By ALLI SCHIEBER
Editor-in-Chief
St. Patrick’s Day: the day where everyone wears green and if you do not you get pinched.
Why do we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and where did traditions like this come from?
According to History.com, St. Patrick was the patron saint of Ireland. However, Patrick was born in Roman Britan and was brought into Ireland as a slave. He escaped and then came back to Ireland and is credited for bringing Christianity there.
One of the legends of St.Patrick is that he explained the Holy Trinity using an Irish clover or shamrock.
This legend and many more came about after he died, which was believed to be on March 17 — the day we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day now.
America hosted the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1601. More than a century later, another parade by homesick Irish soldiers occurred in New York City. Today, the New York City parade is the oldest anual parade.
Many other places now have parades such as New Hampshire and Rhode Island; Dublin, Ireland; Clevland, Ohio; and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day has nothing to do with St. Patrick himself but was a symbol of Irish rebellion against Britain.
Getting pinched if you don’t wear green is just fun folklore. Wearing green makes you invisible to leprechauns and leprechauns like to pinch people. Why? Simply because they can.
Many people celebrate St.Patrick’s Day by having a feast which often includes corned beef brisket, Irish soda bread and cabbage. This may be confusing as the holiday happens during lent where Catholics do not eat red meat. However, many Catholics would take a break from lent for this holiday and celebrate having big feasts and parties.
St. Patrick’s Day has many other traditions such as in Chicago where they dye the river green. This tradition began because plumbers used green dye to identify pipes. Members of the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union decided to put 100 pounds of that dye in the river which turned it green for an entire week.
Now the dye only lasts a few hours. They used to dye the river green during the parade either on the day or the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day. The dye has also been changed to vegetable base, so it does not harm the river or anything in it. Residents of Chicago blame the river magically turning green on leprechauns, of course.
Other cities in America also dye their cities waterways green such as Tampa, Florida; San Antonio, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Charlotte, North Carolina and Savannah, Georgia.
