Every year on March 17th, Irish people and the Irish at heart, celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Over the years St. Patrick’s day has morphed from a religious feast day into a celebration of Irish culture stereotypes.

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on every year on the anniversary of St. Patrick’s death. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years. The holiday falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Despite that St. Patrick’s Day it a traditionally Irish holiday, most people in Ireland celebrate it only as a religious feast. It is Irish Americans who brought the celebration to the United States.

On this day, people adorn themselves in green and with shamrocks. We don’t often think about why this color and plant represent the holiday, but like most traditions, it stems from religious traditions. The color green is representative of Ireland and the shamrock comes from the most common tale of the patron saint of Ireland. In this story he used the three leaves of the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit).

The traditional meal eaten was corned beef and cabbage, however; nowadays, we celebrate by eating artificially dyed green food. Fast food chains have customers rushing through their doors in effort to buy the seasonal promotions like McDonald’s Shamrock Shake, Dunkin’s Lucky Mint and Green Shamrock Donuts, and even some chinese restaurants that make green fortune cookies!

Another aspect of St. Patrick’s Day is the story of leprechauns. But where does the legend come from? When most people think about Leprechauns, they think short ginger men who wear a lot of green. But the idea of leprechauns is believed to have come from today’s leprechauns, fairies that come from Irish folklore.

Overall, whether or not you are Irish, St. Patrick’s Day is a fun-filled holiday packed with parades, green food, and good times.