Today, St. Patrick’s Day is characterized by crowds swathed in green and leprechauns jigging through rainbows over shamrock-covered fields. We forget that the origins of the holiday actually go back to a young man in Ireland in the fifth century.
Before he was the patron saint of Ireland, Maewyn Succat, born in Roman Britain, was brought to Ireland as a slave when he was 16 years old. After six years as a herdsman, he dreamt that a ship was ready to aid him in his escape. Succat returned to Britain, but had another interesting dream: this one telling him to return to Ireland. Around 432 C.E., he obeyed the calling, and went to Ireland to convert the Irish to the Christian faith. After becoming a priest, he changed his name to Patricius, from the Latin “father figure.”
Legends abound about Patrick’s time in Ireland, including the well-known tale of the shamrock. As the story goes, the now-saint used the three leaves of the shamrock to represent the three parts of the Holy Trinity.
Other legends claim Patrick drove all snakes of Ireland into the sea and rose 33 people from the dead. Some assert that his prayers brought a herd of pigs to hungry sailors. Regardless of the veracity of said legends, the Irish revere St. Patrick as the bringer of Christianity to Ireland, and his legacy is celebrated each 17th of March.
The date is the anniversary of St. Patrick’s death, which was believed to be in 461 C.E. The holiday itself has been celebrated since the 9th or 10th century, but celebrating on the 17th began in 1631, when the Roman Catholic Church established it to be St. Patrick’s Feast Day.
In Ireland, classic celebrations include attending church in the morning and celebrating in the afternoon. Traditionally, Lenten prohibitions against meat are waived, and Irish bacon and cabbage are eaten.
Celebrations didn’t stop at the Irish border. St. Patrick’s Day is widely celebrated in the United States, Canada and Australia. The earliest celebrations in the U.S. reportedly took place in 1600, in St. Augustine, Florida. Later, with the influx of Catholic Irish immigrants into America, the holiday became increasingly secular, and is now celebrated by millions of people of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds.
March 17th in the U.S. is accompanied by festive food items such as soda bread, corned beef, and champ. In addition, all manner of green food is served, including green beer (ironic since the color associated with St. Patrick was traditionally blue). The green craze doesn’t stop there: Americans wear green on the holiday, lest they be pinched by their friends and family. The city of Chicago even dies the Chicago River green with 40 pounds of vegetable dye. The original reason for the tradition is somewhat less whimsical: Chicago first dyed its river in 1962 in order to trace sewage discharges.
Other U.S. cities hold major celebrations as well. The New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade was first held in 1762, making it the world’s oldest civilian parade. It boasts over 150,000 participants annually. Boston’s parade dates back to 1737, and Savannah’s to 1813.
Many American parades feature marching bands, step dancers, and, of course, bagpipes, which incidentally actually first became popular in Scottish and British armies, not Irish ones. Other aspects are more fictional, like leprechauns. The creatures were originally called “lobaircin,” meaning “smallbodied fellow.” In Celtic folklore, they are cranky beings who use trickery to protect their treasure and mend the shoes of other fairies.
Senior Cate Turner’s St. Patrick Day celebration may not prominently feature little men clad in green top-hats, but it does include a red double decker bus. For years, her family drove in the Brookside St. Patrick’s Day Warm-Up Parade.
“My grandpa would drive a red double decker bus, and my whole family would hop on and ride,” Turner said. “We would ride down to the Brookside parade, and we would pass out beads. Literally anybody could hop on and get out whenever they wanted. We would pass out candy.”
A London-style double decker bus may seem like a strange vehicle to keep on hand, but Turner’s grandfather has had it for about 50 years. The family keeps it downtown, and transporting the bus to the parade is another cherished tradition.
“Where the bus is parked is [what] we call the shop,” Turner said. “My whole family goes down. We all wear a bunch of green.”
The bus, which reportedly only reaches top speeds of five miles an hour, takes about an hour to transport from downtown to the Brookside shops. Turner claims her family’s passion for the holiday lies in her ancestry.
“My whole family is Irish Catholic [and] there are a lot of Catholic traditions with St. Patrick’s Day,” Turner said.
One of her favorite aspects of St. Patrick’s Day is the classic color: green.
“I just love wearing green,” Turner said. “I love the decorations and the beads…We usually do green glitter.”
While the bus hasn’t seen the energetic Brookside crowds in several years, its long-awaited return is scheduled for this March.
“We don’t really go on the bus anymore, but I think we are this year,” Turner said. “I just love being with my whole family and making everybody know that the bus is coming.”
Whether you go to see the Turner’s famous bus or just throw on some green beads this holiday, there are many ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day: a holiday that began with a humble British boy (although the Irish might contest that) and now includes people from all backgrounds and religions. Happy St. Paddy’s Day!
This story includes information from the following sources: “Britannica,” History.com, and “Time.”
