St. Patrick’s blue. Green eventually took over because the greenery of Ireland, and the shamrock that St. Patrick used to explain the trinity. The United States started wearing green and celebrating the holiday to show a connection with Ireland

     So why exactly do people from Ireland praise St. Patrick so much? Well for starters, he wasn’t even born in Ireland.  He is actually from Great Britain. At the age of 16 he was kidnapped by Irish invaders. He spent six years in captivity. He converted to Christianity and later returned to Ireland to spend the rest of his life working as a Christian missionary.

     On March 17, 461 St. Patrick died and was largely forgotten. Because of mythology, many years later he was honored as the Patron Saint of Ireland. According to one famous myth, Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland. The story symbolizes Patrick cleansing the island of Paganism. But there was an issue Ireland never had any snakes to begin with. The island itself is surrounded by water too cold for any snakes to migrate there.

     According to another myth, Patrick used a three leaf clover to explain the Holy Trinity. As a result people of the 18th century started wearing shamrocks on March 17th to signify their Irish Christian pride.

     That tradition later grew into green clothing instead of a shamrock. It is now a popular St. Patrick’s day custom. Parades celebrating the holiday originated in the United States after many Irish immigrants poured into the United States.