St. Patrick’s Day will be celebrated this Saturday, March 17th. Although today St. Patrick’s Day is a fun holiday celebrated with green beer, shamrocks, luck, and leprechauns, this festive holiday has been molded over the years into something very different than its origin.
It has become commercialized over the years and the origin of this holiday actually has very little in common with what we celebrate today. From a quick google search you will find that Saint Patrick was not born Irish and the original color associated with this holiday was blue, not green.
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The History of St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day is a religious holiday that has been observed by the Irish for over 1,000 years. Saint Patrick was born in Roman Britain and was kidnapped and brought into slavery in Ireland as a teen. He is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland and myths and legends state that he explained the Holy Trinity using the three leaves of the Irish clover, also known as a shamrock.
In Ireland St. Patrick’s Day was observed as a religious holiday rather than a festive holiday. It wasn’t until the last 1990s that the Irish government began to use St. Patrick’s Day as a way to drive tourism and showcase the Irish culture to the world. Before the 1970s you couldn’t get a pint of beer at a local Irish pub on March 17th because they were mandated to be closed in observance of the religious holiday!
Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day Today
St. Patrick’s Day has transformed over the years and is now celebrated as a fun festive holiday. It’s no secret that many holidays have become commercialized over the years and these holidays drive tourism and major seasonal product consumption.Today if you don’t wear green on St. Patrick’s Day you just might find yourself being pinched. Here’s a few clothing ideas to avoid getting pinched!
Young children learn about St. Patrick’s Day and delight in hearing stories about leprechauns and finding pots of gold at the end of a rainbow. Here’s a few book options to get for your little one.
Nowadays I don’t give much thought to leprechauns but I do like to get festive and wear green. One of my favorite things to do on St. Patrick’s Day is going to a local pub and getting a pint of green beer!
Tell us, do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?
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Photo Credits via Unsplash: 4 leaf clover – Amy Reed, clovers – Quentine REY, green beer – Patrick Fore
At my work, they always sell green beer on St. Patty’s Day! I have never heard of it before other than last year, and I just thought it was a local thing! Interesting to see that it’s not! Is it any different than regular beer?
I don’t think it’s actually anything special. I think they just add green food color dye. I usually like to get a light beer that’s green since it’s brighter and the green doesn’t show as well in darker beers.
Thank you for the great book suggestions! I’ve actually been looking for some!
Happy to help! There’s also a fun one with Curious George and tons of fun coloring books for the little ones too
I have never gotten into the green beer aspect, but St. Patrick’s Day has always been fun. I love any holiday that is about food, but not buying presents necessarily.
We usually don’t do much but try to dress in green and read books. I love your suggestions!
love all the great green in this post. St. Patrick day has always been a fun holiday for our family. We are not Irish
We don’t really celebrate St Patrick’s Day, specifically because of the tom foolery and the commercialism surrounding the day. But I do think it’s important to teach North American kids about this day. Not so much for the Leprechauns and such we learned about when we were kids, but because of the many contributions Irish immigrants have made in Canada and the US. Even in recent memory, the Irish in North America have been treated as second-class citizens in certain quarters. It’s important to teach this history, rather than to “green wash” the holiday as we tend to do.
I remember learning about the origin of St Patrick’s Day in school but have since forgotten! I was never one for the green beer tradition though…doesn’t look super appealing to me! haha!
I never really celebrate St Patrick day myself, but my kids’ school always have parties and have them wear something green. Thanks for the information about the origin of St Patrick’s day.
I never knew the true history of St. Patrick’s Day, though I had some idea because my husband’s family is Irish. I tend to always forget to wear green!
Thanks for the history lesson! As an Irish girl myself, it is always good to remember our roots.
Never knew the history of ST. patty’s. Good to know. I hope you enjoy your green beer. Blah!!
I have always wondered about the history of St. Patty’s. Interesting that he is credited with bringing religion and yet the biggest thing I knew was green beer!
This holiday has grown in popularity over the years. It is really fun to see how different areas celebrate! I know in New Orleans, LA they have a huge parade where they throw cabbage or carrots! (could you imagine getting hit with one of those?)
My babies love the REAL story of St. Patrick’s Day. He was definitely a man of staunch faith and courage.
Had no idea that was the story of St. Patrick’s Day, I don’t celebrate it but I might wear something green 😀
Awesome amount of green/ St. Paddy’s day items. Thanks for this! It’s such a fun holiday and its good to know the history behind it.
I love the St. Patrick’s day book ideas for kids and reading about the history of the holiday! We don’t usually do a lot, but we tend to wear green and eat corned beef and cabbage. Keep it simple!
I didn’t realize St. Patrick’s Day only recently became a drinking holiday! How funny! Glad it’s helping with Irish tourism!
It’s interesting to hear the history of this holiday! I love the green beer, how fun! My boys always set up traps to try and catch the leprechaun when he is in our house. He always does some sort of mess or tricks on us!!
Thanks for the reminder! I forgot St. Patty’s Day was this weekend!
April
You know whats funny is I have never had a green beer. I don’t think I have ever really done anything for St. Patty’s day but maybe we will this year!
I love learning about the history of holidays! I don’t normally do much for St Patrick’s Day but I love all the green!!
We typically celebrate with some treats and things and of course dressing in green. It’s a fun holiday for the kiddos.
I had no idea about the origins of St. Patrick’s Day. And I love those green dress ideas–thanks for sharing!
Cool, I love Paddy’s Day, but I’m Irish so it is a huge day for us as a nation. These are some really cool outfits, thanks for the inspo
Thanks for talking about the history!
we usually don’t do much on St Patrick’s day but this year we are planning to get the kids involved in with books and activities to celebrate as they do in schools. Thanks for the information.
St. Patrick’s Day is one of my favourite holidays – it’s just so much fun! I guess even back in the days when it was a religious holiday, and not just an excuse to get up to shenanigans, it was probably still fun because of the feasts they wold have. I was shocked to read that the pubs used to closed on St Patrick’s day, seeing as it has become so closely related to drinking beer – especially of the green variety!
I enjoy celebrating St. Patricks day with Corned Beef and a Guinness, thank you for sharing the history!
I’ve never truly been into this holiday. But then again I never knew the history behind it! So interesting to me as a Christian! Kind of a sad but wonderful story of faith.
I’m so excited about St. Paddy’s Day! I wonder where I can find some green beer near me. 🙂
Love the history! My kid told me recently that the “Color” of the day used to be blue and not green!
It’s interesting that the color of the day used to be blue. I had never heard that before, but I’m glad they landed on green – it’s so fun!
I completely forgot it was St Patrick’s Day! I loved the book suggestions!
Fun! I didn’t realize that this holiday became so commercialized so recently in 1990!! Only a few years before I would partake in the crazy ness that is drinking green beer. Thanks for the education. ❤️
I literally just heard this on K-Love! I didn’t know it was a religious holiday until now. So cool. Thank you for sharing!