St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on the 17th of March every year in remembrance of a bishop in Ireland, Saint Patrick. His name is believed to be 'Patricius' which is translated in English to 'Patrick'. He is also known as the 'Apostle of Ireland' for preaching Christianity to Ireland. The Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches have made St. Patrick's Day an official Christian feast day. It is observed as a public holiday in Ireland. St. Patrick has established monasteries, churches, and schools across Ireland.
St. Patrick's Day is observed with religious services, feasts, and celebrations. Celebrations include public parades dressed in all green. Even though the color blue is associated with St. Patrick's Day traditionally, over the years green became the official color to be worn/used while celebrating. It is believed that the association of shamrock brought the color green into custom. Corned beef, cabbages, and beer are mostly consumed during the holiday. Beers are sometimes flavored green. Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol were lifted for the day, particularly whenever St. Patrick's Day fell inside the Lenten month.
Here are some interesting facts about St. Patrick's Day!
Shamrocks or images of shamrocks are used widely during the celebration because St. Patrick used shamrocks to explain the theory of 'Trinity' to Irish people.
St. Patrick's Day is celebrated across several countries in Europe, the US, Canada, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, and even at the International Space Station during 2013.
Ireland is known for not having snakes across the country. Scientifically it's said that Ireland is too cold for snakes to survive. There's also another side of the story where the credit of making Ireland a snake-free land goes to St. Patrick. Many old records have been recorded saying St.Patrick banished all snakes from Ireland.
Peas and cabbages are planted on this day.
It's believed that anyone who does not wear green on St. Patrick's Day will be pinched by Leprechauns.
Leprechauns are mythical creatures from Irish folklore who are red-haired and dressed in green coats with crooked hats. They dress as shoemakers and love to play tricks. They hide their pots of gold at the end of the rainbow.
'Kiss Me, I'm Irish' came from the event of kissing The Blarney Stone which is believed to bring good luck. As time passed by 'if you can't go to Ireland to kiss the stone, next best option would be to kiss an Irish' came into existence.
The bucket list of Irish people on St. Patrick's Day looks like this, 1) Finding a four-leaf clover. 2) Wearing green. 3) Kiss the Blarney Stone. and 4) Catch a Leprechaun if you can.
Team Crazy Creatives wish all IFians a Happy St. Patrick's Day and may good luck find you today.
Cr: Leprechaun
Current Affairs
8