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Imagine you are in Boston and it is

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March seventeenth. You

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are walking down the street with your family,

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when suddenly you hear a marching band

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in the distance. It sounds loud

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and fun, with fiddles and pipes and drums.

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What is that noise? It is getting

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closer and closer, and you stand

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by and watch as around the

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corner come hundreds of people dressed

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in green. They are

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laughing and playing music. Some

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are wearing red wigs and fake beards.

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What's going on? You ask your parents why

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it's Saint Patrick's Day? Of course they

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reply. Saint

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Patrick's Day is a special day that is celebrated

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around the world each year on March seventeenth

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to celebrate Irish culture and history.

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It is also a date meant to remember the

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death of Saint Patrick, the patron

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Saint of Ireland. Saint

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Patrick's Day has become a large celebration

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around them in the world of Irish culture

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and pride, with parades, special

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foods, dancing, music,

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and people wearing all things green. But

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what is the history of Saint Patrick's Day

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and why do we celebrate it? Saint

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Patrick's Day started as a day to celebrate

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the Patriot State of Ireland. Saint

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Patrick was born in Roman Britain in

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the fifth century and grew up with a father

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who was a deacon of their local church. So

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even though Saint Patrick became the Patriots

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State of Ireland, he was not actually

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Irish, but was British.

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When Patrick was sixteen years old, Irish

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raiders came to his village and he was kidnapped

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and brought to Ireland as a slave. A

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slave is someone who is held captive and

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has to do work for another person for

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no money. Patrick

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spent six years living in Ireland as

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a slave herdsman taking care

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of He was sad

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living as a slave and turned to prayer

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and religion to keep his spirits up. He

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prayed regularly to escape so he could

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return home. One

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night, when he was twenty four, Patrick snuck

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away from his master and got onto a ship

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and headed back to Britain. It

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was a difficult journey and Patrick didn't

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have anything to eat on the way, so

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he nearly starved to death. However,

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Patrick made it successfully to the other side

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of the sea to his own country of Britain. Patrick

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lived in Britain for a short while again, but

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one day, while reading about the Irish people.

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He felt called to return to Ireland and

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teach them about his religion, Christianity.

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Although he had doubts about whether it was a good

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idea, he decided to return to Ireland,

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this time as a free man. Patrick

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returned to Ireland and traveled broadly

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throughout the country, teaching people

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everywhere he went about his religion. It

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was a dangerous time to be traveling

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alone as a foreigner and trying to

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convert people. To convert

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means to change people's thinking so they believed

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the same thing as you. However,

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Patrick had great faith in his mission and carried

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on despite being arrested, put

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in chains, and threatened with death. As

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Patrick traveled around Ireland and became

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more well known, myths and legends

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started to grow about him. One

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of these legends was that Patrick scared all

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of the snakes in Ireland out of the country and

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into the sea, where they died. Some

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people believed that Patrick was also able

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to bring people back from the dead, and

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that he was able to create food out of thin

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air. One of the most well

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known legends about Saint Patrick is that he

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explained the Christian concept of

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the Holy Trinity to the Irish people

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by using the three leaves of an Irish clover

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or shamrock. Shamrocks

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have since become symbols of Saint Patrick's

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Day. Saint Patrick

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died on March seventeenth, four

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sixty one a d However,

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he did not actually become a saint until

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many years later, which is the normal

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process for Catholic sainthood.

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March seventeenth became celebrated around

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the world as Saint Patrick's Day, at

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first to celebrate him and later

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to celebrate Irish cultural heritage.

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Generally, cultural heritage

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means traditions and ways of life that have been

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passed down through the generations.

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In Ireland, today, Saint Patrick's Day

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is celebrated as a religious holiday. Irish

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families celebrate by going to church in the

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morning and having a party in the afternoon.

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Irish people usually dance and drink in

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the afternoon parties and eat a meal that includes

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meat such as Irish bacon and

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cabbage. In America

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and other places with many Irish immigrants,

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Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated on

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March seventeenth, but with different traditions.

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In these countries, people of Irish descent

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hold large annual parades

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each during bagpipes and drums. Many

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people wear green and dress up. The

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tradition started an America in the eighteen

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forties, when many Irish people left

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Ireland due to the Great Potato Famine

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of eighteen forty five. A

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famine is an extreme shortage of food.

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In the eighteen forties, nearly one million

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poor Irish people moved to America

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to escape starvation in Ireland. With

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so many Irish people now living in New York

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and other American cities, the

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Saint Patrick's Day celebrations grew

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in size and popularity. In

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eighteen forty eight, many New York

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Irish societies decided to join

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together to form one big Saint

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Patrick's Day parade. Today,

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that parade is the largest parade in the United

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States, with over one hundred and

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fifty thousand people participating

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each year and three million people

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watching on the side of the road. There

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are also very large Saint Patrick's Day

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parades held in other cities, such as Boston

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and Chicago. As

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Irish immigrants spread out over the United

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States and around the world, cities

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and countries developed their own traditions.

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This is especially true in the United States,

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Canada, and Australia. Some

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common traditions include wearing shamrocks,

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which represent Saint Patrick's teachings

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to the Irish people. Many

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people like to play Irish music, including

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fiddles and pipes on Saint Patrick's

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Day. There is a tradition of people

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carrying snake staffs in Saint

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Patrick's Day parades to represent Saint

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Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland.

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While Irish people eat bacon and cabbage on

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Saint Patrick's Irish Americans now

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celebrate by eating a meal of corned beef

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and cabbage. This is because the

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first Irish immigrants to America were very

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poor and couldn't afford the traditional bacon

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and cabbage they ate back home. Instead,

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they add corned beef and cabbage, having learned

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about this cheaper meat from their new Jewish

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neighbors in America.

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Many listeners will likely have heard about the small

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Irish imp called a leprechaun. Leprechauns

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come from the Old Celtic belief in fairies,

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which were tiny magical men and women, and

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old Celtic fairy tales. Leprechauns were

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cranky little people that were responsible

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for mending the shoes of other fairies. Leprecauns

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were also believed to be hiding gold and

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would use trickery to protect their hiding

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places. Today, many

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people like to dress up as leprechauns

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on Saint Patrick's Day. One

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tradition many children are familiar with is the

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practice of pinching people on Saint

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Patrick's Day if they are not wearing green. Because

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green came to be seen as a color of Irish

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pride amongst Irish people in America,

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pinching those who are not wearing green stated

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as a gentle way of reprimanding those who

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are not showing Irish pride.

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However, nowadays kids do this

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mostly just for fun, so don't forget

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to wear something green on March seventeenth.

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Have you ever seen and participated in Saint

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Patrick's Day celebrations. What

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are some of the waves that your family celebrates

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their cultural heritage.