St. Patrick's Day

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

St. Patrick's Day History



St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17. St. Patrick was born towards the end of the fourth century and died on March 17, around 460 A.D. He is known as the patron saint of Ireland and converted thousands of people to christianity during his thirty years of mission work. The Irish observe this day as a religious holiday, but in America, it is observed as more of a celebration of being Irish. The first St. Patrick's Day parade was in the United States in 1762. Irish soldiers serving in the English army initiated the parade and began the trend of celebrating this holiday in a patriotic manner. Even during times of poverty, Irish Americans celebrated St. Patrick's Day with parades and parties to the dislike of other Americans.

Nowadays, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in numerous countries around the world. In Ireland it is still a religious holiday and until 1995, pubs were not allowed to be open on St. Patrick's Day. In an effort to increase tourism, the Irish government encouraged people to visit Ireland over St. Patrick's Day and turned the holiday more into a celebration than a religious holiday. Last year, close to one million people took part in Ireland 's St. Patrick's Festival in Dublin. The festival consisted of a multi-day celebration including parades, concerts, outdoor theater productions and fireworks shows.

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