History of Saint Patrick's Day

Born in Cumbria, England. Captured as a slave in Wales and embraced in Ireland.
Patrick was born to a family of local dignitaries at Banna venta Berniae located in Cumbria, England.
March 17th, popularly known as St. Patrick's Day, is believed to be St Patrick's death date and is the date celebrated as his feast day. Patrick died in AD 461, a date accepted by most modern historians, although some others beleive it to be AD 420.

St Patrick's Day has now evolved to a global celebration from Ireland to USA, Australia, New Zealand Uruguay and even Glasgow, Scotland. Even with history between irish and english people, the english still use this day as a good excuse to drink Guinness and get drunk on what english people call 'Paddy's Day'.
Corn beef and cabbage is amongst the most popular irish food to be eaten on and around this date. Most people usually celebrate at the closest weekend to March 17th, assuming heavy drinking sessions.

Saint Patrick was a Roman Britain born Christian missionary and is the patron saint of Ireland along with Brigid of Kildare and Columba. When he was about sixteen he was captured by Irish raiders and taken from his native Wales as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After entering the church, he later returned to Ireland as a missionary in the north and west of Ireland, although little is known about the places where he worked and no link can be made between Patrick and any church. By the eighth century he had become the patron saint of Ireland. The Irish monastery system evolved after the time of Patrick and the Irish church did not develop the diocesan model that Patrick and the other early missionaries had tried to establish.

The available body of evidence does not allow the dates of Patrick's life to be fixed with certainty, but it appears that he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the second half of the fifth century. Two letters from him survive, along with later hagiographies from the seventh century onwards. Many of these works cannot be taken as authentic traditions. Uncritical acceptance of the Annals of Ulster would imply that he lived from 340 to 460, and ministered in what is modern day northern Ireland from 428 onwards.


Green colors and shamrock
St. Patrick used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish. The wearing of and display of shamrocks and shamrock-inspired designs have become a ubiquitous feature of the saint's holiday.

St. Patrick's Blue refers to a blue, often but not always dark blue. Although St. Patrick is often depicted in green chasuble and episcopal mitre today, before the 20th century the saint was more often shown wearing blue garments. This same blue can be seen on ancient Irish flags and in some modern contexts associated with Ireland.The change to Ireland's association with green rather than blue probably began around the 1750's


The Legend of Saint Patrick
Pious legend credits Patrick with banishing snakes from the island, though all evidence suggests that post-glacial Ireland never had snakes. One suggestion is that snakes referred to the serpent symbolism of the Druids of that time and place, as shown for instance on coins minted in Gaul or that it could have referred to beliefs such as Pelagianism, symbolized as “serpents. Legend also credits Patrick with teaching the Irish about the concept of the Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a 3-leaved clover, using it to highlight the Christian belief of 'three divine persons in the one God'.

Some Irish legends involve the Oilliphéist, the Caoránach, and the Copóg Phádraig. During his evangelising journey back to Ireland from his parent's home at Birdoswald, he is understood to have carried with him an ash wood walking stick or staff. He thrust this stick into the ground wherever he was evangelising and at the place now known as Aspatria (ash of Patrick) the message of the dogma took so long to get through to the people there that the stick had taken root by the time he was ready to move on. The 12th century work Acallam na Senórach tells of Patrick being met by two ancient warriors, Caílte mac Rónáin and Oisín, during his evangelical travels. The two were once members of Fionn mac Cumhaill's warrior band the Fianna, and somehow survived to Patrick's time. They traveled with the saint and told him their stories.