St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day
Yes it’s that day again, the one day in the year where people wear green and go around like little devils pinching those that don’t wear green. Well if you think that’s all there is to St. Patrick’s Day then you’re dead wrong. St. Patrick’s day isn’t a only a day that’s centered around wearing green, it’s a holiday the Irish celebrate in honor of an revered Saint by the name of Patrick that spread Christianity in Ireland. Every year the holiday takes place on March 17, the day on his anniversary of his death and has been celebrated for over a thousand years. Following tradition, the holiday is generally celebrated by heavy drinking (of alcohol), consuming corned beef and cabbage, dancing, hosting extravagant parades, and wearing shamrocks and green.
In regards to the customs of the holiday, the reason people consume alcohol is simply because it adds to the holiday spirit and because Irish are renowned for their love of alcohol; yet you do not have to consume alcohol in order to participate. Corned beef and cabbage however is a main dish that every family who celebrates should add into their dinner menu for that day. In fact, Corned beef and cabbage is such a traditional St. Patrick's Day dish that in 2007, it was recorded that roughly 41.5 billion pounds of U.S. beef and 2.6 billion pounds of U.S. cabbage were sold.
Parades have been the main events that symbolize the holiday since the first St. Patrick's Day parade that took place in the United States on March 17, 1762, when Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City. After that, St. Patrick’s Day parades have become a reoccurring tradition that is gained such prominence that over 100 St. Patrick's Day parades are now annually held across the United States.
Then of course there’s the reason behind why people are expected to don themselves in green for such an occasion. The origins of such a tradition dates back all the 17th century. In fact, before that time the color to wear was not even green but BLUE. However, gradually green came to takeover its place because someone linked the shamrock to Saint Patrick because he one used the holy plant to explain the Holy Trinity – marking the shamrock as a sacred symbol. Today green has plays such an influential role on St. Patrick’s Day that the Chicago River is annually died green just to celebrate this holiday and of course for those that don’t adhere to the fashion receive a painful pinch from peers, as I’m sure many of you have experienced before.
Now that you know more about St Patrick’s Day you should get a head start and make sure to remember to wear green on March 17!


http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day

St. Patrick's Day
Yes it’s that day again, the one day in the year in which people wear green and go around like little devils pinching those that don’t wear green. Well, if you think that’s all there is to St. Patrick’s Day, then you’re dead wrong. St. Patrick’s Day isn’t only a day that’s centered around wearing green; it’s a holiday the Irish celebrate in honor of a revered saint by the name of Patrick that spread Christianity in Ireland. Every year the holiday takes place on Mar. 17, the day of the anniversary of his death, which has been celebrated for over a thousand years. Following tradition, the holiday is generally celebrated by heavy drinking (of alcohol), consuming corned beef and cabbage, dancing, hosting extravagant parades, and wearing shamrocks and green.
In regards to the customs of the holiday, the reason people consume alcohol is simply because it adds to the holiday spirit and because the Irish are renowned for their love of alcohol; yet you do not have to consume alcohol in order to participate. Corned beef and cabbage is a main dish that every family that celebrates should add into their dinner menu for that day. In fact, corned beef and cabbage is such a traditional St. Patrick's Day dish that in 2007, it was recorded that roughly 41.5 billion pounds of US beef and 2.6 billion pounds of US cabbage were sold during the month of March.
Parades have been the main events that symbolize the holiday since the first St. Patrick's Day parade took place in the US on Mar. 17, 1762, when Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City. After that, St. Patrick’s Day parades have become a recurring tradition that has gained such prominence that over 100 St. Patrick's Day parades are now annually held across the US.
Then of course there’s the reason behind why people are expected to don themselves in green for such an occasion. The origins of such a tradition date back all the way back to the 17th century. In fact, before that time the color to wear was not even green but rather blue. However, gradually green came to take over its place because someone linked the shamrock to St. Patrick because he once used the holy plant to explain the Holy Trinity – marking the shamrock as a sacred symbol. Today green has played such an influential role on St. Patrick’s Day that the Chicago River is annually dyed green just to celebrate this holiday, and of course those that don’t adhere to the fashion receive a painful pinch from peers, as I’m sure many of you have experienced before.
Now that you know more about St. Patrick’s Day you scoff the next time someone tells you it’s all about leprechauns and pots of gold at the end of the rainbow.