ST PATRICK'S DAY VIDEO

After the death of winter, St Patrick’s Day is a welcome sign of spring, a day for wearing green for the Irish and non-Irish alike. It is the celebration of the Emerald Isle’s patron saint. But now it’s time to separate St Patrick facts from the blarney.

The story of St Patrick’s Day goes back to 5th century Britain where a sixteen-year-old boy, Maewyn Succat, was kidnapped by Irish marauders. He remained a shepherd slave in Ireland for six years until a vision directed him to escape. Back home in Britain, Succat had another vision beckoning him to help the people of Ireland so he took his vows as a priest, adopted the Christian name Patrick and in 432 AD returned to Ireland on a mission.

In his autobiography The Confessio, Patrick wrote about converting the Irish to Christianity while building schools and monasteries along Ireland’s North and West coasts. One popular myth has Patrick driving away the snakes out of Ireland. The truth is there were never snakes on the island. This is probably a metaphor for Patrick’s cleansing the island of paganism. Another myth has Patrick using the shamrock to teach the Holy Trinity. This legend is possible but Patrick never wrote about it.

So why does the holiday fall on March 17? Supposedly, it is the day Patrick died in 461 AD. Since then Irish Christians have marked the anniversary as a holiday. Beginning in the Middle Ages, Irish Catholics would close shop and attend church to honour the feast of St Patrick and it was time to celebrate.

St Patrick’s Day falls within Lent, the season before Easter when Catholics give up their vices as penance. The feast of St Patrick was a one-day reprieve when Irish men could down a pint or two of ale. This custom really took off.

 The first St Patrick’s Day in colonial America occurred in Boston in 1737 with the parade organized by the Charitable Irish Society. New York City followed in 1762. Today New York’s Fifth Avenue parade is America’s most famous, largest and rowdiest St Paddy’s Day tradition. During the 1840s, when Ireland was starving from the potato famine, millions were forced to leave. The mass migrations sent the Irish to Canada, Australia and America. As the Irish settled in their new countries they brought along all customs and invented a few more. In the United States it became customary to wear green on St Patrick’s Day. Towards the end of the 19th century, the smell of corn beef wafted from Irish American neighbourhood. The traditional Irish meal was boiled bacon and potatoes. But in the States, immigrants could find a cheap piece of beef, tenderized it with brine and smoke cooked it with cabbage. The dish remains a delicious Paddy’s Day tradition.

As the Irish in America gained influence in politics and culture, their exclusive holiday became a nationally recognized celebration and it all began over 500 years ago when a boy was torn from his family. Little could he know that his life would inspire parades, fashion and yes, the hoisting of a few pints to toast this special day.