Alyssa S. Burgos, Senior
The day of luck, St. Patrick's Day, takes place on March 17 every year.
Its celebrations are known for their belief in luck, Christian beliefs, and also the beliefs in saints. The celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in this generation usually entails people drinking at a bar or wearing the color green. People use the color green to represent luck just like the four leaf clover. They also throw big parades for the holiday, with some happening locally as well as nationally. But what might be the most well known tradition is that for the people who aren't wearing the color green, they should be on the lookout for a pinch from anyone who notices.
The main colors are used such as green, gold and a little bit of orange, but it wasn’t always celebrated with doughnut sales or the Lucky Charms catch, like we celebrate here at Palisades. It was very different back then and had a whole different meaning to the holiday St. Patrick's Day.
St. Patrick’s Day was created around the year 1631, when St. Patrick was known as one of Patron Saints of the Church of Ireland. He had died on March 17, 461 A.D. and the church had celebrated his presence by holding a feast in his honor.
People now don’t really know who exactly he was, as the holiday is now celebrated by drinking, throwing parties and wearing the colors that represent the holiday. He was known as a Roman citizen and was taken prisoner at the age of 16 by a group of Irish raiders, but he was either set free or left and he ended up saving Ireland by becoming determined to convert Irish citizens to Christianity. As time went by, the church had celebrated his honor and his presence after he died. And after the church’s celebrations, we now hold celebrations for St. Patrick on this day.
St. Patrick’s was created in Ireland. Therefore, the way they celebrated St. Patrick's Day was by having a big feast featuring either lamb or bacon. They would also eat corned beef and cabbage as well.
As years passed the way they celebrated St. Patrick's Day in Ireland became having public parades, wearing anything green or shamrocks, or doing an Ireland dance that is known as céilís.
This celebration is somewhat different from the way we celebrate in the U.S. Here, different places have their own traditions. In our school we celebrated the holiday by wearing green and eating green donuts. In other places there are also public parades featuring their own performers and floats, and in Chicago they dye the river green. Across the U.S., we also enjoy holiday related drinks and food, like green milkshakes and green bagels. We also usually dress up like leprechauns, wear anything and everything green, and buy shamrocks for decoration.
St. Patrick’s Day started off as a celebration of the death of a saint but then became a national holiday from Ireland celebrated in different ways! Happy St Patrick's Day!
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