St. Patrick’s Day is a big celebration in America. People get to remember and celebrate their Irish roots, and they do it in many clever ways. For starters, dressing in green is a must. Many places around town or the city will carry these green garments. From ties to suits, and from pants to socks, you can find a wide array of things to wear.
It doesn’t stop at dressing accordingly, you can also bake clover-shaped cookies and eat them on this day. Some people will drink their favorite beer in green-colored mugs, smoke cigars with green ribbons on them, and take part in parades to remember the origin of this tradition. But, do you remember why we celebrate this tradition?
St. Patrick was born many years ago, around 387 A.D. in the south of Britain, more specifically in Hadrian’s Wall, this area was part of the Roman Empire. What’s that? He wasn’t Irish? Nope. He was later captured by Irish pagans while he was still a teenager and then, taken to Ireland. Once there, he was turned into a slave for six years. During that time, he grew to like everything about the Irish, including their spirit. After those six years, he escaped and returned to his country with his family, but he swore he would be back in Ireland one day.
He studied at several monasteries in Europe where he earned his ordinance as a priest and a bishop. He was later commissioned to be an apostle by Pope Celestine I. Life was not that easy for Patrick initially, he had a lot of trouble with the druids who were part of the pagans.
They didn’t want to surrender their power over the old religion and were afraid that Patrick and Christianity would make people change their way of doing things. The ruling monarch, King Laoghaire, was not willing to convert to Christianity, although most of his family members did. This caused the old religion to start to fade until it gradually disappeared for the most part. Patrick then started traveling from place to place and took it upon himself to destroy all the idols and temples. He then established the Catholic Church. After that, the first cathedral of Ireland was built in Armagh.
And this marked the beginning of the end for the old religion. So, this is why people celebrate Patrick’s Day, even though he was not Irish. Some people do special dances to commemorate this, like people in the following video. It takes place in Australia. People in the Central Station see a boy start to dance to an Irish tune playing in the background. Soon after, more people start joining in until you see the biggest mob of dancers performing the son in unison. This must be some sort of record, I am sure. What do you think?