Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day. I don’t remember much about St. Patricks’s Day when I was growing up — about the only thing I remember is that for some reason you were supposed to wear green and it was great fun to pinch anyone that didn’t wear something green. I never understood why someone should be pinched for not wearing green on that particular day — so — my extensive research mode kicked in and although Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, the tradition of pinching is uniquely an American tradition. One explanation I found was that green is traditionally worn on St. Patrick’s Day to honor the fact that Ireland is known as the Emerald Isle. The pinch is just a reminder to those people not wearing green that they should remember to honor “the Emerald Isle.” Of all the explanations that I found the one that I like best is that St. Patrick revelers in the United States (probably in the 1700s) thought wearing green made one invisible to leprechauns — those fairy creatures who would pinch anyone they could see (anyone not wearing green.) People began pinching those that didn’t wear green as a reminder that leprechauns would sneak up and pinch green-abstainers.
But there’s more to March 17 than wearing something green and knocking down a pint of Guinness. Saint Patrick is believed to have been born in the late fourth century and is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland — but he’s probably best known for driving the snakes from Ireland. Apparently it’s true that there are no snakes in Ireland, but there is a good probability that there never have been.
In American cities with large Irish populations, St. Patrick’s Day is a big deal. There are parades, Irish music and songs, food and drink and, of course green beer. So why is the day celebrated on March 17? Probably it is the day that St. Patrick died. In Ireland it’s a serious holiday — with the exception of restaurants and pubs, almost all businesses close. It’s also a religious holiday and many Irish attend mass as it’s the traditional day for offering prayers for missionaries worldwide. Of course after mass the serious celebrating begins.
One of the traditional symbols for St. Patrick’s Day is the shamrock. According to Irish legend, St. Patrick chose the shamrock as a symbol of the church’s Holy Trinity because of its three leaflets bound by a common stalk.
As I said earlier, I remember that you were supposed to wear green — in fact, green beer, green leprechauns, green hats — green everything on St. Patrick’s Day. I couldn’t find any definitive answer to why the wearing of certain colors originated. In Ireland, only Catholics wear green; Protestants all wear orange. The colors of the Republic of Ireland are green, white and orange. The orange supposedly represents the Protestant population, the green the Catholic, and the white the peace between them… it’s a bit ironic that the Irish flag is supposed to represent the unity between the two groups with the white between the two colors representing unity.
Anyhow, the luck of the Irish to ye – remember, if you cross poison ivy with a four-leaf clover you get a rash of good luck!!
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