Happy Saint Patrick’s Day from the Jefferson County Post!

Tuesday, March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day 2015, a religious and cultural Irish holiday celebrated all around the world. While many people engage in the customary “wearing of the green” tradition, where did the holiday originate? Officially, the day is a celebration of Christianity’s coming to Ireland, is is annually held on March 17, the observed day of St. Patrick’s death. According to the Declaration, a text said to have been written by St. Patrick, himself, the one-day saint was enslaved by Irish raiders and taken to Gaelic Ireland. When God told him to flee to the coast and take a waiting ship home, Patrick decided to become a priest. In time, he would return to his cultural home of Ireland to spread Christianity. St. Patrick’s Day is recognized by the Catholic Church, East Orthodox Church, Lutheran Church, and primarily the Church of Ireland sect of the Anglican Communion.

While the holiday originated as a religious celebration, St. Patrick’s Day has been adopted as a day of Irish cultural pride. The most iconic features of St. Patrick’s Day in pop culture, the wearing of the green and use of the shamrock as a symbol, also find their roots tied directly to the endeavors of St. Patrick. The saint supposedly utilized a three leafed clover as a visual aid when explaining the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish. As for the color green, green has been associated with Ireland since 1642, when the Irish Catholic Confederation began using the green harp flag. This symbolism of the Irish fields is further ingrained in the holiday by the shamrock imagery. While not an official holiday in the United States, St. Patrick’s Day remains an immensely popular holiday where people can celebrate their Irish/Irish American heritage.